T42 freezing

[canflyboy]

My T42 freezes at various points after start up. Sometimes I'll get as far as opening an application like Windows Explorer - other times it'll freeze up even on boot-up.

I notice that just before everything freezes, the screen becomes slightly fuzzy and then everything freezes. I can reboot via the on/off button, but it will randomly freeze up again within the first few minutes of use.

I have an old T42 and T41 that I robbed a screen and hard drive off of in the past. Could I perhaps start swapping out some internals? At the moment, I think the other T42 had the same problem.

Any suggestions what it could be and where I can start?

Thanks

Canflyboy

[ajkula66]

Sounds to me like a failing GPU.

Time to replace the motherboard, or look for a new laptop altogether.

Grab a board from here while there are still some left:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90207

Good luck.

[burns334]

flyboy, I've had a bad stick of RAM cause that kind of problem, easy to check out for sure.

[canflyboy]

Thanks burns - I'll give that a try tomorrow and let you know if it works - otherwise - I'll order a Mobo and try a swap.

Thanks all

[ajkula66]

Bad stick of RAM will not garble the display...

[canflyboy]

Swapped out my T42 Mobo with an old T41 unit that I had laying around (bad screen) and the problem is solved!

BTW, Easy step-by-step instructions below
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Repa ... ard/2919/1

Thanks all for your input

Canflyboy

[burns334]

Bad stick of RAM will not garble the display...

ajk, send me your address and I'll send you one that will!

[smashkenazi]

Today I verified that the screen will freeze if the wireless card is bad.

For the first two days, the screen would lock and neither mouse nor track point could budge the cursor. This usually happened within an hour after a re-boot.

On the morning of the 3rd day, a reboot showed a completely blank/black screen.

You can easily test if this is your problem by unhooking the leads on the wireless card. They are press fit rather than soldered.

My card was/is: FRU:93P3483. It was manufactured June, 2004.

It's curious how many ways there are to get the screen to freeze.

[Johan]

Bad stick of RAM will not garble the display...

My own, personel (and very annoying, at that time) experience is that a bad stick of RAM actually very well can cause the display of a T42p to become garbled.

Johan