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T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 1:08 pm
by Danny
Today, I was browsing the web on my T430, with no peripherals connected besides the 90w AC adapter, when the screen went black, the fans shut off and the power button blinked at me twice. I sat there in shock for a moment and then tried powering it back on. The power indicator will come on and I'll hear the fan spin up, but within a half second the indicator is back off and the fan loses power. I tried removing the battery and using the AC adapter alone, using the battery alone, removing all power and holding the power button, but none of that has worked.
The configuration is as it came from the factory, except 1) I didn't have the DVD drive installed and 2) I have 2x8GB Crucial RAM sticks in there, for 16GB over the original 4GB. I will try reseating the RAM next to see if that works, once I can get near a screwdriver. I'm currently traveling and this is a bad time for a crash like this to happen
The system has the NVIDIA Quadro graphics option and a HD+ screen, if that makes a difference.
Hoping for your wisdom,
Danny
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 1:14 pm
by bit_twiddler
Do you hear any beeps?
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:41 pm
by Danny
No beeps at all.
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:02 pm
by bit_twiddler
Sounds like it is not getting to the BIOS POST.
Does the Thinkpad logo come on at boot, or is the screen completely black, or what?
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:14 pm
by Danny
The screen is completely blank this whole time. It's a very quick light of the power button/fan spin, and then it dies.
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 9:59 pm
by bit_twiddler
I don't know how to diagnose that. It sounds like something on your motherboard went,
and the machine won't power on because some basic check, like the fan check failed.
You could try replacing the RAM to see if it was inserted improperly, but normally
you'd hear some beeps if the problem was in that area.
Is it under warranty?
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:55 am
by axur-delmeria
bit_twiddler wrote:I don't know how to diagnose that. It sounds like something on your motherboard went,
and the machine won't power on because some basic check, like the fan check failed.
Usually, the display lights up, and a "Fan error" message is displayed for a few seconds before the laptop automaticallyshuts down. I've seen this last week on my sister's X601 Frankenpad.
In this case however, the display doesn't even turn on, so I'm suspecting a more serious issue like a problem in the power circuits, chipset, or processor.
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:18 pm
by Danny
OK. Most of the logic board I see on eBay are without a processor. Since the cpu might be the problem, is there any way to test that without buying a new main board and installing it?
Re: T430 crashed and won't boot
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 3:55 pm
by hhhd1
Danny wrote:OK. Most of the logic board I see on eBay are without a processor. Since the cpu might be the problem, is there any way to test that without buying a new main board and installing it?
Yes, but it will cost about 6 USD
on ebay, you can buy a cheap processor that should work on your motherboard, costs around 6 USD including shipping.
search ebay for:
"celeron (1000m,1005m,1020m)"
and then sort by price+shipping = lowest