T42 freezes/screen goes blank (2min after starting up)

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br1 · #1 Post by **br1** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:46 pm

Hey everyone, i have a problem with a thinkpad T42 (FVU 2378).

It powers up for about 2 minutes then the screen shuts off and it seems to be in a frozen state ... if i shut it down then try and start it up again the screen still stays blank and it doesnt boot up (all the lights come on though). I have to wait about 10 minutes before it will boot up again (even though it will just shut off in another 2 minutes).

its not related to the battery, i have the ac plugged in and i tried another battery

It seems like it might be the cpu overheating, but i would thing it would last longer than 2 minutes without the cpu fan working
maybe a bad capacitor or something on the motherboard?

maybe someone here has had this problem before and can point me in the right direction before i crack this baby open. The warranty just expired btw

thanks for your time and sorry for making this so long,
Brian

christopher_wolf · #2 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:50 pm

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

Does it just shut off or cycle and is there any particular point at which this happens, besides two minutes (e.g. XP loading, drivers loading, etc)?

br1 · #3 Post by **br1** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:53 pm

it just freezes and the screen goes blank, it doesnt power off or do anything noticable and doesnt respond to any keyboard commands ...

it does this no matter if i go to windows, enter into the bios, boot off a cd .. etc ... so its something hardware related (i'm pretty sure atleast)

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:04 pm

EDIT: Nevermind. I didn't read all of your post.

Do you have any beeps occuring?

If you have extra RAM installed, try removing the RAM and see how it operates.

br1 · #5 Post by **br1** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:06 pm

I've tried, exact same thing happens in safe mode, no beeps at all... i removed the added memory module and left the original in (edit) .. same problem

jongordo8 · #6 Post by **jongordo8** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:59 pm

I was having a similar problem...turned out to be the LCD inverter.

br1 · #7 Post by **br1** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:04 pm

jongordo8 wrote:I was having a similar problem...turned out to be the LCD inverter.

Can you describe what the symptoms where for you? were you able to see the screen momentarily before it turned off?

AbsoluteRaleigh · #8 Post by **AbsoluteRaleigh** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:05 pm

This is a bad system board.

If you replace it, use two hands to pick up the laptop- picking it up with one hand flexes the board and over time this is the result.

BTW- to test this you could boot the machine up and flex it a little during the first stable minute to see if it croaks, but from your description this is a very common problem...

br1 · #9 Post by **br1** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:07 am

If you replace it, use two hands to pick up the laptop- picking it up with one hand flexes the board and over time this is the result.

i hope your not right

..

i hooked it up to my PC monitor and it does the same thing on this monitor ... so its definely not the lcd

something else wierd is happening...
If i close the lid then reopen it, everything is fine .... (for about 1 minute) .. then the screen shuts off ... then i open the lid again and the screen goes back to normal.. and then shuts off again ..

i have another thinkpad (for work) i'll try switching out the lcd inverters this weekend. I'm hoping its not the motherboard, i might as well trash it if it is

anyways, thanks guys ... lots of helpfull people around here

br1 · #10 Post by **br1** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:23 am

AbsoluteRaleigh wrote:This is a bad system board.

If you replace it, use two hands to pick up the laptop- picking it up with one hand flexes the board and over time this is the result.

BTW- to test this you could boot the machine up and flex it a little during the first stable minute to see if it croaks, but from your description this is a very common problem...

okay your definelty right i think its the motherboard ..... when i flex the board upward, the screen comes back ( fuzzy but viewable) ... anyone know a cheap place to get a t42 motherboard

#11 Post by **GomJabbar** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:25 am

You say: "i hooked it up to my PC monitor and it does the same thing on this monitor ... so its definely not the lcd"

Then you go on to say: "i'll try switching out the lcd inverters this weekend."

The LCD inverter is for the LCD. It shouldn't be necessary for an external monitor.

Sounds like a problem with the motherboard to me. Try running PC-Doctor and see what it turns up. You can run it in Windows or download a version to create a bootable CD, and run it off of the CD.

br1 · #12 Post by **br1** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:13 am

GomJabbar wrote:You say: "i hooked it up to my PC monitor and it does the same thing on this monitor ... so its definely not the lcd"

Then you go on to say: "i'll try switching out the lcd inverters this weekend."

The LCD inverter is for the LCD. It shouldn't be necessary for an external monitor.

Sounds like a problem with the motherboard to me. Try running PC-Doctor and see what it turns up. You can run it in Windows or download a version to create a bootable CD, and run it off of the CD.

yea.. it isnt the lcd inverter ..its definelty the motherboard ... i figured that out after bending the laptop a little bit(picking it up at a angle), i can see the screen displaying again and then when i put it down, it goes blank ...

i'm still going to open it up before i pay $150 + to extend my warranty just to make sure

br1 · #13 Post by **br1** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:08 am

Do you guys think i should just buy the extended warranty ($170) ... or buy a motherboard off ebay and try doing it myself. Will i still be able to send it in if i cant get it working?

i found this :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

xkeithx · #14 Post by **xkeithx** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:47 pm

when did the warranty run out?? that motherboard should be fine, but it does say they are unaware if it's working or not. check and see if they will let you return it.

AbsoluteRaleigh · #15 Post by **AbsoluteRaleigh** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:44 pm

br1 wrote:i'm still going to open it up before i pay $150 + to extend my warranty just to make sure

There won't be anything to see. If they can tell you opened it the (potential) warranty will be void.

AbsoluteRaleigh · #16 Post by **AbsoluteRaleigh** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:47 pm

br1 wrote:Do you guys think i should just buy the extended warranty ($170) ... or buy a motherboard off ebay and try doing it myself. Will i still be able to send it in if i cant get it working?

i found this :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

If you send it in the original board must be installed. You could buy the warranty, wait a few weeks & then send it in. I can't actually tell you to do that but I've seen it done...

br1 · #17 Post by **br1** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:29 am

thanks for the info, I forked over the money for the extended warranty ...i have to wait 4 days for the warranty to be processed before i can report the problem the lady said.. i'll let you guys know what they tell me the problem was

thanks,
Brian

br1 · #18 Post by **br1** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:20 am

I just got it back from SOLECTRON today (3 days... !) .. seems to be working good, its been running for about 30 minutes now..

they replaced the planar card (and updated the bios) ..

cainxinth@comcast.net · #19 Post by **cainxinth@comcast.net** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 11:52 pm

My T42 presents identical symptoms. I believe the problem is that the gpu is overheating. A $15 notebook cooler pad solved the problem.

T42 freezes/screen goes blank (2min after starting up)

T42 freezes/screen goes blank (2min after starting up)

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