T23 pulsing fan on startup, wont POST

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skygodtj · #1 Post by **skygodtj** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:07 pm

My original T23's fan began pulsing on startup, and wouldnt POST, I pulled the HD, memory, everything, out and put it all in another -23 I was building.. That one is now the one I'm having the ethernet daugther card problems with...

ok, on to the pulsing fan.. I've been looking thru all the posts re: "pulsing/pulsating fan on startup" and cant find anything other than "replace the mobo". I read references to power switch on/off like 50 times or so to try to drain the overcharged caps, and other references to inductors.. is there a real fix for pulsing fan on startup, or the the only fix, "replacing the mobo"?

TJ

Website · #2 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:36 am

If you have the pulsating fan, then you might want to remove the systemboard and turn it over. There are two "inductors" (which I previously thought were called PCBs) that have a tendancy to either come off, or come loose on one side. Here are pics of what I am talking about:

Pic #1

Pic #2

The first pic shows the entire boardas a frame of reference. The second pic is zoomed in. Several people have been able to resolder them and get the board to work, including skou.

skygodtj · #3 Post by **skygodtj** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:01 am

ok, as the pulsing -23 is stripped bare now, gettting the board off will be a snap. I'll chk the inductors and see whats what.. prob wouldnt hurt to look over the rest of the board for cold solder joints either... one thing i did notice last night trying to get it to power up was while it was running, the area of the board under the pcmcia slots got very very warm, a lot warmer than the T23 I'm writing this on (this one has the bad NIC)

Thanks for the excellent help! Have a good(and safe) 4th!

TJ

skygodtj · #4 Post by **skygodtj** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:44 pm

WAHOOO!!!! ok, pulled the board out and yes, one of the two inductors had broken off the board(well, just one side of it).. a little heat from a 15w pencil, tiny tiny solder and it's solid... re-assembled, repopulated, well, with fan and KB anyway.. power plugged in, single LED blinks.. power button, all three LED's blink, fan powers up and stays at constant speed!!! WAHOOOO!

Now, with the NIC problem that this one(I'm typing on) has, I'm trying to decide whether to put everything back into the newly fixed -23.

I'd need another LCD assemble, KB, bezel, and memory to get that one going again... up, up and eBaaaaaaaay!

TJ

christopher_wolf · #5 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:25 pm

skygodtj wrote:WAHOOO!!!! ok, pulled the board out and yes, one of the two inductors had broken off the board(well, just one side of it).. a little heat from a 15w pencil, tiny tiny solder and it's solid... re-assembled, repopulated, well, with fan and KB anyway.. power plugged in, single LED blinks.. power button, all three LED's blink, fan powers up and stays at constant speed!!! WAHOOOO!

Now, with the NIC problem that this one(I'm typing on) has, I'm trying to decide whether to put everything back into the newly fixed -23.

I'd need another LCD assemble, KB, bezel, and memory to get that one going again... up, up and eBaaaaaaaay!

TJ

Inductors you say?

Website · #6 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:15 pm

Glad to hear that it seems to work.

Any progress on getting the system to boot completely with everything attached?

skygodtj · #7 Post by **skygodtj** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:35 pm

well, yes and no, the laptop has an PowerOn and Admin pw and the "A" on the kb is bad(it's needed twice), so I cant get past the PW screen, but as I'm able to see everything on the ext monitor(no LCD) and get a POST beep, I think it's back to what it was before it started pulsing. I can pull the components off the replacment -23 and put them in the fixed one to see if it really gets going, but I just got a KB, bezel and hinge cover on eBay. Next is memory and an LCD assembly.. next paycheck...

Thanks for the help, I was surprised the inductor had broken one leg off the board, I'm pretty good about setting it down easy..

Hope you had a great 4th..

teege

Kaervak · #8 Post by **Kaervak** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:06 am

Sorry about bringing a thread back from the great beyond, just had to add my input.

I recently bought a T23 that had the same issue. It also occassionally would turn on with a 1" thick white bar at the top of the LCD. The inductors were the problem. Check those inductors people. A simple two minutes of soldering can be the thing that fixes your laptop.

skou · #9 Post by **skou** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 10:50 pm

tfflivemb2 wrote:If you have the pulsating fan, then you might want to remove the systemboard and turn it over. There are two "inductors" (which I previously thought were called PCBs) that have a tendancy to either come off, or come loose on one side. Here are pics of what I am talking about:

Pic #1

Pic #2

The first pic shows the entire board as a frame of reference. The second pic is zoomed in. Several people have been able to resolder them and get the board to work, including skou.

