Power plug comes loose and T40 stops working

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John H · #1 Post by **John H** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:41 am

Sometimes I get my foot tangled in the AC adapter cord and jerk the T40 off the table. The T40 keeps on running, and the travelstar HDD doesn't skip a beat, but the stress eventually loosens the power plug until it fails and no power gets to the circuits.

I've already had the plug replaced, at great expense and inconvenience, one time, but I anticipate having the problem again since I just did it again!

Last time this happened I had a hard time finding a replacement plug.

Maybe what's needed is a breakaway intermediate connector that can be replaced or repaired.

Meanwhile, I DO have a dock I can use so that the damage occurs to it's power plug.

It would help if I could get a standalone battery charger to fall back on, such as the one I have for my 570 batteries.

John H · #2 Post by **John H** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:37 pm

where can i download the T40 FRU replacement instructions?

#3 Post by **richk** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:49 pm

You can buy a replacement jack on eBay for a few dollars. Unfortunately, you need to take the whole thing apart to get at it. I take them apart all the time and can do it quickly, but the first time I took one of those apart, it seems like it took hours. The only tool you need is a good Phillips screwdriver, size 00. (from a good hardware store or Radio Shack) I suggest using masking tape to keep screws together with the parts they go with. Pay attention to the 3 14 mm screws at the rear of the touchpad, in front of the keyboard. One of them has short threads and goes to the left if you sit looking the bottom from the latch side. If you put one of the other screws there and tighten too much, you can crush the HDD frame. Also, you do not need to remove the fan from the MB, which saves reseating the CPU.

Here is the manual:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 192_01.pdf

John H · #4 Post by **John H** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:45 pm

Thanks for the info. I got the mantenance doc and DLed it. Now to find the power jack.

I looked at the scrap 570 MB I've got laying around and it looks like that power jack is difficult to replace even with the mobo out. If the T40 is like the 570, that is.

#5 Post by **richk** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:56 pm

On the T40, after you get the MB out, you remove the rear frame and the jack is a separate plug-in module. I don't know how much they charged you, but $100 is a fair price.

#6 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:10 pm

John H wrote:It would help if I could get a standalone battery charger to fall back on, such as the one I have for my 570 batteries.

Then something like this may help:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0075538983 (FRU 02K6642)

I've used this on my T2x batteries and it should attach to the T4x battery as well.

John H · #7 Post by **John H** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:24 pm

Looks like that thing is just an adapter. Seems like a guy could fab that from a couple right-sized connectors.

#8 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:38 pm

There's a charing circuit inside; it's not a simple "convert the coaxial DC plug from the AC adapter to the battery terminals" kind of thing. Here is an external battery charger for the 600-series that I took apart:

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_600x/battery_charger/

I would assume that there's something similar inside the 02K6642.

John H · #9 Post by **John H** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:17 pm

It is as i feared.

Now i wonder if I can cannibalize a scrap MB for it's charging circuit to make a standalone charger, just as i take the yellow connector for a transplant to my MB.

#10 Post by **rkawakami** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 3:08 am

There are a couple of other FRUs which also describe an external battery charger. Here is one I got a couple of months ago:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0149031937 (listed as FRU 02K6717 but really 02K6718/19)

They are also known by:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0177273722 (FRU 22P9040)

So if you are patient (and lucky) enough, you can find these chargers for $25 or less. And yes, you can probably get a motherboard/base combination and use it to charge your battery. Something like a system which doesn't boot, has video problems and/or a busted screen. I don't think it's possible/realistic to remove just the charging circuit from a motherboard and put it into its own enclosure. You would be better off building a circuit from something like this:

http://www.ortodoxism.ro/datasheets/ana ... 3806_0.pdf

This is the datasheet for an Analog Devices ADP3806 which is used in a T23. Page 8 describes a typical application circuit. The T4x system probably uses a similar IC for battery charging.

dsvochak · #11 Post by **dsvochak** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:23 am

Ray said the battery charger "...it should attach to the T4x battery as well"

I can confirm it does and charges the battery with no problem.

John H · #12 Post by **John H** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:36 pm

I'll just get one from eBay.

