My T23 Story

[matviy]

I just finished my celebration dance, i was practically jumping around. This was the first time in my life that i actually won something of value. No, not my laptop. I recently submitted a video for an online contest. The prize was $400, and i won. And i had the money in my paypal account to prove it.

Only the next difficult task, was to figure out what the hell to blow my money on. I couldn't really figure out what. I remembered that Netgear card i got from my relatives a few months back, they thought i had a laptop. The card was a beautiful WG511T. Before i knew it, i was on eBay, looking for any laptop that would fit in my price range. Withing 5 minutes i had already found and bought my Thinkpad. I couldn't wait to have it.

It arrived within a week, in a nice box, with everything. Even a new (so it seemed) power supply. I quickly plugged it in, formatted everything, partitioned, installed Linux and windows. It worked great. Well, it worked great until a couple days later. I plugged it in, and it just wouldn't turn on. I could hear faint clicking noises inside. It seemed like there was something short circuiting and the laptop could not start. I ended up taking everything apart, looking trough it all, and couldn't find one thing wrong. During my search, i snapped off the white socket thing that you put your CMOS battery in. I tried and i tried, and there was NO way of getting it back on, or getting the battery to work in any way with the laptop.

After failing at finding anything, i put everything back together and tried it once more. Still nothing. In an hour, i tried it, and it worked! I could normally start it and run everything. Then i unplugged it, took it upstairs, and tried to turn it on again. It was dead again. I ended up spending 2 days without sleeping trying to fix it, in the end, i just left it in pieces in a box. It sat there for weeks, i couldn't afford a new motherboard, and i only had $19.80 left. So i sort of gave up, and forgot all about it. That is, until last night.

I got this craving to bring it back to life, i had to do something, i spent most of my money on it, and i wouldn't let it die so easily. This time, i fiddled with the power supply, a lord be hold, i figured it out.

The voltage given by the power supply should be a constant 16V, yet my power supply was jumping 13V~15.8V, i assume that the laptop needed 16V+ to initialize and start up. After letting the supply run with no load on the end, within 5~10 minutes the voltage stopped jumping and became a steady 16.2V. I plugged it into my laptop, the screen and my eyes lit up instantaneously.

So, i had to simply leave the power supply plugged in for a while, then plug in my laptop. But there had to be a simpler fix. I ended up experimenting, i attached an old CPU fan to my adapter, and plugged the adapter in, i could see the fan spin and stop, spin and stop. Then an idea hit me, there was really no reason behind it. I put my finger on the blade and stopped it from spinning. Let go, and Voom the fan was spinning quickly with no stop at 16V.

A very unconventional, yet effective fix. I now carry a motor around. When i need to plug my adapter into a new place in the house, i have to simply repeat the procedure with the fan, and get the adapter working from there.

And well, after all this trouble, i brought her back to life. And i see that it was all obviously worth it.

BTW: A new AC adapter is on way here, again from ebay. Ironically, it cost me $19.80, to the cent.

[SaberX]

Welcome to the Thinkpads forum.
Thease people on here know their thinkpads inside and out.
But i cant help to think that if you have $400.00 in your pay pal you could have got a much faster , newer thinkpad for that money.
I hope the new power supply solve's the problem your haveing.
Bill

[matviy]

I could have actually, but i chose to get an older one. I like classics. They are tested and tried. I really don't see a difference between 1GHz and 2Ghz. Sure you might load and do somethings a faster, but is it really worth it?

I use my computers to conduct pentests and C++. I find that a standard 1GHz works perfectly.

[tomh009]

(...) So, i had to simply leave the power supply plugged in for a while, then plug in my laptop. But there had to be a simpler fix. I ended up experimenting, i attached an old CPU fan to my adapter, and plugged the adapter in, i could see the fan spin and stop, spin and stop. Then an idea hit me, there was really no reason behind it. I put my finger on the blade and stopped it from spinning. Let go, and Voom the fan was spinning quickly with no stop at 16V.

I have to say that I like your troubleshooting technique!

[Temetka]

Good troubleshooting story.

If it were me Iw ould have contacted the seller and requested a replacement AC adapter even if I had to ship the defective one back.

I hope your 'new' T23 will bring you years of good service.

[BruisedQuasar]

Matviy, I found your story interesting and I share your delight with the T23.

Over the years, I owned several expensive top of the line lug-a-bouts (that's all there was in the late 1980s-early 1990s) & notebooks. I've had Toshiba, Compaq (when it was king and very expensive), Fujitsu, etc. but the Thinkpad T23 is the first portable I've owned that I like and am attached to.

[Jan_Hoho]

Excellent story! I hope you will have many happy and productive years with your weird computer.^^

[chan_man]

Great story.. have to add this failure mode to my notes. Thanks.