did I distroy my G40

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nukmusic · #1 Post by **nukmusic** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 12:48 am

Thinkpad G40. I was having problems where the wireless card would not load up the drivers 9 out of 10 times I powered up. It was working great, but then problems start. The device manager would see the card but it would give an error "CODE 10, CAN NOT LOAD DRIVERS" after several tries to reinstall. but anyway..........

while installing a new stick of SDRAM, i removed the small battery inside the sdram compartment accidently dropping it onto the little "things" next to it which created a very small spark

. Things meaning the (10) tiny modules next to that small battery. Now my G40 will not power up. I hope the is a fuse inside that I may have blown out???Please??? The battery(main and the small one) still work because I tried them in my wife's G40. When i connect the battery charger, the icon is green as usual. But it will not power up. What have I done?

nukmusic · #2 Post by **nukmusic** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:09 am

JHEM · #3 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:29 am

Sparks are never a good thing, I fear the worst.

Any warranty left?

Regards,

James

nukmusic · #4 Post by **nukmusic** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:21 pm

http://www.nukmusic.com/backup.jpg

the battery acidently touched the little module(red arrow, with battery to the right of it) and created a very small spark. It looks to have a little burn mark on the right side, I may have blown it out or something. I looked very closely at the rest of the MOBO and saw no other signs of damage. The small battery is only 3volts. I wonder if I could get someone to replace the tiny module ?? WHat's the price on a new MOBO.???? Thinkpad G40 2389-3HU

I tested everything on my wife's G40 and all still works.........hard drive, SDRAM, Battery(both), etc,etc. BUt the Wireless card still didn't work the drive....it must be going bad. "Code 10"

mannnnn. I feel hurt. WHat should I do.

MOD EDIT: Please use links intead of pics, without a warning in the original subject line.

nukmusic · #5 Post by **nukmusic** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 6:26 am

waiting on email from IBM. Warranty up, go figure.............everything works fine til the warranty expires.

Tech support phone call just had me waiting on hold for too long. The customer service rep said I may have to ship it too them for repair

no time frame on how long it my take. Sucks.

can't a local repair shop just replace this little module?

Its very small. Looking at the enlarged pic above the, that battery is about the size of your fingernail.

nukmusic · #6 Post by **nukmusic** » Mon May 02, 2005 8:54 am

anyone else. can I buy this little part somewhere? What is it called?

slagmi · #7 Post by **slagmi** » Mon May 02, 2005 11:44 am

It is a resistor

Yes it can be replaced

But it's unlikely that will help...sorry

It will be a rather expensive repair. If you decide to sell the laptop I may be interested if the price is right.

Vlan · #8 Post by **Vlan** » Thu May 05, 2005 2:53 am

Hi.....

Like the previous answer, it's a surface mount resistor. It wouldn't be damaged by a 3v battery shorting it. What I don't understand is that you would not be able to see a spark created by the backup battery, especially in day light. The battery has a very low current rating and wouldn't leave burn marks.
Did you work on your laptop with the mains power supply plugged in or main battery still installed (both a big no no)? If so you may of blown a solid state fuse/diode which protects the main board from high current. If not try removing all hardware, memory, hard disk, backup battery, main battery etc and see if any bleeps when powering up using main supply.

nukmusic · #9 Post by **nukmusic** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:54 am

The battery(about half charged) was still connected, but the main power supply/charger was not connected. I was adding in a new stick of RAM, and decided to check the small battery next to the RAM slots. I accidently flipped it up and it slid over onto the resistor and that's where I saw the very, very small spark or what looked like one. I know IBM, wants me to ship it to them and then the will tell me what it will cost to repair......ha, ha, ha in other words they want me to drop my shorts, bend over, and close my

eyes. U never need the warranty til its up.

nukmusic · #10 Post by **nukmusic** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:01 am

tried what u said..........removed, ram, HD, main and backup battery. connected main power supply/charger. Still nothing. no beeps, no lights, nada!!

But whe i connect the main battery and plug in the main power supply/charger. It shows that the battery is charging by the display of the battery icon being orange and when it is charged it turns green. but no other likes work

nukmusic · #11 Post by **nukmusic** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:10 am

oh snap...................as I finished typing the above I started to unplug the main power supply/charger and the other lights came on as when i unpluged it, well at least for about 15 seconds as if it was going to power up. the cd-rom started to spend too. I did not have the ram, backup battery or HD connected.

