X201s - (many different reactions to power on)

[achat_2]

Update:

I cleaned the fan and reassembled the X201s.

NOTE: the cable connecting the LCD to the MB looks kind of brown in some points.
(I have to say that I have used this laptop connected to an external monitor with the lid completely horizontal for months, when it was my primary working machine)

After one hundred failed attempts the laptop has been up and running perfectly for about 1 hour.
Then it shutdown on itself.

Fan spinning perfectly, (no fan error), temp about 50 celsius. (i7)

I can't figure out what is wrong with this laptop.

-without RAM it makes the -1-3-3-1 beeps sound

- with RAM randomly
-- > everything normal (Thinkpad logo, Win 7 starts... etc) then in seconds, minutes, or one hour shutdown on itslef
--> fan spins at power up, nothing on the screen, HD clicking and spinning, fan spinning after a while as if the laptop is up and running
--- shutdown on itself in seconds
--- shutdown and restarts on itself
--- shutdown and restarts if I move the lid
---> power light blinking, no fan spinning, HD spinning but not clicking

While dismantled I tried everything, even to connect an external monitor with the lcd cable disconnected, and fn-f7 combinations,
disconnected the wif-fi card, the fingerprint reader.

Still I didn't try to plug another HD.

Is there any other attempt I should try?

I can't believe I can't save this laptop.

thanks in advance,
A.






-------------------
While I have my X201s dismantled, but the new fan is still on the way,
I have tried to deep clean the old fan, and now it seems to spin very well.

I was wondering:
what is the bare minimum to test if the MB gives signs of life with the old fan cleaned?

Is it enough to connect fan, fix the heat sink, power up, fix the motherboard to the case, connect the keyboard and some RAM?
Or should I reassemble the whole laptop to make a test?

I apologize in advance in case this is a silly question...

A.

[RealBlackStuff]

Every time you boot, the fan will/should spin for a few seconds, regardless of temperature.
The fan will start spinning again when it gets hotter and stay on till it cools down enough.
If it gets too hot, the machine will automatically switch off.
Because every laptop and fan is different, I can't give temperatures, but these are probably good averages, assuming the fan is working and thermal paste has been applied properly:
0-45 C: no spin
35-70 C: working temp under normal load, fan coming on occasionally
70-99 C: working temp under heavy load, fan mostly on
100-105 C: most CPUs will switch off to avoid overheating

A clicking HDD is a dying HDD, replace it pronto with an SSD.

[achat_2]

Every time you boot, the fan will/should spin for a few seconds, regardless of temperature.

Yes, that's exactly what it does now (after cleaning) but I got nothing on the screen

The fan will start spinning again when it gets hotter and stay on till it cools down enough.

If I let it turned on this way (i.e. without nothing on the screen) the fan starts spinning again after a while

If it gets too hot, the machine will automatically switch off.

It does not switch off because of the temperature, it switch off in few seconds
and yesterday when it was up for an hour WITH screen and I was monitoring the temperature: it swtiched off with CPU at about 50 C

A clicking HDD is a dying HDD, replace it pronto with an SSD.

With clicking I meant the normal noise of a "reading" HD.
Just to say that, despite the screen was black, it looks like the laptop is normally functioning.

BTW it seems that this problem is not uncommon with X201,
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X ... m-p/227471

Why Lenovo has never given a definitively solution to this?

A.

[mikemex]

Why Lenovo has never given a definitively solution to this?

Because they can get away with it?

[axur-delmeria]

Do note that the X201s is over a decade old, so unusual behavior is to be expected at this point.