Is my A21m dead?

[sebarho]

Hi folks. Sorry if another had previously came with this issue, but I send my A21m to an IBM official service and they are trying to charge me $484 for an 'attemp' of rapairing my systems board or $2395 for raplacing it! I'm form Argentina, and this is a LOT of money. So, I want to know if I can rapair it on my own before accepting or refusing the repairing service.

What had happen was this: I was out of my office, and my partner just turned it on to get something of my hard disk via ethernet. When I came back to the office - about an hour later- the computer was turned off, but with the lid up (strange...). I tried to start it again pushing the power button, but nothing. Just a power led flash and a noise like a "CHACK!" on the disk drive. Anyway, I was able to charge the battery. A friend told me that this problem could be fixed unplugging everything from the system board including the CPU, except the keyboard (with the power button) and the AC adapter. Then try to power it on (nothing would happen), assemble it again and Voila! it will work again as if it was magic.
Is this true? Sounds logical? Can I bring it back to life by doing this? Why?

Thanks in advance and sorry if you find my english is poor.

Sebastian

[schen]

You might or might not be able to revive it, but it sounds like you've had a head crash on your HDD. I think I'd try something simple like replacing it with one that is good. I mean; borrow one, not go out and buy one since you don't know for sure what's broken. Try to get the machine to boot on the test drive. If it does, then fine, get a new one and reload the software. Then you can put your old one in an enclosure or HDD Ultrabay adapter and try to get your data off. If that doesn't work and you still need the files from the old drive you may have to send it to a shop specializing in extracting from dead drives.

If the drive swap doesn't work, I'd be tempted to simple buy a replacement and sell the old machine for parts. You can probably find a machine similar to yours for less than $300 U.S.

[AlphaKilo470]

I've had a few cases where I was able to revive my ThinkPad 760E and one or two with my ThinkPad 600E where letting it sit with no power or devices installed and CMOS battery removed revived my system so it is work a shot.

Also, if it does come down to whether or not to pay all that money to IBM, well, I'm not sure how things are in Argentina but here, for $400 you could buy a fully outfitted used or possibly even refurbished ThinkPad T23 with accessories.

[sebarho]

SCHEN: The HDD works fine. I can tell you this because I recovered all the files mounting it through an usb esxternal case to my mrother's laptop.

AlphaKilo470: $400 (argentinian pesos) are equal to around US$ 130 (US dollars).
When you say "letting it sit with no power or devices installed and CMOS battery removed" you mean disconect everithing off from the system board but the CPU and let it "rest" a few minutes with no AC adepter nor battery conected and then ensamble it again?

Thanks again

Sebastian

[AlphaKilo470]

Yes, exactly that. By doing as I said, you should drain every last bit of power that's in the system so you'll be getting an actual reset on your computer instead of just a reboot. You'll also clear any CMOS settings that might have been messed up.

[bhtooefr]

Except do it for at LEAST an hour.

Edit: Just realized I kinda necroposted... so I was a little late...

I'll ask, though, what's happened so far? Hopefully you've gotten it working...

[ctcheung]

Your motherboard must have been fryed. I have the same problem with my two A22m that it would shut down suddenly. Only the hard disk sounded "chack, chack, chack" and you have difficulties to shut down the machine. The only way is to unplug the power and remove the big main battery. This is the common problem for all A and T series PIII notebook. I suggest you to buy the A20m or A22m motherboard from eBay and replace it yourself. It is not difficult. You should also download the hardware maintenance manual how to open and replace the motherboard. It is very easy and you only need a philips screw driver and remember where and which screws should be back to the notebookare. The screws are either 15mm or 4.8mm. I only took 2 hours work to replace the motherboard. I bidded the motherboard for $100 excluding postage. It comes with also lower part of the notebook with floppy drive, PC card drawers, miniPCI lan and modem card. It also come with a 850MHz CPU and fan and some screw that you can also upgrade your cpu.

CT Cheung