Is the service manual right with T42 system board FRUs?

[bandrews]

So, apparently my ThinkPad T42 mainboard has water damage. (I sent it in for a simple power regulation issue... and it was shipped back to me saying it was water damaged, except after the half-wits in Memphis got done with it, it wouldn't boot at all and gave a video-related beep code. Thanks guys.) Lenovo kept telling me I didn't have any warranty coverage to boot (even though I explicitly purchased a $325 extended warranty last year) and (this is the best part!) it would cost $550 to repair out of warranty, or $900 to repair in warranty (no, that's not a typo - having a warranty doubles your repair cost for non-covered repairs.)

So enough sour grapes - I have enough repair expertise to do it myself the right way. All I needed was a replacement system board. So I referred to the System Service Parts list, looked up my machine type (2373-3UU), and found that my mainboard is a 93P4158. I double-checked the online "parts in your system" lookup utility, and sure enough, the "planar" FRU is listed as a 93P4158. I find a nice 93P4158 on eBay and snap it up for a reasonable cost (a mere fraction of what Lenovo wanted, that's for sure.)

Based on the System Service Parts list, I purchased a new system board off eBay for my machine. Seller was reliable and it arrived right on schedule. But wait,what's this? The 93P4158 I received has a Radeon 7500! My 2373-3UU shipped with a Radeon Mobility 9600!

I disassembled my machine and, to my disgust (but by this point, not surprise, sadly) found that the existing mainboard in my ThinkPad was a 93P4159, contrary to what both the web site and the service manual say.

So are both of these parts mislabeled, or is the web information wrong? It sounds like somewhere someone made an off by one mistake. Or do the 93P4158 and 93P4159 ship with multiple video chipsets each, making the FRU useless for determining which video chipset you have?

Any insight - especially others who have a -3UU who happen to know their actual mainboard FRU number - would be greatly appreciated. If the service manual is wrong, I want to complain to Lenovo so it can be corrected. And if I made a mistake somewhere along the line, I'd love to know what I did wrong!

Thanks,
Ben[/b]

[GomJabbar]

There is obviously at least some mistakes in the documentation on IBM's site for System service parts - ThinkPad T40/p, T41/p, T42/p. If you search through this list, on the number 3Ux, you will see the following. Note that the description for ATI M10-64 matches what your model ThinkPad has, that is an ATI 9600 with 64MB memory.

System board assembly
for ATI M10-64, Gigabit Ethernet with security chip for T42 series
2373-3Ux, 3Vx, 3Xx, 3Yx, 8Xx, 8Yx, 8Zx, 9Tx, 9Ux, 9Vx, 9Xx, 9Zx, AYx, BUx, BXx, BYx, CUx, CVx, CWx, CXx, CYx, JXx
2374-3VU, 3Xx
2378-DXx, EXx, EYx, FVx
2379-DXx 93P4158

If you search farther down the list, you will see the following. Note that the description for the 3Ux here says for ATI Fire GL with 128MB of memory. So the description in the list above for the 3Ux does not jive with the description in the list below for the 3Ux.

Fan assembly
Long M10
Fire GL 128MB Systems
2373-ANx, GEx, GGx, GHx, GLx, GJx, GKx, GMx
2373-3Ux, 3Vx, 3Xx, 3Yx, 7Xx, 8Xx, 8Yx, 8Zx, 9Tx, 9Ux, 9Vx, 9Xx, 9Zx, AYx, AZx, BUx, BXx, BYx, BZx, CUx, CVx, CWx, CXx, CYx, GRx, GSx, GTx, GUx, GVx, GXx, GYx, GZx, HTx, HVx, HWx, HXx, HYx, JXx, KTx, KUx, KXx, KYx, KZx
2373-F4x, H7x, HBx, Q1x, Q2x, Q3x, Q4x, Q5x, Q6x
2374-3VU, 7Xx, HTx
2374-3Xx, 7Xx, HTx
2374-Q2x
2378-DXx, DYx, EXx, EYx, EZx, FVx
2378-RVx
2379-DXx, DYx, EZx
2379-RVx 13R2657

I would Call IBM parts help at 1-800-765-5944 and ask them what going on. They need to correct the information on the System service parts - ThinkPad T40/p, T41/p, T42/p page, and in the Hardware Maintenance Manual, if it shows the same thing.

EDIT: See following thread. http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=25073

[David McMahon]

Does't look like they have updated the parts list yet

I'm trying to get a motherboard for a 2372-2VG

Guessing I need 93P4159 but even if that's true Can I get one cheap? What companies supply these boards for a good price in the UK?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46474

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ry=23732VG

[FTC]

Hi,

My understanding is that the 93P4158 is the same board as the 93P4159, but the former mounts the ATI9600, and the later mounts rthe FireGL 128. I don't know why you got a board labeled 93P4159 in a machine that was supposed to have an ATI9600 and a board 93P4158, but the fact is that it indeed had the intended GPU and recognized itself as a 93P4158, so from a 'new system' point of view, your machine was OK (it had the intended functionality).

Now, what is *really strange* is that the new one you got is really a 93P4158 if it mounts a 7500.. To begin with, how do you know it is a 93P4158 ?? are there labels in the box ... ? .. in the board ? did you mount it ? how does it recogniz itself (bios) ?

[David McMahon]

There is a T42 on ebay that needs a new board (by the look of it!) and just wanted to know which board will fit it!! Because of the service book mistake I made my post.

I think 93P4159 is correct (the machine has 9600-64MB) on the service manual it says that 93P4159 is the 128-fire

only real way to tell is to strip it!! So if I buy will strip and report!!!