T480 screen shuts off after a few seconds to a minute after starting to use it.

[FranklinHawkings]

I am not sure what is happening, it's been working for years without issue and a couple of hours ago it just went poof. The laptop can sit there at the bios (it has the latest one from September) but as soon as it gets into Windows the screen shuts off or goes to static.

I tried using an external monitor over USB c and the same thing happens. Loads and then turns off or goes to static.

I tried Linux. Same thing. I got into Linux, was able to log it and get things going, but as soon as I used it for a while the screen shut off.

I'll hear a quick static noise and then it dies. I can hold power button to hard shut down, turn it back on, get into windows, do stuff again, and then dies.
Linux did the same thing multiple times using a USB live boot.

[dr_st]

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about the trouble with your T480. The symptoms (idles without problem in pre-boot environment, but crashes quickly in the OS) suggests to me a GPU problem. Does your laptop have the discrete nVidia GPU or is it integrated only?

[FranklinHawkings]

Hello back!

So I am just about certain this is the integrated graphics. I see no reference to Nvidia in the BIOS and Nvida drivers or the control panel never were seen in Windows. So I guess that means no replacements for the GPU since there isn't one and the motherboard itself is having issues?

[RealBlackStuff]

Get the T480 HMM from the HMM-Manuals link above.
Remove power, external battery and base-cover.
Go to Chapter 9, 1120 Built-in battery, unplug the cable only (1).
Go to Chapter 9, 1210 LCD unit and unplug both LCD-cables (3-4) and (5-6).
Loosely put the base-cover back on, no screwing!
Put the external battery in, and turn the laptop back over.
Use an external monitor via USB-C first and see if it now works.
If OK, use an external monitor via HDMI and see if that also works.
If both are OK, then you have a bad LCD.
If not, then you might need to replace the motherboard.

[FranklinHawkings]

No luck, I went through the steps and disconnected the LCD panel as in the reply.

It came online and I was hopeful as it lasted about 5 minutes this time.

Then..



I noticed that as soon as it happened the keyboard and mouse also lost power / connection so it's not that just the external display died but everything plugged in also lost connection to the laptop.

I guess it's dead?

[axur-delmeria]

Ever cleaned the heatsink and replaced the thermal paste?

[RealBlackStuff]

Assuming fan/paste are OK, one last try:
remove external battery and try with the power supply in the 2nd USB-C port and ext-monitor in 1st USB-C port.
Also try HDMI this way.
Ditto with power in 1st USB-C.
Should the internal GPU be the 'sinner', look for a T480 mobo with iGPU and i5-8350U.
i7 runs too hot and is not really that much better than i5.

[FranklinHawkings]

[/quote]

Ever cleaned the heatsink and replaced the thermal paste?

Nope, but now that it's sitting here open I can give this a shot. I'll go dig out my thermal paste and report back tomorrow.

Assuming fan/paste are OK, one last try:
remove external battery and try with the power supply in the 2nd USB-C port and ext-monitor in 1st USB-C port.
Also try HDMI this way.
Ditto with power in 1st USB-C.
Should the internal GPU be the 'sinner', look for a T480 mobo with iGPU and i5-8350U.
i7 runs too hot and is not really that much better than i5.

Are the CPUs integrated into these motherboards? So I'd be buying a board with that built right in?

[RealBlackStuff]

Yes, iGPU is integrated in the CPU (which is soldered onto the motherboard).
Also, stay away from T480 with nVidia dGPU.

[dr_st]

Also, stay away from T480 with nVidia dGPU.

Really? Why?

[RealBlackStuff]

That dGPU is not much better than the iGPU, is only needed for certain programs, causes more heat and costs unnecessary battery power.
Also, in my 20-odd years of laptop-use I have never needed a discrete GPU.

[axur-delmeria]

Nope, but now that it's sitting here open I can give this a shot. I'll go dig out my thermal paste and report back tomorrow.

I recommend using PTM 7950 phase-change thermal pad instead. I applied it in my Thinkpads in 2023 and haven't noticed any decrease in cooling performance even now.

Are the CPUs integrated into these motherboards? So I'd be buying a board with that built right in?

CPUs soldered on the motherboard has been the norm since the T440-- only the larger/thicker models like the T440p, T540p, and W540/541 had socketed processors. Intel stopped making socketed CPUs for laptops after that generation.

[FranklinHawkings]

Well, none of that worked. It has a nice fresh batch of thermal paste, errored out, tried it with no batteries and the different usb ports, errored out, so I do think something got fried on there. Oh well, cant say we didn't try.

I see new motherboards for about 70 bucks on eBay. I guess that's the only route now if I want to really try one last attempt to revive this thing.

[RealBlackStuff]

Just make sure you get a proper T480 mobo and not T480s.
For a parts-list go to https://libthinkpad.github.io/fru/ and find the T480 FRU index.
Look for SYSTEM BOARDS with i5-8350U and UMA (= iGPU), the ones with SWG have dGPU, which you don't want.