Help sourcing an X31 motherboard?

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JeremyM · #1 Post by **JeremyM** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:12 pm

Hi there, I bought an OEM IBM adapter that was "compatible" with my system.. turns out the amps were 4.5 instead of 3.5, and now system becomes unresponsive. Through troubleshooting, I have narrowed it down to motherboard (swap out each RAM chip, boot from bootable XP disc, boot from XP disc no harddrive; still freezes the same way, and once it did a really weird video thing as well).

Anyway, it is worth it to put a new motherboard in the laptop? I only paid $400 for my X31, and mainboards from eBay stores are almost $300.. add in cost\time to replace and I am not sure if it is worth it.

What do you all think? What would you do?

Anyone have a line on a quality replacement board at a reasonable price?

Thanks in advance,

Jeremy
Victoria BC Canada

mod edit: Moved post from T2x forum to the X2x/X3x/X4x forum.

ajkula66 · #2 Post by **ajkula66** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:22 pm

Welcome to the forum!

You're probably better off just parting out the machine and selling it that way...

Motherboard failures are fairly common in X31, and sourcing an inexpensive one out isn't going to be easy.

Just my $0.02

Good luck.

JeremyM · #3 Post by **JeremyM** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:47 pm

Hi ajkula66,

Not the response that I wanted to hear, but I appreciate your honesty. Would you mind giving me some more detail on your comment "failures are fairly common in the X31" Is this a bad model, or are they just of that age?

Thanks in advance, Jeremy

ajkula66 · #4 Post by **ajkula66** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:09 am

Lot of heat in a small frame...that's where it all begins. And on most machines of that generation, in my opinion, quality control was quite poor...this applies to T4 series as well.

A3 series was when QC took a long coffee break...for the T3 series they haven't come back after lunch, and for X3/T4s they were MIA altogether...

X22 was cool and dependable.X24 was hot, but well-built. X30 was hotter and not built as well. X31 was even hotter in the same suit as X30...you get the picture.

Good luck.

JeremyM · #5 Post by **JeremyM** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:26 am

Man that is so frustrating.. heat does kill. An X22 would just be too slow unfortunately. If the X4's are of poor design as well then I am out of luck. I really loved the tiny form factor.. does anyone have any recommendations on something small and reliable?

Thanks in advance,

One [censored] off Canuck

#6 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:50 am

JeremyM wrote:Man that is so frustrating.. heat does kill. An X22 would just be too slow unfortunately. If the X4's are of poor design as well then I am out of luck. I really loved the tiny form factor.. does anyone have any recommendations on something small and reliable?

Thanks in advance,

One [censored] off Canuck

have you asked the laptop guy..
his advert is in the banner, above..

JeremyM · #7 Post by **JeremyM** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:17 am

I'll send the laptop guy an email...

clickpoint · #8 Post by **clickpoint** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:14 am

Would an X30 MB fit???

If so.... an option might be

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=50036

"First thing is a X30 motherboard Works fine except for the Trackpoint - $35 Shipped PIC "

BTW .... Isn't this in the wrong forum?

Puppy · #9 Post by **Puppy** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:48 pm

JeremyM wrote:Hi there, I bought an OEM IBM adapter that was "compatible" with my system.. turns out the amps were 4.5 instead of 3.5, and now system becomes unresponsive.

Sorry to hear that but that's where "Use only original/approved adapter" warning applies. I don't think it is a general X3x series problem. Motherboard faults of T4x were usually caused by cracking of BGA.

sclist · #10 Post by **sclist** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:57 am

my X31 died the same way .. this is the second IBM laptop (after an T23) I've lost in three years .. exactly the same symptoms .. it would freeze, and at some point it would fail to start up completely .. shame really .. they're meant to be some of the best and reliable laptops available .. I've lost faith in them and am just disappointed ..

teetee · #11 Post by **teetee** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:16 am

I don't think the Amps value on the power adapter label is the problem causing your laptop to fail. That value only shows the peak current in Amps you can draw from the adapter. I've been using the old 16v 3.36A adapter with T40 (originally comes with 16V 4.5A adapter) and it worked just fine since the maximum wattage T40 uses is no more than 20W(/16V=only 1.25A is needed). Two possible reasons to blame the adapter could be:
1. the label said 3.36A output but it's actually much smaller than that, just like all the desktop computer power supply unit.
2. bad quality transistor and voltage stabilizing coil in the adapter which causes the output power unstable and accelerate the deterioration of power-related components on the laptop. It's a "compatible" adapter, not the "genuine" adapter after all.

It might also be the video chip BGA packaging failure like T40/T41 has or the memory slot problem on X3* series. Or the combination of all possible reasons.

discoy2k · #12 Post by **discoy2k** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:24 pm

an X31/X32/X30 motherboards are swapable
X23/X24 are swapable
X20/X21/X22 are swapable

side not i need an X32 motherboard if anyone has a source for them
thanks

BobA · #13 Post by **BobA** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:11 pm

X31 and X32 motherboards are swappable. The X30 is not. The USB plug is on the left side on the X31 and the right side on the X30. There are a number of other issues as well (fans are different, wiring harness is different). The screen swaps okay and many of the internal parts are the same ..

I have some X32 motherboards (1.8GHz) that I've been putting in X31 shells. PM if you are interested. I also have some X31 motherboards - but I need to decide what to do with them before I commit to selling them bare. I've had good success selling configured X31s in Europe.

ragefury32 · #14 Post by **ragefury32** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:22 pm

The X31/32 are unreliable (well, kinda) for 3 reasons:

a) They feature 3 relatively large chips in a row and are unbraced
(ATi Radeon M6, Intel Odem Northbridge, Intel Pentium-M)

b) There are 2 other large chips (Ricoh Cardbus controller and ICH4M Southbridge) underneath it, in close proximity to the battery connector/memory slot stress point

c) They don't take torsion stress too well (those who ever used the old IBM "Kite" 560/560E series will know what I am talking about - for those that don't, the machine is not rigid enough to take stress across the chassis)

Basically, unless you keep your machine in a sleeve with the Ultrabay battery, it'll not be able to survive drops or one-hand-arch handling. That's the way how they are designed.

As for the OP's issue - what exactly is it doing? Refuses to boot properly?

Help sourcing an X31 motherboard?

Help sourcing an X31 motherboard?

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