IF i disconnect the main battery and then reconnect it the same thing will happen........as if it was going to power up. The HD light and power status light will come on. If i press the power button they will go off.

nukmusic · #12 Post by **nukmusic** » Mon May 09, 2005 5:36 pm

anymore tips

egibbs · #13 Post by **egibbs** » Tue May 10, 2005 6:21 am

Well, personally I would not do the following - I'd bite the bullet and pay IBM to fix it. But if you've determined that you have nothing left to lose at this point...

The device in question appears to be a capacitor, not a resistor. I'm basing this on the picture you posted, the label (Csomething) next to another component the same color, and the label (Rsomething) next to a darker component. That's an educated guess but it lookks like the resistors are darker color than the caps.

Resistors tend to fail open and caps tend to fail shorted. The cap in guestion is bridging a power line to the ground plane (the big wide trace in the picture). So if it shorted it could be drawing down one of the supply voltages.

If you are reasonably good with a soldering iron (or know someone who is) and can get your hands on a low wattage pin tip iron or surfact mount de-soldering tool, you could try removing the cap. That would remove the short and might allow the macihne to start up.

The cap is there for a reason though - it is probably part of a filter circuit. Without it you may have noise problems. You should replace it, but you would need to determine the correct value first. I'm not sure how to read markings on surface mount components, or if they are even marked. Try googling around and see if you can determine the correct value and find a vendor willing to sell you one (good luck - I bet the minimum order is 5000).

As I said, I would not personally attempt this but YMMV.

Good luck,

Ed Gibbs

slagmi · #14 Post by **slagmi** » Tue May 10, 2005 8:46 am

Radio shack sells an inexpensive cordless 'cold heat' solder tool these days. It's great!!

One common source of components these days is dead boards off eBay. Doesen't have to be the same board of you're just taking parts.

IME problems involving a spark aren't ever that simple, but if you want to test Ed's theroy just whack it (gently) with a hobby knife. You've got nothing to lose!

nukmusic · #15 Post by **nukmusic** » Wed May 11, 2005 10:05 am

ok cool, I'll look into it. Found this site too, anyone deal with them before?

http://www.laptopparts.com/

I really thank you folks for all the input. My tired of me using her labtop. I thought about sending mines in as her's because it still has a year left on warranty

but Them will check the serial numbers...........LOL

nukmusic · #16 Post by **nukmusic** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:13 pm

any upgrades? I still haven't find the answer. I may just buy a new labtop. every shop i talk to see to ready to bend me over and do me good

mobo is 600-900 bucks

nukmusic · #17 Post by **nukmusic** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 11:53 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... Track=true

anyone deal with these folks??

Website · #18 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 12:11 am

You do know that that is just for labor to replace the motherboard, right?

The cheapest systemboard that I found on eBay was $495...add that to the cost of the labor listed above, and you could pick up a replacement G40.

Have you tried replacing the CMOS with a new one? It could have been that you damaged the CMOS battery and not the systemboard. Bad CMOS batteries can cause some very strange results.

nukmusic · #19 Post by **nukmusic** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 10:56 pm

I tried everything.

Where is that board on ebay? I have been looking for parts

Website · #20 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:17 am

It isn't new though, but here is the search result.

Since there are different part numbers, I would make sure that you look through the Hardware Maintenance Manul for your specific part number. If your isn't listed in these search results, try searching for your specific part number, using the within the description option.

madmaven · #21 Post by **madmaven** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:51 pm

YOu gotta be good, real good to do that kind of work. Even replacing the mobo isnt easy if you havnt been inside a laptop a lot.
Do a search on Ebay and save the results and add them to your favorites and they will send you email whenever anything comes up thats G40 related.
I dont think there is an easy answer for you. YOu could probably part it out on ebay and get more for it that way and use the proceeds towards another. you could keep your hard drive and use that.
If I ws going to spend that kind of money to repair it with IBM I would
part it out and find one that hadn't been shorted, you never know if there is hidden damage that will require other repairs in addition.
good luck
Madmaven

did I distroy my G40

did I distroy my G40

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