X250 - cannot power on, no signs of life

[Daniel Eckert]

Hello everyone,
I need some help.

My X250 (Type 20CL-S4XP00) won't power on no matter what I've tried so far, and I also don't get any other signs of life, no LEDs blinking, no beeping, nothing.

I have a few things that I could imagine being the cause of the issue:

First, I didnt deactivite the internal battery in BIOS, I only had the ThinkPad powered down before I opened up the case and unplugged its connector.
I know I should'nt have done that, I was lazy, am I paying the price now?

Second, I soldered some wires to the pins on the backside of the power input. My goal was to add usb-pd charging to my device, more info in a footnote, because it is only semi-relevant here.
But, after all that, I checked with a multimeter, I would still get 20V between red and black, and 120Ω between black and white when plugging in the original charger, all measurements taken at the white 5-pin plug connecting the power input to the motherboard.
So, everything should be all right here, or am I missing something?

Third, I made a mistake at the right hinge, the camera cable that also connects to the power button, got squeezed in a way it shouldn't have been, and is now visibly damaged, I can see some silver shining through the black isolation.

My questions:

(a) Since I have damaged the camera cable wich also connects the power button, potentially causing malfunction, is there some way of powering up a thinkpad without using it?

(b) Or is there any way of testing if the power button works seperately from everything else?

(c) Should I get a replacement for that camera/power button cable? Is the replacement process doable?

(d) Even though I've checked with the multimeter, should I still get a replacement for the power input cable?

(e) Did I forget to include any relevant information?

Any help is greatly apreciated!

Greetings, Daniel



Footnote:
To add usb-pd charging to my device, I soldered some wires from the output of a 20V usb-pd trigger board to the pins (red and black) at the back of the existing power input. This board can communicate with any usb-pd power source, demanding 20V output.
I also hooked up the needed resistor (with a switch to toggle ) for the thinkpad to recognize the charger between ground of the trigger board and the white pin of the power input.
I located the trigger board on the place where the slot for the kensington lock was before, making space by filing out the plastic a bit and removing some metal.
But those mechanical changes cant be the cause of the issue here, after doing those, the laptop worked just fine.

[RealBlackStuff]

Before you start, I suggest you remove the external and disconnect the internal battery (because I don't trust such a BIOS-disable).

Get the X250 manual here: https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobi ... f30022.pdf
And the frubom/partslist: https://download.lenovo.com/parts/Think ... 160106.pdf

Then go here: https://forum.laboneinside.com/viewtopic.php?t=5224 and click on the orange 'block' to download the X250 schematics.
I would also suggest to check all fuses you can find for continuity/beep.

Definitely replace that camera/power cable with any of these:
00HT400 N WV2,CAM CBL,LUX
00HT401 N WV2,CAM CBL,AMP
00HT402 N WV2,CAM CBL,eSKY

[Daniel Eckert]

Hey RealBlackStuff,
Thank you for your answer.

The issue was the cable, I have ordered a replacement.
I was able to get my laptop to boot after disconnecting the faulty cable and following these steps I found in another forum:


>>
| Unpluged the AC adapter and removed the external battery; opened the back cover and disconnected the internal battery and the coin battery.
|
| Connected AC adapter and pressed the emergency reset button on the back for several seconds; turned off the AC adapter power for a couple of seconds and then
| turned it on again. Without press the power button, the laptop came back alive with a boot screen message saying the CMOS checksum was bad and time/date need
| to be set.
|
| Pressed F1 key and updated time/date and then F10 key and RETURN. The laptop loaded Windows 10 with no other problem. While it is still powered on, I reconnected
| the internal battery and the coin battery, put the back cover on and inserted the external battery. Surfing the Internet, running Windows 10 updates and virus scan,
| including write this post; all without any problem, except the following:
|
| The laptop goes back to the initial dead state again if I use the mouse to click on the "Shut down" power off option. I will need to repeat everything from the beginning - | disconnect all power source (AC adapter, external and internal batterys as well as the CMOS coin battery) and use only AC adapter power with the emergency reset
| button, ..., get into BIOS page to update time/date, ...
<<
(link: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X ... -p/3992423 )

I will now wait for the replacement part, found the 00HT401 on ebay.
Until then, I'll just keep the laptop on or in sleep mode, from wich I am able to wake up using the keyboard.


And as a side note, my usb-pd charging mod was actually sucessfull, I will probably make a post somewhere explaining everything I've done with pictures.
If anyone is interested, PM me, I'll give you the link once I've made the post.

Greetings, Daniel