Think pad t20 black screen

[Jon1337Brown]

When you power up it beeps three times then pauses and then three more times pauses and then it beeps once more. I looked what the beep sequence means and it means either ram or motherboard. I recieved this laptop from someone who tried to update the bios and it hasn't worked since. Please helps still looks like it has some life in it. I have also tried unplugging the CMOS battery (the one on top of the laptop battery.) Thank you.

[vanaya]

Welcome to the forum!

Yes this is the 1-3-3-1 beep code. Your cheapest and most effective next step is to check that RAM. If you have a spare pc100 RAM swap it out and report back. You won't see anything on the screen as this is POST. Once you pass the Power On Self Test, your screen will show the IBM splash screen and then you can get into bios and check the version.

[RealBlackStuff]

That beep could also mean there is no RAM in it at all!
Open the botom lid, next to the battery, and see id there are any RAM modules in it.

[Jon1337Brown]

I have checked that there is ram in the machine but I do not have any extra so I will be going to the recycle store tomorrow or possibly the next day and report back. Thank you for your help and if the ram is the problem then I will be overjoyed because I was thinking it was the motherboard.

Thanks,
Jon Brown

[rkawakami]

Make sure it's the correct type of RAM. As vanaya said earlier, there should be PC100 (possibly PC133) modules in there but they must be of the "low density" variety. To know for sure you need to know the size of the memory module. 256MB sticks need 16 components; 128MB sticks need 8 and 64MB should have 4 individual memory chips.

[Jon1337Brown]

sorry I posted a topic yesterday that said that it worked but I must of posted a new topic instead of a reply but anyway I got some used ram from pc recycle and it worked thanks to all.