To do or not to do? 2x T61p 100$ *PICS*

[Cola]

Hi all!


I was recently asked if I was interested in 2 identical T61p 6458-5KG laptops. I'll name them #1 and #2 for this thread, so it'll be easier to keep track of.

#1 is in good condition, T7700 CPU, FX570M, 15,4'' WUXGA display, nice panels and keyboard. The thing is, that it's not working. It starts up with a black screen, so must be the graphics chip, which is fixable! It has got no ram, no HDD or no AC adapter included.

#2 is also in good condition, T7700 CPU, FX570M, 15,4'' WUXGA display, also nice panels and keyboard. This one doesn't start up at all though. Nothing at all. No lights no nothing. This one hasn't got ram, HDD nor ac adapter neither. Is it a complete no go then? Or can this be fixed? I can't seem to find any information about this around the internet.


Should I bid for both (100$) or just the one with the fixable graphics adapter?
Just to give you an idea of the prices, a nice T61p with everything working is selling for 300-400$ in Denmark, so I find the prices on these quite reasonable, or what do you think?


The seller will send me some pictures of them later, which I'll also post here.


Thanks in advance!
Regards, Frederik.

Admin edit: Added *PIC* warning

[RealBlackStuff]

Both of them need new motherboards, each of them costing more than both those laptops together.
And don't forget the other missing parts: hard drives (+covers), RAM, chargers...
A faulty nVidia motherboard can ONLY be replaced, not repaired, since there are no graphics chips for sale ANYwhere.
If you want to pay $100.- for the parts, you probably just about break even.
Personally I'd give it a miss.

[Cola]

The motherboards can be reflowed making the FX570M work again. Also the other parts I wont need, as I'll probably end up selling the thing in pieces. I'm more keen on what's with #2.

[RealBlackStuff]

That mobo can NOT be repaired by reflowing it!
There are myriad posts about this in the T6x forum, spend some time reading them!
The fault is inside the graphics chip, and ONLY replacing the chip OR the motherboard would repair it properly!
Sure there are hundreds of Youtube movies about baking/cooking/frying it, all of them ARE NO GOOD, and perhaps a temporary fix for a few minutes, hours or days.
But it's your money...
'Nuff said.

[Cola]

Still. The laptop CAN become usable as normal when reflowed. I have already tried this myself. Maybe it isn't a permanent solution, but that doesn't mean it's not a fix.

The main question still is about T61p #2. Has any of you ever tried or heard of anything like it? Can it be fixed somehow?

[ajkula66]

Still. The laptop CAN become usable as normal when reflowed.

It certainly can on certain occasions. The question is, for how long...

With that said, are you planning on using it or re-selling it?

Maybe it isn't a permanent solution, but that doesn't mean it's not a fix.

No, that's *exactly* what it means. You're applying a band-aid to a bullet wound in order to prevent it from further bleeding.

The main question still is about T61p #2. Has any of you ever tried or heard of anything like it? Can it be fixed somehow?

Most likely dead as a dodo. Many of us have seen hundreds of machines in such shape...if you're looking for a quick & easy fix, there probably isn't one.

[TuuS]

If you get the gpu hot enough it may work for a day, a week, or if you're really lucky maybe even a few months, but under no circumstances will it be "fixed". The GPU has internal fractures that cannot be fixed. You can buy boards that have never failed in the $100-200 range, but good luck finding one because the internet is full of scams selling reflowed boards that are certain to fail and even if you find one that has never failed or been reflowed, it still can fail. The only boards that are free of this problem are the ones that were originally installed in systems build in August 2008. If you're lucky enough to find one of these boards it's going to cost you $300 most likely, and many boards I've seen advertised as august 2008 really aren't.

These are however great systems, if you have a complete system with a bad board then I'd say it would be worth it to buy a genuine 08/08 board, or one with Intel graphics, but since you have to pay for the system and it has the valuable parts removed, they really don't have much value at all, plus you really don't know what condition the screens are in. The wuxga screens are known to have issues, a pristine one with even backlight and no bad pixels would be nice to have, but if you fire it up after spending money and find it has dead pixels, uneven backlight, pressure marks, etc... then you can look at spending another $100-200 for a screen. On these models most people prefer the wsxga+ screen, they are brighter and don't have the same problems and seem to age much better then other types of screens.

[Tasurinchi]

I'd first check with the seller about the state of the panels. Spots, dead pixels or scratches would be a no go for me. If the seller can confirm that the panels are ok (and if is a seller with good reputation) I personally would definitively risk 100 bucks for them (even at risk of getting the crappy Samsung panels).

Regarding board, if you're patience enough you may find a T61 Intel board for a decent price. I've recently got one for 70€ in the German sister forum.

[Cola]

I'd first check with the seller about the state of the panels. Spots, dead pixels or scratches would be a no go for me. If the seller can confirm that the panels are ok (and if is a seller with good reputation) I personally would definitively risk 100 bucks for them (even at risk of getting the crappy Samsung panels).

Regarding board, if you're patience enough you may find a T61 Intel board for a decent price. I've recently got one for 70€ in the German sister forum.

