Bricked T40?

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hausmaus · #1 Post by **hausmaus** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:16 am

Hi, everyone. This is my first post in the forum, but I've been reading for a while now.

I purchased a nice used T40 (2373-7CU) a few months ago. All has worked perfectly with it. I recently purchased an Intel 2200BG wireless card and lo and behold, I got the BIOS error about a non-IBM card when I installed it (I did download the hardware manual and followed the directions!).

So, I downloaded the non-1802 DOS COM utility after I removed the card from the system, shut down, booted to XP (command prompt), ran the program and shut down. Then the worst happened-the laptop wouldn't boot. I went and took out the main battery and the CMOS battery, let it set for about 20 minutes, plugged the batteries back in and tried to reboot. Still dead.

Still no dice. However, what is worrying me even more is when I plug in the AC adapter, I don't get my little green battery light like I used to.

I'm wondering if I've got a nice expensive brick for my desk now? I was extremely careful in my disassembly of the laptop, not trying to touch anything I didn't need to, et al. That's why this is frustrating for me because I cannot figure out what I did wrong.

Any and all suggestions would be helpful. I am hoping to get this fixed or else I'm going to have one severely [censored]-off wife (this was a birthday present).

Thanks,
Sean

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:00 am

no-1802.com is a CMOS hack and as such there is a risk that it will fry your CMOS/BIOS if it doesn't go in right. It sounds to me like that's what happened to you. AFAIK, a new system board is the only fix.

hausmaus · #3 Post by **hausmaus** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:06 am

...what I was afraid of.

Thanks for confirming. I guess I'd better start looking...or beg for permission to buy that T42 I saw online. <G>

I'll still fix the T40, but I'm out of a computer as of now.

Thanks,
Sean

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:05 am

Try the reset procedure discussed in this thread ...

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

Robbyrobot · #5 Post by **Robbyrobot** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:15 pm

Try the reset procedure discussed in this thread ...

Desktop computers nowadays generally have a BIOS with a basic read-only section that allows you to recover from an improperly flashed BIOS by booting a specially prepared floppy disk. Although I've never heard of anything similar in reasonably modern Thinkpads, it would seem logical that they also have such a system. Are you familiar with anything like this?

#6 Post by **richk** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:16 am

You cannot run it from a command prompt. It must be run after booting from a floppy or CD. No matter what you do, though, that won't cause the battery light not to show. I wonder if you had the machine plugged in or had the main battery in when you pulled the wireless card. You can short the machine out pretty easily.

hausmaus · #7 Post by **hausmaus** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:09 am

richk wrote:You cannot run it from a command prompt. It must be run after booting from a floppy or CD. No matter what you do, though, that won't cause the battery light not to show. I wonder if you had the machine plugged in or had the main battery in when you pulled the wireless card. You can short the machine out pretty easily.

Well, I've been thinking about it and I'm thinking that I either had it plugged in or had forgotten to take the battery out. So I've pretty much fried the laptop. But I am working on finding another motherboard and am going to try to fix it.

(Sorry for the very late response-had a very busy week and little computer access.)

--Sean

Temetka · #8 Post by **Temetka** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:50 pm

Since you are placing the logic board have you considered picking up a 'p' series board with a more powerful GPU and more VRAM? It would add to the longevity of the machine.

hausmaus · #9 Post by **hausmaus** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:15 pm

Temetka wrote:Since you are placing the logic board have you considered picking up a 'p' series board with a more powerful GPU and more VRAM? It would add to the longevity of the machine.

I really don't know much about Thinkpads internally...didn't know I could do that. Might be an idea...thank you. Now to go look for one...

--Sean

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