So, here I am, getting my name dragged through the mud!

:D

Skygod, glad to hear you were able to fix it. (Surprising for an airplane driver!)

For the rest of you, I was an aircraft electrician in the Army, and the drivers we had couldn't comprehend anything more complex than a pencil. A mechanical pencil would ground them!

steve

Bgradid · #10 Post by **Bgradid** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:51 pm

I have a T23 with, now, the same problem. I've taken the system apart no problem and confirmed that the component is loose on the motherboard.

My question is though, that I don't have much experience soldering with these fine components? Can anyone give me any tips as to what range of iron (15~30 watts?) I should use with this board? I don't want to make a solvable situation into a completely broken board while I still have the chance.

skou · #11 Post by **skou** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:05 pm

I uised a weak (99 cent store) soldering iron. It is listed as a 30 watter, but I think that is a bit generous.

The places you need to solder are not too small, so it is relatively easy.

Use the finest (smallest diameter solder wire) solder you can find. I found some .020 solder, and it worked just fine.

Take your time, and it will be just fine. Since that component is just a coil, don't worry about getting it on backwards. It won't matter.

steve

#12 Post by **rkawakami** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:06 pm

A 15-25w soldering iron with the finest point tip you can get should be okay. What you don't want is a 75w gun that will lift the pad you are trying to solder to. If you can't get your hands on any solder paste (not your typical item), then use the thinnest diameter solder and the minimum amount of heat, spread evenly between the pad and the terminal you are soldering. Be careful that you don't heat/burn any parts in the surrounding area.

skou · #13 Post by **skou** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:09 pm

One more thing, I tinned the inductors before I soldered them on. (In other words, I put a blob of solder on the contact points on the inductors, and just melted that solder in place when I attached them.)

steve

Bgradid · #14 Post by **Bgradid** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:25 pm

Ok, thanks a lot skou and rkawakami, I'll try this in an hour or two and post results

Bgradid · #15 Post by **Bgradid** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 10:51 pm

I learned that I'm horrible at soldering, but, the laptop is working great now.

Many thanks

skou · #16 Post by **skou** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 10:54 pm

Well, it's working! That is good news!

Glad you got it fixed.

steve

vlyne · #17 Post by **vlyne** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:04 am

I don't know what criteria the Forum uses to determine which threads become sticky but this should be one of them. It adds new meaning to the term loosing one's marbles! The PICs by tfflivemb2 also no longer seem to be mounted and would have to be relinked.
Cheers

Bgradid · #18 Post by **Bgradid** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:36 am

I also found this useful, i don't know if a forum member here made it
http://ziva-vatra.dnsalias.com/~ognen/? ... il/T23fail

vlyne · #19 Post by **vlyne** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:46 am

Nice article Bgradid!

Inspired by these posts I dug out a T23 I abandoned some time ago. Before I left it, I tested just about every fuse on that machine and every capacitor I could to no avail. I checked those inductors but obviously not closely enough. This time around I found both were hanging by one leg. In fact one fell off as I lifted it slightly. Both pads on the bottom of the inductor were oxidised so I gave them a good clean, tinned all the surfaces to be joined and resoldered both inductors. Whalla! The T23 lives again!!
Cheers

Website · #20 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:48 am

vlyne wrote:I don't know what criteria the Forum uses to determine which threads become sticky but this should be one of them. It adds new meaning to the term loosing one's marbles! The PICs by tfflivemb2 also no longer seem to be mounted and would have to be relinked.
Cheers

We had one before, and unfortunately it was pulled down for other reasons. It was my original thread on this, when I realized that the inductors were loose. Several people tested the repair, and found that it worked. I still haven't gotten the nerve up to do it yet, but I will pretty soon, as I am looking at putting together one of the T23s that I have.

Also, I fixed the link. I had forgotten the ones in this thread, when I cleaned and organized my photobucket stash.

Maybe I will clean out the original thread and repost it as a sticky.

vlyne · #21 Post by **vlyne** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:08 pm

tfflivemb2 wrote:I still haven't gotten the nerve up to do it yet, but I will pretty soon, as I am looking at putting together one of the T23s that I have.

