Thinkpad a21m won't turn on. Help!

[Kangking]

Hello everyone. I bought a thinkpad at a flea market for cheap. But it won't turn on. I opened it and the processor fan was fine. When I press the start button, the icon lights up, it looks like a database, then it makes a sound like “Vzhuk” and turns off. And so every time please help

[Bondi]

It's the famous Blink of Death that A/T 2x series suffer from.
The best description is on german thinkwiki https://thinkwiki.de/BoD

[Medessec]

It's the famous Blink of Death that A/T 2x series suffer from.
The best description is on german thinkwiki https://thinkwiki.de/BoD

Yep, this. The BoD or "Blink of Death" affects a lot of Thinkpads from this time, although mainly the T2x and A2x laptops.

The link Bondi provides gives you the full spread on what's going on. But to shorten it even further for anyone else encountering this: The BoD manifests from a chip on the motherboard called the ADP3421, which is responsible for delivering steady voltages to the CPU. The chip is prone to failing, at which point the CPU will not receive the correct power it needs to operate. Common symptoms are the laptop randomly shutting off, or not even turning on at all which is how the failure gets its name- the laptop will "blink" power on for a brief moment, and then shut off again. It will continuously do this with repeated power-on attempts. Sometimes, if you unplug enough components (MiniPCI, Hard Drive, leave only one RAM stick) the computer might be able to boot. But this is because the ADP3421 chip is beginning to fail and cannot provide stable voltages to the CPU with all devices plugged in.

The only easy solution is a motherboard replacement. Another possible solution is outlined in the link Bondi provided- you solder a resistor to two pins of the chip, and that may completely fix the issue. There's not much else you can do if your A2x starts showing the BoD symptoms.

[Bondi]

It's the famous Blink of Death that A/T 2x series suffer from.
The best description is on german thinkwiki https://thinkwiki.de/BoD

Yep, this. The BoD or "Blink of Death" affects a lot of Thinkpads from this time, although mainly the T2x and A2x laptops.

The link Bondi provides gives you the full spread on what's going on. But to shorten it even further for anyone else encountering this: The BoD manifests from a chip on the motherboard called the ADP3421, which is responsible for delivering steady voltages to the CPU. The chip is prone to failing, at which point the CPU will not receive the correct power it needs to operate. Common symptoms are the laptop randomly shutting off, or not even turning on at all which is how the failure gets its name- the laptop will "blink" power on for a brief moment, and then shut off again. It will continuously do this with repeated power-on attempts. Sometimes, if you unplug enough components (MiniPCI, Hard Drive, leave only one RAM stick) the computer might be able to boot. But this is because the ADP3421 chip is beginning to fail and cannot provide stable voltages to the CPU with all devices plugged in.

The only easy solution is a motherboard replacement. Another possible solution is outlined in the link Bondi provided- you solder a resistor to two pins of the chip, and that may completely fix the issue. There's not much else you can do if your A2x starts showing the BoD symptoms.

Hey, Medessec. Thanks for breaking this down.
I've also read reports that soldering the resistor doesn't often help to solve the issue. Maybe on the early stages only. However replacing the ADP3421 chip often does.

[Medessec]

Hey, Medessec. Thanks for breaking this down.
I've also read reports that soldering the resistor doesn't often help to solve the issue. Maybe on the early stages only. However replacing the ADP3421 chip often does.

Whoa! Good to know... I was thinking of trying it with a cruddy 14" A22m I had, but now that you mention it I think I do remember some reading material that told me a chip replacement was the only real way to fix it. I don't have any means of doing that unfortunately. May have to wait until some better solutions show up or maybe that sort of repair becomes easier/more worthwhile.

[astral]

I fixed a T21 by replacing the ADP3421. Sometimes the ADP3410 and Maxim MAX1631/1632 chips need to be replaced too, although they were fine on my T21.

[Medessec]

I fixed a T21 by replacing the ADP3421. Sometimes the ADP3410 and Maxim MAX1631/1632 chips need to be replaced too, although they were fine on my T21.

out of curiosity, were you able to do it on your own? Do you have a hot air station? How did you manage to replace the chip?

[astral]

Hot air station, flux, patience, steady hand, and a bit of luck. I'm certainly not great at soldering things this small. I'd really recommend using a microscope for this, but I did it without one because I don't have one yet.