Speaking of which, I just followed one of those URLs, which got me to a $21.99 charger (oh boy) so I decided to get it, but when I pressed "checkout" I got a screen that looked dubious because it asked for my email address, and it wasn't paypal, so I looked at the URL in the browser URL window and it is

Code: Select all

http://app.infopia.com/iListener/Control?checkoutNow=true&ID=96150719

and I think infopia is a spoof site (as I recall). So I killed that window. I'll send the original eBay page to spoof at ebay dot com, as I always do with such anomalies.

The original eBay page has a legit looking URL,

Code: Select all

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300177273722

so I suspect that eBay is cracked!

Say it aint so!

If eBay is cracked can PayPal be far behind?

So I googled 'infopia', which looks semi-legit, but that may be part of an elaborate spoof.

There are so many spelling and layout errors on that eBay webpage I decided to treat it like poison.

If eBay allows sellers to post an HREF to a 3rd party checkout site it seems to me that represents an eBay crack big enough to drive an armored truck through.

#13 Post by **rkawakami** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:19 pm

As far as I can tell, infopia.com appears to be a legit site for processing eBay auction payments. I know what you mean... I'm always leery about 3rd party checkout procedures.

John H · #14 Post by **John H** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 5:00 pm

Like any normal paranoid citizen of the world I have several email addresses of various degrees of security, and one of those well-secured ones is for PayPal. I know that I get daily spam from eBay and Paypal spoofers at my unsecured email addresses. So I'm NOT going to hand out my paypal email address to some insecure joker on the ebay who can't even put together an intelligible website.

If eBay allows 3rd party sellers to insert HREFs to websites that neither they nor anyone else indemnifies me against, then they have created a huge loophole for fraud and identity theft. Why, it's so enticing that even I, saint tho I am, am tempted to defraud innocent eBay buyers with that device.

#15 Post by **richk** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:15 pm

You can ask the seller for HIS paypal ID. Then go to paypal and send money. On eBay, you can mark the item as paid. If you cannot find a seller who can sell the way you want to buy, I'm sure I have a jack around I can sell you. I don't normally sell little parts, but I'll ship it to you for whatever price + shipping that you were going to pay. Send me a private message.

John H · #16 Post by **John H** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:36 am

My computer guy Ben says he can fix it in half an hour and charge me $60 if I take it in, so I 'll take it in thursday He replaced the system board in about 25 minutes while i watched. He says sometimes you just need to tighten the retainer screw, which he hopes is the problem since he doesn't have a spare handy..

But I thought I'd attempt the fix myself, so I'm looking for advice, and maybe a part.

SlamX · #17 Post by **SlamX** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:55 pm

Look here and take your pick.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... category0=

John H · #18 Post by **John H** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 8:30 pm

Tanks. I ordered a couple a few days ago.

Now, what I need for a longterm fix, is a breakaway connector in-line on the power cord so that when I hook my foot in the cord the longitudinal stress easily breaks THAT connection instead of pulling at the PC board plug at right angles and disturbs it. I was thinking to make a stub wire to go into the T40, maybe 3" long, with a T40 male jack at one end and a T40 female plug at the other. All I need is that extra male jack.

SlamX · #19 Post by **SlamX** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 8:45 pm

Good idea. you can find all those parts at Radio Shack or online at http://www.mouser.com

John H · #20 Post by **John H** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 4:24 am

SlamX wrote:Good idea. you can find all those parts at Radio Shack or online at http://www.mouser.com

6 months ago I couldn't find a match at RadioShack for this plug or jack. Also couldn't find a match locally at Frys. They get close, but it's not a good fit. I'd like to make the breakaway connector from the same plug/jack for compatibility and so I don't have to change the jack on the AC adapter.

Has anyone actually found a part that matches the T40 part?

#21 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:41 am

I had the same problem once when i got my foot tangled in the power cord on my T42. If the power plug is loose in the DC jack you might be able to tighten it up. Try this: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=
It will work as long as the socket is not broken. I have pointed to this in other threads and some guys got it to work.

Power plug comes loose and T40 stops working

Power plug comes loose and T40 stops working

Re: Power plug comes loose and T40 stops working

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