T21 Powerup Problems aka "Blink of Death" - News?

[Robbyrobot]

I recently bought a T21 at Ebay, described as defective since it would not boot.

When I got it, it displayed the "Blink of Death" symptoms - brief lighting of the power and HD LEDs when the On-button was pushed - and that was that.

I played with the seating of the keyboard (and On/Off button) and somehow the computer then started. It operated normally for perhaps 10 days, and then, after a pause of maybe 3-4 days, didn't start anymore. Same symptoms as before.

Now, several days later, I tried it again and found that attaching the (powered) AC power plug while holding the ON button down generally starts the computer. Once started, there are no further problems.

This situation appears quite common in the T2x series, and I'm beginning to wonder whether it wouldn't be advisable to start "collecting" T2x mainboards "just in case". Of course, it would be preferable to know what the cause is and be able to repair it - but that appears to be as uncertain as ever, based on what I've read and found in searches of the forum up to now.

My question to those in the know - is there any more recent information on this, any real breakthrough that would permit a lasting repair?

[rkawakami]

That's the answer to the $64,000 question. None as far as I know. Mostly what works for me is to simply leave the system alone for a couple of days, unplugged from an AC adapter AND the battery. I've got a couple of T21 and T22 systems that have the BoD symptom. The next time I haul them out of the stack of systems and try powering them up, if/when they start blinking, I'll try the trick you suggested.

I'm still thinking that something on the motherboard has come loose and is preventing the power circuitry (a Maxim MAX1631 or MAX1751 IC) from doing its job.

edit: Oops!. Corrected comment about battery being disconnected as well.

[chan_man]

The great mystery... I have two A22M that has this same problem, they are also just sitting in a stack in my cabinet.

[Robbyrobot]

The great mystery...

How true
Since I restarted my T21 yesterday using the trick I mentioned above, I've started it quite a number of times, with and without the battery, and had absolutely no problems doing so. No tricks needed.
At this rate, I may take up magic for a living