blown X40

[ggiglio]

Hi all,
I'm just in the middle of modding my X40 with a CF/IDE adapter (Adaptec) and a Sandisk Extreme III card to replace the (in)famously slow hdd.
I've (hopefully) solved the removable/fixed issue of this kind of compact flash, but, while reinserting the adapter I misplaced it
When I fired up the X40 it gave no sign: no action at all, no light up, either on battery or on ac power, even with the hdd slot empty. Blown fuse ? which one ? how to find it ?
Can someone help me to bring X40 back to life ?

cheers and greetings from Rome
Ggiglio

[RealBlackStuff]

X40 schematics here: https://kythuatphancung.vn/download/ibm ... cs.html?dl

[ggiglio]

thanks a lot RBS
Do you think it's ok to solder a low ohm resistor (say .1 ohm) on top of the blown one ?

[NonesensE]

No! A resistor isn't a fuse! Either it won't save the board in case of a shortcut or it will affect the voltage on the parts that get their power through the resistor, probably causing them to malfunction.
Solder a fuse on top of the blown one. You can get fuses e.g. from a broken motherboard.

[kfzhu1229]

You can also do a smoke test by connecting the fuse with wire by hand first and disconnect as soon as you discover something is wrong. If everything went alright, and you don't have a dead motherboard, you can cover the fuse with solder, if you are sure that you won't mod this motherboard again.

[ggiglio]

ok, my fault !
I have an old thinkpad A21p who is too tired to work, so maybe I'll spot an unused, still intact fuse on its mobo (provided the required current doesn't exeed its limit).
So, first of all I have to locate the blown fuse (tnks to RBS for the schematics), then I'll connect an ammeter in parallel to measure the power drain, then I'll fire up the X40 keeping my fingers crossed.
If (and only IF) the current flow appears correct (say 1.0 to 1.5 A, that is 12-15 W for the whole machine) I'll install the "new" fuse on top of the blown one.
Otherwise I guess switching the mobo is the only way to go...

[RealBlackStuff]

If all else fails I could always sell you my X41T tablet version with 60GB HD and XP.

[ggiglio]

just an update on the ongoing work....
ok, got a day off, carefully disassembled the X40, taking note of (almost) any single bolt and extracted the mobo.
Helping myself with a magnifier glass I thoroughly inspected every inch of it, but found no evidence of blown fuses
Still on the workbench I decided to fire up The X40 for a last goodbye, and...the leds turned green, bios screen suddenly came out from the dark !
Then I repacked all the stuff, run the sandisk cfg utility and installed a fresh copy of XP.
Now the X40 takes 24 seconds to boot to desktop and runs with 4 Gb cf card + 64 Gb of sd data card.

I'm still wondering about what *really* happened. Maybe an electrostatic build-up that froze the machine, an electro-magnetic pulse from a hidden ufo, I'll never know
btw... while I was working there *surely* weren't any blackout...

[dirklc]

Hello - I am having a similar issue to the original poster so figured I would revive the thread vs. start a new one.

In the process of 'upgrading' from CF/IDE adapter to SDD/IDE adapter, my x40 will not power on. I tried reinstalling the CF - no dice. I am a computer hardware newbie - can follow instructions but unfortunately, I don't have the depth of knowledge to troubleshoot on my own.

Before I start pulling things apart, is there anything I should try to get the machine to fire up (e.g. some magically key combo )?

I appreciate any advice.

[MrBurgerKing]

You could always try removing the charger and the battery, holding down the power button for a few seconds, then reconnecting the charger before doing anything drastic. If that doesn't work, you could try clearing cmos by removing the bios battery for a few minutes and putting it back, however that requires a disassembly.

[Neil]

Yep, I agree, do as MrBurgerKing says. I also have an X40 with CF card and almost every time I've had to remove and re-install for some reason, I'll miss the socket the first time or two I try, and that has left the X40 where it won't power back up. Removing AC adapter and battery and pressing the power button to clear all charge from the circuits has, so far, got it working again.

[dirklc]

I really appreciate the suggestion. I'm on the road but heading home tomorrow - will give it a try and let you know (fingers crossed). I would love to get my X40 back up and running.

[dirklc]

That did it. Thanks again for the suggestion. I'm back up and running with the SSD. Threw an old Peppermint OS distro on there and the old machine is flying!

[Thinkpad4by3]

That did it. Thanks again for the suggestion. I'm back up and running with the SSD. Threw an old Peppermint OS distro on there and the old machine is flying!

Good ol' IBM "secret" trick works again....