Thinkpad T40 won't turn on.

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BarnBurner · #1 Post by **BarnBurner** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:27 pm

I just recently purchased a Thinkpad T40 and up until a few days ago, I was having no problems and absolutely loving it.

However, on Saturday, I went to turn on my laptop only, it wouldn't come on at all. no beeps, no LED's, no screen, no noise, no sign of life at all.

So I figure the battery died, although it didn't make much sense since I recall it being at like 60% charge when I turned it off.

So I plug it in to the A/C and the battery LED goes on for like a split second and then goes off. I try to turn it on and nothing.

I did some searching and one solution said to unplug the A/C and take out the battery and let it sit for 5 minutes or so and then plug everything back in and try to boot.

This solution worked and I had hoped it was just some goof that wouldn't happen again, but sure enough on Monday morning, it does it again. And again this afternoon!

So what could the problem be?

I'm in I.T. so I'm not afraid to open the machine and replace something if it needs to be, but my main expertise and knowledge is with desktop machines, so I wouldn't want to accidentally mess anything up, plus it may still be under warranty so I wouldn't to void that.

Brad · #2 Post by **Brad** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:22 am

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear of your trouble.

Something to try to help find the trouble would be to press on the keyboard in the area of where the GPU would be. Near the B and N and try to start your T40.

If this helps then I am sorry to say you have the GPU trouble that has plagued the T4x series and the best solution is to replace the motherboard.

Brad

o1001010 · #3 Post by **o1001010** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:09 am

when you can power the laptop on can you see if the battery is charged or not?
i heard some connector issue with power supplies from the earlier models. that was before the thinkpads have the roll cage built in and if the previous owner handle the thinkpad with one hand it might of cause mobo flex and well, since you in it, you know the drill.

that is why i give lenovo so much credit for putting in the roll cage.

BarnBurner · #4 Post by **BarnBurner** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:25 am

when comes on, the battery is charged, like just now when I tried to get on it this morning, the battery is at 96%

Pressing on the keyboard near the B and N keys didn't make any difference.

I tried something a little different this morning to get it to boot up. I held the power button while connecting it to the AC and then it booted up.

I usually use hibernation, but I've been using it before with no problems and this usually only seems to happen if I leave it off for extended periods of time. Once it turns on, it stays on.

Suggestions I've also receive before were to update the BIOS and check the CMOS battery. The BIOS is already updated to the latest version and I'm not sure why a faulty CMOS battery would prevent the unit from turning on.

BarnBurner · #5 Post by **BarnBurner** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:12 am

Sorry for double post.

It seems to do it whether I use hibernation or not. I just mention that cause I recall reading somewhere about a hibernation bug, so I was wondering if that might have been it.

It seems to do it every time I turn it off and leave it for a while. Any suggestions? It's getting extremely annoying.

BarnBurner · #6 Post by **BarnBurner** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:02 pm

Sorry to bump the topic after about a month.

I haven't had this problem for weeks now, I'm not sure why it doesn't do this anymore...

It seems like just as randomly as the problem appeared, it has now disappeared.

One thing I do notice though, is that my battery life isn't quite what it used to be. I wonder if that's just normal wear or is it perhaps releated to this problem? I've only owned this laptop for a month or two, so it's a little sooner than I would expect to see a reduction in battery life.

jimmy274 · #7 Post by **jimmy274** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:58 am

It could be related to fuses or Power MOSFETs in the DC/DC converter on the system board... It could be that one of the MOSFETs is a bit fried...

Robbyrobot · #8 Post by **Robbyrobot** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:54 am

jimmy274 wrote:It could be related to fuses or Power MOSFETs in the DC/DC converter on the system board... It could be that one of the MOSFETs is a bit fried...

I have T40 board with one of the MOSFETs more than just "a little" fried...

and the plastic on the base...

Nice, eh? The board was subjected to a coffee spill, and although I found only traces of the spill, this damage was obvious. I plan to replace the MOSFET just to see if I can get the board running again.

I'd apreciate it if the OP or a Mod could change the thread title to reflect the images, since I can't do that.

jimmy274 · #9 Post by **jimmy274** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:54 pm

Try it! It worked for me - I bought a used R51 board that's broken (but all the MOSFETs on it are working), switched the bad one with one of the good ones, and it worked!

Thinkpad T40 won't turn on.

Thinkpad T40 won't turn on.

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