ThinkPad R31...broken. Fixable?

[celerystalksme]

Hello!

I have never owned IBM laptops. But I just acquired two ThinkPads for free from two different people! Yay! The bad part is that they both seem to be suffering from the same problem!!!! One is a R31. It won't turn on! Sometimes, when I hit the power button, it does NOTHING. Makes no noise, no lights turn on, nothing. Other times, it'll boot up, load windows, and even let you puts around with the mouse for a second...but it soon turns off and becomes nonresponsive.

What's going on? Any advice? Is this thing toast and unsalvagable?

Thanks!!!!!!

[RealBlackStuff]

That must be a unique TP. Never heard of a T31.

[phool@round]

Welcome to the forum!

First off..... are you sure it's a "T31"?

What's the model number on the bottom i.e., 2366-C1U, 2366-85U, etc.

Do you know how many sticks of RAM are in it. Feel free to get aquainted with your new found future obsession..... ; Here is a take apart guide for T30's.

Are you salad dressing? I mean if celery is stalking you........lol.

[celerystalksme]

oops...R31...

is there a forum for R-series...?

[phool@round]

Uh....why yes there is, right below the letter "Z".

Now I really feel sorry for ya, it's an R31........

But first ..... hail a Mod and see if they'll move this post down there for ya, so we can keep the rythm going .....cha cha cha.

[celerystalksme]

Uh....why yes there is, right below the letter "Z".

Now I really feel sorry for ya, it's an R31........

But first ..... hail a Mod and see if they'll move this post down there for ya, so we can keep the rythm going .....cha cha cha.

well, dont' feel too sorry for me...

the R31 was free...and i also got a T40 free at the same time. and i have a working laptop that i'm using right now! i'd love to get one of these thinkpads working...my mom and one of my friends could really use a laptop for checking email and stuff on the road!

Moderator edit: Moved to RAG conference and changed initial subject line from T31 to R31.

[phool@round]

First things first. Here is a guide on your "R31"; Here.

You'll want to get familiar with the equipment and where everything is.

The rule of thumb is to remove as much from the machine as possible and still boot up. The reason is to exclude all the removed equipment from being the possible problem. If it boots up with equipment removed then you've narrowed down the source. If it still acts strange then it gets a little more interesting......

The more you read the guide the easier it is to explain what needs to be removed.

Times up.... Please do this with no power to the laptop. You want to remove the battery, the MDC (Modem Daughter Card), MiniPCI Card, the DVD/CD-Rom, and all the RAM except one stick.

Once all this shtuff (misspelled intentionally) is removed then plug it into the power brick again and turn it on. See what happens, report back.

[rkawakami]

Good advice from phool@round but I would go one more step for a system which initially appears to not power up. Remove ALL memory from the system and see if you get the normal "bad memory" beep code. From the Hardware Maintenance Manual that was linked to in the last post, the beep sequence seems to be 1 short, 2 long. I don't have an R31 but the other Thinkpads I have usually beep in a 1-3-3-1 sequence. In any event, if you do get the bad or missing memory beep code, this will tell you that most of the power circuits are operating correctly. Plug in one module and if it still beeps the same way, try the other module if you have it. The symptom of sometimes starting, running for awhile and then shutting off or locking up can be several things: bad power circuits, inoperative fan, bad thermal sensors, loose components, etc.