A20 Freezes on Start up

[naryb69]

Hi,
I have an A20m and it freezes on start up. I get the black screen with the Thinkpad logo with "hit F1 for..." and then it stops.

Any idea where on the boot process this is and where to look?

[natedog44]

Are there any more symptoms you can describe? For example does the laptop perform a series of beeps when it freezes?

Is the keyboard responsive at all? For example are you able to turn on the little light at the top of the LCD screen?

Nathan

[kyrotech]

Remove the system battery and the RTC backup battery. If you remove the RAM you get beeps or nothing happens? Right now the system board looks like dead IMHO

[naryb69]

Hi,
Let me try this again.

1. No sound other than the fan. Never a beep, burp for anything.

2. When I hit the power button
- a light on the right hinge goes on (looks to be a power/battery indicator)
- 4 of 5 lights on top right of keyboard light up for a moment and then go out(far left does not light)
- of these 4 lights 3 go out leaving only the far right lit
- LCD screene flickers
- LCD screene shows "Thinkpad IBM" with "Press F1...Bios setup" and "Press F12...boot disk" at the bottom.
- the first light of the 5 on top of the keybord (far left - looks to be a HD light)
3. If you do nothing it will stay like this.
4. If you hit the F1 button right after power and keep it depressed you will go to a screene saying BIOS set up but nothing happens.
5. If you hit the F12 button right after power up and keep it depressed you will go to a screen saying Preparing Boot disk but nothing happens.

Hope this helps. I appreciate any and all guidance.

[naryb69]

Any ideas?

I'm doubly interested since another one bit the dust. Yesterday I was using another A20m and the screen started flashing on and off and it froze. Nothing worked.

I unplugged and took the battery out to power down. And now it freezes on start up similar to the other one. But I can get it to go to Bios with F1 and such.

I'm not into these machines for much since they are from my ex-employer who sold them after downsizing. And I know they are 500 Mhz but they work fine and are good for family trips. It is neat to put each kid with a laptop and a game in the car.

[krewe]

Hello naryb69,

did you already somehow solve the problem ?
I've got the very same problem on a T22 ( see http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=17320 ). I am really thinking about replacing the
mainboard, to get this fixed... What is your approach ?

[naryb69]

Actually, I am still stumped. Haven't had a lot of comments to go on with my problem.

And like I added a second one want south pretty much the same way. I'm going to try and carve out some time with them and see if I can get help from anywhere. If they don't get fixed soon you will see them on ebay 'as is'