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I need your help with a flaky W530

W530/W540/W541/W550 Series
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JohnD.
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Posts: 270
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:05 am
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I need your help with a flaky W530

#1 Post by JohnD. » Sat Apr 18, 2015 2:55 pm

Hello everyone,

On 3-11-15 I purchased a W530 from Ebay. The listed specs are below:

Machine Type: 2436-CTO
Warrenty: Expired 10-16-2013
BIOS 2.59 (5-15-14)
CPU: i7-3610QM
Memory: 12 GB
SSD: Samsung Evo 840 128 GB (in primary HDD location)

After I got it delivered and opened the box, I hooked up the 170W power supply to the machine. I hit the power button, the Thinkpad logo came up and very quickly the machine just shut down. I hit the power button again, I get the Thinkpad splash screen and the unit shut down. So I did this a few more times and got the same result. I said let me go into the BIOS and check the settings. I did this and adjusted the time zone. I saved the settings in the BIOS and the machine restarted from there. I got into Win 8 on the machine and it was good. I believe I tried shutting down the machine to see if things were ok and I believe I was ok. This was a month ago and I have not touched the machine (powered it on) until yesterday to install Win7 on the SSD.

So when I powered the machine on (with the power supply connected), the Thinkpad splash screen came up for a short time then the machine shut down. I went into the BIOS again, adjusted the time forward for a second and saved the settings, the machine restarted and went into Win8. I boot the install disk for Win7 Pro (64 bit) in the machine and installed Win 7 (I had to hit Enter, then F12 to boot off of the CD-ROM). After the installation I was back to the same issue. I took the SSD out and installed a Segate 500GB drive, installed Win 7. Thinking maybe something was wrong with the SSD but even with the HD in the machine, same thing happened again. I had recovery disks that I bought last year for the W530 (Win 8 Pro 64 Bit) and installed that with the SSD this afternoon and I have the same issue.

So, when I hit the power button, the circle around the power button lights up green, the LED in the speaker mute button and the microphone button lights up for a second, the wireless indicator lights up, then the HD LED flickers for like a second or two and then everything shuts down.

I am outside the 30 day window to return the machine to the Ebay seller but I found out this afternoon that Ebay has a money back guarantee. I don't know if it would work for me since I have never used it before nor returned something I purchased from Ebay. One last thing I don't know if this matters but UEFI Secure boot is turned off in the BIOS.

I did run all of the tests that the machine gives you an option of from the screen when you hit Enter at the splash screen.

I am angry at myself for not playing with the machine more then letting it sit there.

Any help, thoughts that you can share with me, I would appreciate it very dearly.

Thank you for your help and time,
John
Too many machines!

hhhd1
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Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:23 pm
Location: Cairo, Egypt

Re: I need your help with a flaky W530

#2 Post by hhhd1 » Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:25 pm

If you paid via paypal, which you probably did, you may have a longer period of complaining to them directly or requesting a refund from them.

Try to contact the seller on ebay, or complaining to ebay first.
===

JohnD.
Junior Member
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Posts: 270
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:05 am
Location: Plymouth Meeting, PA

Re: I need your help with a flaky W530

#3 Post by JohnD. » Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:21 am

Thanks for getting back to me.

I would really like to see if I and with the help of the people on the forum, troubleshoot the issue with the W530.

I am really curious on what's going on with it.

Thank you,
John
Too many machines!

RealBlackStuff
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Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: I need your help with a flaky W530

#4 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:19 am

If you have to reset the date(zone), maybe your CMOS battery is (near-)dead?
Before you replace it, check the Security/Password settings in BIOS.
Set them all to DISabled, then press F10 to save.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

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Neil
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Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:41 pm
Location: Paragould AR USA

Re: I need your help with a flaky W530

#5 Post by Neil » Wed Apr 22, 2015 12:19 pm

So, have you experimented with different power sources? Like, battery only, remove battery and AC only. Assuming your earlier attempts to boot were with a battery and AC adapter both connected., changing things up might lead to the culprit.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

emeraldgirl08
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Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:59 pm
Location: Window Rock, Arizona

Re: I need your help with a flaky W530

#6 Post by emeraldgirl08 » Wed Apr 22, 2015 12:31 pm

Have you ruled out heat? Have you checked if the fan is spinning or if the thermal compound is in good shape? Also how about RAM? Not sure if a bad stick of RAM might cause the symptoms you describe but you might try ruling that out as well.
Thinkpad T470 | iPhone XR | mATX Comet Lake Desktop | Hackintosh Monterey | Lenovo L24q-30 Monitor

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