T460s won't power up.

[Gord K.]

I have a refurbished T460s that I bought through Staples (in Canada) in January or February of this year, so any limited warranty that may have come with it is long gone. Since day 1 the batteries have not really held a charge but this was not a huge issue because the laptop sits on a desk and is usually used with the power bar on. Yesterday I went to use the laptop and it powered up and then immediately powered off. I turned on the power bar and powered it on again and checked the batteries which were sitting at 1%. Shortly after that the laptop powered itself off again and now I get nothing. And I mean NOTHING! The green light beside the power plug is not even on.

Do I just have two beyond dead internal batteries or has something else died?

Thanks,

Gord

[RealBlackStuff]

Remove both batteries and the charger, then hold down the Power button for ~20 seconds, then plug in only charger and try to boot.
If OK, get new batteries.
If not, let us know.

[Gord K.]

Thanks @RealBlackStuff. I tried what you suggested and I get nothing, no lights, no beeps, no response at all. And to take it one step further, I have two of these refurbished T460s’ and I tried the other power adapter as well - same results.

Is it a paperweight?

Gord

[SAIYAN48]

Remove main batteries, then the CMOS and give it AC power. It should turn on.

[Gord K.]

Thanks @saiyan48, I removed both batteries, unplugged the CMOS battery, and pressed the power switch for a slow count of 20. When I plug in the AC adapter not only does the laptop NOT power up, the green LED beside the power plug is not lit (as it is on my other T460s).

Any other ideas?

Gord

[Gord K.]

I am just a little disappointed. With all of the knowledge and experience various members of this forum have, after 9 months and over 3000 views, no one has offered any further opinions on my unresponsive T460s. I am assuming that I have a dead motherboard but it sure would be nice to have had someone confirm that suspicion. We can do better than this when people come looking for help.

[dr_st]

There is only so much people can confirm remotely, without any diagnosis tools...

To me, it sounds like something very basic is dead in the power circuitry, based on the LED does not even come on symptom.

I think some folks here know the fuse maps of these boards, they can suggest which fuses to check. I do not have that knowledge.

[Gord K.]

@dr_st thank you. Having spent several years in hardware support (in the ‘80’s) where my job was to troubleshoot large disk drives over the phone I appreciate the difficulty diagnosing problems from a distance! But as you suggest, there are people here who know these machines and could probably give me some guidance. It is discouraging that in 9 months none of those knowledgable people have offered any further suggestions.I have a soldering iron and multimeter (and do know how to use them) and though my eyesight at 70 is not what it used to be, the laptop doesn’t work so I have nothing to lose by trying to fix it. I just won’t tackle it blindly. I have always found the members of this forum to be helpful… until now.

[RealBlackStuff]

Get the (free) T460s schematics here: https://www.alisaler.com/thinkpad-t460s ... schematic/
Check the (power)-fuses for continuity.
Try another power supply, maybe try another outlet?

[Gord K.]

That gives me something to try and look at, thank you.

I have tried three different power adapters in at least two different outlets. Nothing. All three adapters are 20Vdc, one is 2.25A, one is 3.25A and the third one is 4.5A; which one is correct for a T460s? Keep in mind, I have two T460s' and both are refurbished. The 4.5A adapter is from my Lenovo G50, the 3.25A adapter has a white label on it that says "E540/560/570".

[dr_st]

A T460s will run off all three, although the 2.25A one is a bit borderline. Nonetheless, they should all get the laptop to turn on, unless there is a problem with the laptop itself.