As mentioned earlier, I made the seller send me pictures of front, sides, rear, beneath and top of the laptops, so I could evaluate the panels for myself. The seller seems legit. We don't really have any proper site with IBM/Lenovo activity in Denmark with a reputation system, but so far I haven't been scammed yet. It's all about knowing what to go for and what not.

Thanks for the offer on the Intel board, but it wont pay off for me to buy one of those anyway, and certainly not with the small market for these in Denmark.

[farmall]

I'd nail the pair, wait for an Intel motherboard (last one I got was 40 bucks shipped, buy them with the base since sellers savvy enough to totally pull motherboards want more money for them), and get the WUXGA unit up first since it allows running VMs at reasonable resolution.

[Cola]

I'd nail the pair, wait for an Intel motherboard (last one I got was 40 bucks shipped, buy them with the base since sellers savvy enough to totally pull motherboards want more money for them), and get the WUXGA unit up first since it allows running VMs at reasonable resolution.

Thanks for your input.
As it is atm, I'll probably go for them, but I'm still waiting for the pictures of them. If they're all in good shape, I could upgrade the keyboard on my W500 with one of those, which would be awesome. Less keyboard flex, a close to brand new keyboard, and all keys working.

[Cola]

Okay, I got the pictures now.

They both look great. One is from 08/05 and the other one is from 07/10. I'm not good with these US dates, but that mean they are from respectively May 2008 and October 2007, am I right?

I'll name them '08 and '07 to keep track of them.


Pictures:
'08 overview



'08 buttom



'08 lid




--

'07 overview


'07 buttom


07 lid






I don't know about you, but to me they look as if they're in pretty good nick, which is pretty good as I'm selling them on in parts!
Hopefully they've been sitting in a dock for their entire life, meaning the displays should still be pretty well lit.

[Oglon3r]

08/05 would mean August 2005 07/10 would mean July 2010 at least on simplified dates.
Let us know how the investment goes I have been running a reflowed T61p for almost a year. If you manage to reflow it and boot just make sure you are generous and add a nice clean layer of decent thermal paste. My system never goes above 70 even while playing hi10. Also install TPFan control utility and run it in manual.

[Cola]

08/05 would mean August 2005 07/10 would mean July 2010 at least on simplified dates.
Let us know how the investment goes I have been running a reflowed T61p for almost a year. If you manage to reflow it and boot just make sure you are generous and add a nice clean layer of decent thermal paste. My system never goes above 70 even while playing hi10. Also install TPFan control utility and run it in manual.

Hi, thanks for replying, but seeing as no T61p's were made in either 2005 nor 2010, I think it's US dates.
I've got Arctic Silver MX3 atm. so that's what I'm going to put on it after the reflow.

Thanks for the tips on it.

[RealBlackStuff]

Up until recently, most Thinkpads had a manufacturing date written as YY/MM.
This definitely applies to T2x/T3x/T4x/R5x/T6x/R6x/X6x models and T400/T500/R400/R500 series machines.
08/05 means: Year 2008 / Month 05=May
07/10 means: Year 2007 / Month 10=October

The way dates are to be interpreted , especially on T61 machines, has only been mentioned about a gazillion times

[Cola]

Up until recently, most Thinkpads had a manufacturing date written as YY/MM.
This definitely applies to T2x/T3x/T4x/R5x/T6x/R6x/X6x models and T400/T500/R400/R500 series machines.
08/05 means: Year 2008 / Month 05=May
07/10 means: Year 2007 / Month 10=October

The way dates are to be interpreted , especially on T61 machines, has only been mentioned about a gazillion times

Thanks for clarifying it!


Anyway, I transacted the money yesterday, and seller sent the two T61p's today. He ended up paying 30$ for the postage alone, I paid 100$ for both laptops and postage included, so if we look away from the postage costs, I paid just 70$ for two T61p's in great condition. Win-win

[Oglon3r]

Up until recently, most Thinkpads had a manufacturing date written as YY/MM.
This definitely applies to T2x/T3x/T4x/R5x/T6x/R6x/X6x models and T400/T500/R400/R500 series machines.
08/05 means: Year 2008 / Month 05=May
07/10 means: Year 2007 / Month 10=October

The way dates are to be interpreted , especially on T61 machines, has only been mentioned about a gazillion times

Thanks for the clarification haha I would've never guessed I got to read up on my thinkpad info...

[j.harris]

I think you guys are looking too much into BGA failures. It's not a problem with the GPU, nor a motherboard problem, it's just the connection between the board and chip. As long as you use a no clean liquid flux when you reflow it's just like a new motherboard. The permanent fix would be to reball with leaded solder balls, that's an even better solution than buying a new board, but ultimately too expensive for these laptops.

[twistero]

I think you guys are looking too much into BGA failures. It's not a problem with the GPU, nor a motherboard problem, it's just the connection between the board and chip.

Actually, it IS a GPU problem, not the solder balls between motherboard and GPU. It's been mentioned repeatedly on this forum that Nvidia mobile GPUs of that generation have an internal fault that manifests after many temperature cycles. Reflowing helps because it heats up the chip so that internal connections work for a while before breaking again, not because it fixes the connection between MB and GPU.