T22 thinkpad won't power up at times

[weidman]

I have a thinkpad T22 that won't power up at times. Sometimes just letting it sit awhile will let it power up. At times it will power up and right back down and go into a cycle that keeps doing this until I hold the power button down for several seconds. At times it will just power down while using it. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is my wifes machine and she really likes it except for this.
If it matters It is running win 2000 SP4.
George

[nikki605]

I hate to say it, but your T22 symptoms sound like what we call here as the "Blink of Death" or BoD. I had it in my T21. It seems to effect any of the T2X series TPs.

If you use the forum search function and look for first, blink of death (all terms) then second, BoD, you will find many topics.

Bottom line, its probably the motherboard. I had to replace mine to fix the problem.

Here are a couple of topics for you to check out:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=60608

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48835

After reading, come back with any questions you may have or if you think your symptoms are different.

[weidman]

nikki605
Thank you for the reply. I have read over all of the topics relating to this problem, and there are plenty of them. I may have stumbled on something. I am running win2000 SP4 and noticed one of the selections when shutting down is hibernate. I have been using it and the machine has powered back up every time so far.
I checked in the hardware manual and it looks like it powers down everything but saves where you were at.
Is this correct?
One more think I did was I told my wife not to move the display (don't close it) as someone mentioned that as a possible cause.
If you want I can repost after a few days if it still works.
Again thank you for your help
George

[nikki605]

Hibernate saves the last state of the machine and turns off most of the electronics - LCD display, fan, HDD, etc.

As a test, you may want to try things like moving the LCD display on its hinges to flex the cable assy to see if it causes your problem. Also, gently flexing the base to see if that reproduces the problem.

Then, at some point, you will have to start completely powering down the TP to see if it starts back up. Obviously, be sure to note exactly what happens if you are able to reproduce the problem.

[rkawakami]

The description about the system shutting down without warning or powering up and down by itself doesn't seem to be related to the "Blink of Death". The BoD systems that I have will work fine once they get through the initial startup. I've never had one shut off by itself, as if all of the power was removed. I've also not seen them cycle on and off.

My guess would be that there is an intermittent problem with the power circuit on the motherboard. As it's very hard to troubleshoot something like this without circuit schematics, the best (and only) advice I have would be to remove the motherboard and closely inspect all of the inductors. Here's a picture of what they basically look like:

http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_t2x/main_fuses.jpg

It's the part with the upside-down "150" at the top of the picture. They have a history of breaking loose from the T23 boards; the T22 appears to have similar parts:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=50207

[weidman]

Ray Kawakami
I think what I have is the BoD. It only powered down for my wife one time and think she may have done it by accident as she knows nothing about computers. I got her the machine for emails and to look up things. As far as the powering up and down I wasn't really clear on that. What happened was most of the time it would just blink and not power up. I would take the battery out and disconnect the power and let it set for a couple of days and then it may power up. On two occasions it blinked and in a second or two it would blink again and kept doing this until I held down the power button for a few seconds.

As an update to this I started about a week ago that when my wife shuts it down it goes into hibernation instead of shutting all the way down. Since then I have had no problems. I don't know how hibernation works but it boots up really fast, about one tenth the time and comes back to where she was before shutting it down. Which is very nice for my wife.
I have also flexed things like suggested and all seems ok.
I am afraid to completely shut it down as it may not come back on.
It would be interesting to see if anyone else could duplicate this by using hibernate on a machine (T22) that has the BoD.
Thank you all for the help and tips, this is really a great board.
George

[rkawakami]

Interesting thing you mention about hibernation. I've not tried that with the BoD systems that I have. Fact is, I haven't looked at them in a while but I will remember this and try it with them. What seems to happen when the system is placed into hibernation is that some circuits appear to be left "on". This has been evident in the reports that people have posted with battery drain occurring while in hibernation (and no AC adapter being left plugged in). I don't know enough about the power circuitry in the Thinkpads to say what's really happening but I suppose it's possible that the hibernation mode (once invoked) will bypass a "normal" power systems startup check. To me, that seems to be a likely candidate for what's happening with the BoD. If the power controller chip doesn't "see" the right voltages at the right time, it won't allow the system to continue.

[nikki605]

Most times, I completely power off my T21 when I am done using it for the day. If I have been working on a project and I know I will be picking it back up in the morning, I will simply exit any open applications, close the lid and unplug the a/c power adapter.

In the morning, I will reconnect the power adapter, open the lid and the T21 will resume after logging back into WindowsXP. The battery maximizer guage will typically display between 90-95%, which indicates to me that a few circuits have been drawing power while in hibernation, as Ray stated. Once running, the battery quickly recharges to 100%.

My TP developed the BoD almost 2 years ago and I had to replace the motherboard. Knock on wood, the problem has not returned on this replacement motherboard.