If I can do it, it's obviously doable but I found the soldering a bit difficult (as did Bgradid it seems). The problem is that the heat from a low wattage soldering iron (I was using a 15W unit) was sucked away quickly by the straps on the side on the inductor. The best approach I found is to clean and pre-tin the parts to be joined. On the inductor, pre-tin a bit up the side as well as this is where the heat has to flow from. Once pre-tinned, hold the inductor down (you can use your fingers away from the metal bits but even then it gets hot!) and heat the side strap on the place where you've pre-tinned the side. I'd offer to do the job for you but you'd have to deliver the MB down to OZ!

tfflivemb2 wrote:Maybe I will clean out the original thread and repost it as a sticky.

Worth doing I think. Thanks for helping me to resurrect my T23!

Cheers

Mortdk · #22 Post by **Mortdk** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:43 am

My T23 had the same problem - a thick gradient line across the top of the screen. Found a soldering iron and set to work.
I too found out I'm not the best solderer in the world, but hey, I managed to stick the component back on, and the T23 now starts.

Although now the T23 won't recognize the hard disk. The BIOS can't see it, and there seems like there is no connection. Although some disk tools DO recognize the drive to be present, and are able to format and partition it, the BIOS just wont acknowledge its existence.

Bgradid · #23 Post by **Bgradid** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:39 pm

if any hard drive tools recognize it then the bios has to be recognizing it.

Mortdk · #24 Post by **Mortdk** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:44 pm

Heh, tell that to my BIOS!

I'm not sure what's happening, I just get a blinking cursor. I can enter the BIOS, and I'm quite sure there once was an option in there to change the hard disk "compatibility" mode. I think I fiddled with this one time when I upgraded the disk. Now I can't find the option.

Can someone please confirm there is a HDD option in the BIOS setup?

Bgradid · #25 Post by **Bgradid** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:46 pm

Actually sometimes the t23 can be a bit 'fiddly' with hard drive detection from what i've noticed, taking out the drive booting up without it and putting it back in seems to get it on its way.

Does the hard drive light stay on when its acting like this?

Mortdk · #26 Post by **Mortdk** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:22 pm

Well what do you know... it seems to work now.
I installed the disk for the 100th time, and this time at boot, it said "no system on disk".
Wow - first time it gave me something over than blinky cursor.

The BIOS startup screen now also reports discovering the hard disk. Very strange. Well, considering my below-par soldering skills on the motherboard, and this seemingly random hard drive discovery, I think this machine is deemed an eternal life on the testing playground.

25 minutes later... the disk is recognized, and Ubuntu is installing. But this didn't work first off - after about 5 tries, I formatted the disk to NTFS, then FAT32, Linux EXT2, started an XP install, which formatted the disk again, and now, finally, there seems to be life.

The disk isn't to blame - it's 3 months old, and works no probs in onther machines. There must be some kind hickup inside the T23 somewhere.

pjc30943 · #27 Post by **pjc30943** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:43 pm

Well, here's to another fixed t23! I posted a few months back about my sister's TP having issues. It turns out that--after it finally died totally--the fix was indeed to resolder the inductor.
Actually, it had not fallen off, but was stuck in place with corrosion holding the two terminals in place; thus high resistance, and no function, despite it looking attached.

larrylwill · #28 Post by **larrylwill** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:29 pm

I agree with previous post. This thread should be a sticky.
I too had the same problem with my T23 and wouldn't have known except that someone read my cry for help and posted this thread.

Xenomorph · #29 Post by **Xenomorph** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:14 pm

i got a ThinkPad T23 in 2005.

well, part of one. i had to purchase a new keyboard, new bezel, new DVD drive, new ram, a power cord, and then re-solder the inverter board to fix a flickering display.

it was basically a system a company threw out because of all the damage/issues.

after i spent close to $300 fixing it up, it worked NICE.

that is, until it powered off one day and wouldnt come back on. just the pulsing fan.

i was devastated.

on eBay, motherboards are in the $90-$150 range. a company offered to repair it for $130.

however, tonight i will be attempting to fix it myself.

Xenomorph · #30 Post by **Xenomorph** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:16 pm

holy cow... 2 hours of fun.

but... IT WORKS

i had put so much time and money fixing up this thing, and i was so heart broken when it died. it has been sitting for months..

and now it works! ^____^

T23 pulsing fan on startup, wont POST

T23 pulsing fan on startup, wont POST

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