I seem to have hit the BoD jackpot. 3 Dead Thinkpads.

[Wotan42]

I now have three fully dead Thinkpads, two T20s and a T30. Looking at this thread, http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48835, I seem to have a similar issue. One T20 exhibits no activity whatsoever when the power button is pressed, regardless of power application (AC charger, battery, etc.) The second T20 will light up, but no activity is shown on the screen, and there is no response while typing blind (i.e. the Windows login sound), so I guess that it is not a screen issue. The T30 (the best and most important of the three) shows a power light when turned on, and the fan spins up to maximum and blows cold air. I've tried powering these various ways, to no avail. Any thoughts?

[rkawakami]

First T20: sounds like the dreaded BoD; the hard drive LED blinks for 1/10 second when the power button is pushed but no other signs of life. Join the club .

Second T20: pull out the MiniPCI card and try it again

T30: Probably a memory slot issue. If you have two modules, remove one of them and see if it boots. If not, move that module to the other slot. Repeat boot attempt. If that doesn't work, try the second module (if you have one). Double check that the module is PC2100 (or faster).

[Wotan42]

I tried the memory process with the T30. With one ram stick, the same thing happens in both slots. With the other RAM stick, the computer produces a beep, then two groups of three beeps, and then another beep. However, no error code is displayed onscreen.

As for the non-BoD T20, I removed the Mini PCI card (man, are those hard to get out), and it still didn't work. However, I popped open the memory area, and I was surprised to find a 128 MB stick in there along with the 256. It had never registered, and now the laptop works fine.

1 down, 2 to go.

[Wingnut]

Its amazing how many laptops are sold on E-bay as parts machines because they won't boot up for simple reasons. In many cases, its simply because a reseller threw a stick of RAM in it to test it before selling and tried to boot it with no success and then listed it as for parts only.

I have bought 3 of these, a 600x and a couple of T2* with non compatable RAM. Took them out & replaced them with the correct ones and all was good. Sometimes its the simplest things that can throw people for a loop. Glad you figured one of them out.

[Harryc]

Wingnut, that would make a great thread....Best deals, simplest fixes. Describe what you did to revive a Thinkpad sold for parts in which the fix was something simple.

[skou]

I once got a "broken" T20, for $50.00. Seller posted, that the rig would beep 1-3-3-1, and wouldn't post.

Basically, he TOLD me, that he tested the computer, and the mobo was working, but needed memory. That's how I read it.

Slapped some memory in, and sold it for $300!

And, this operation (the seller) was a computer store!

steve

[rkawakami]

I tried the memory process with the T30. With one ram stick, the same thing happens in both slots. With the other RAM stick, the computer produces a beep, then two groups of three beeps, and then another beep. However, no error code is displayed onscreen.

Sorry for the delayed response, but I lost track of this thread. That sounds like the second RAM module is either defective or not compatible with the T30 (i.e., not a DDR PC2100). It also sounds like you do not have a dead memory slot since the other module appears to be recognized the same in either slot. Have you tried attaching an external monitor and see if there's any activity there?

However, I popped open the memory area, and I was surprised to find a 128 MB stick in there along with the 256. It had never registered, and now the laptop works fine.

Great find! Sometimes the best thing to do is remove all of the "extra" stuff from the system, boot it and see if you at least get the missing RAM beep code. Begin by re-installing one thing at a time (starting with memory) and re-booting and see where things stop working correctly.