T61: Sudden Death!

[ArtShapiro]

I was thinking that I had a board for the 15.4 T61 also (and I do, a 42w7651) but it has the Intel GM965 graphics.

I have one of those also

OK, let me naively ask: I've never been as saavy as a lot of you with respect to the video differences within the same series. What would I lose going to the different graphics chip? (Or would it be incompatible with my WSXGA+ dead machine?) Obviously it's in my best interest to get this machine up and functional again, although if the T60p comes through there's no particular rush and I can wait for the most opportune / cost-effective moment.

Art

[ajkula66]

Assuming you don't game, or do video-intensive stuff like large Photoshop files etc. you probably won't be able to easily tell the difference...and an Intel board will drive your LCD. It will also run cooler and have a better battery life.

I'm still hoping that you can get EzServ to repair your machine, though...

[richk]

My guess is that it would work, but I've never tested it. My experience has been that machines with the "wrong" motherboard are worth less, so I part them out if I don't have the right stuff. If the machine is for my use, I don't care at all. My T61p is a UXGA machine and if I spilled coffee into it, the first thing I would try would be whatever board I had that would fit. If you want to discuss trying the intel board, send me a PM

[bhtooefr]

Basically, this will downgrade your machine to a low-end T61, from the T61p. There may also be issues booting the system at first with the wrong graphics device, but it might figure it out OK.

[ArtShapiro]

Basically, this will downgrade your machine to a low-end T61, from the T61p.

Thanks (and likewise to the other responses). This isn't a T61p, however - it's "just" a T61. But if Lenovo plays hardball, I'll bow to the collective wisdom and procure the correct planar.

Question: is the new 2007-94U, scheduled for Tuesday arrival, one of these mythical "Flexview" guys?

Art

[Troels]

And then there was me who searched for 6460-7EU, but clicked on two different pages each indicating that it had x3100. Always use the official pages for lookups it seems. Still the V5200 is faster than the 140M, if the correct driver is selected. The v5200 has got a gddr3 memory and a wider memory bus (what they call 256 bit ring bus)...

Hmm yes the 2007-94U is one of those, unless of course the seller replaced the lcd with something regular...

[ArtShapiro]

I received the pictures from IBM this morning. Getting several phone calls to ensure that they reached me was certainly appreciated. If anyone can share some observations based on these pictures, I'd be appreciative. I've downsized them to 1024x768 for bandwidth's sake, but can obviously post the full-size originals if needed.

Art

http://www.ocrebels.com/one.jpg

http://www.ocrebels.com/two.jpg

http://www.ocrebels.com/three.jpg

http://www.ocrebels.com/four.jpg

[bhtooefr]

To be completely honest, that does look like there was liquid in there... Not that it was necessarily the cause, just that it was in there, and the corrosion on the screw indicates that it's been there for a while.

[richk]

That certainly looks like liquid. The case (left front) is clearest. It looks like it was there quite a while. If liquid gets in, it doesn't always fail right away if it isn't much and gets a chance to dry, but corrosion can happen later. Sometimes, those can be fixed

[bhtooefr]

Still, I'd deny your claim unless you had ThinkPad Protection, if I were in charge of the claim. And that's saying a lot, because Solectron loves their "water damage" excuse for denying claims.

[ArtShapiro]

Still, I'd deny your claim unless you had ThinkPad Protection, if I were in charge of the claim.

Thanks, and likewise to everyone else. I just wanted an informed confirmation / rebuttal of their assertion. I accept the reality, and will have it repaired elsewhere simply for financial realities. As the T60p is supposed to arrive tomorrow, it isn't an urgent issue now.

Art

[gobruins]

My T61p did the same thing last week. Running fine as usual, turned to talk to someone and when I turned back, everything was dead. Not even the AC power indicator LED was on. Tried power switch, unplugging from docking station, switching batteries, letting it sit for 15 minutes connected to no AC or battery--still dead.

Sent it in to Lenovo for warranty repair. They said there was corrosion on the motherboard, so the repair was not under warranty and wanted $750 to fix. I had them ship the T61p back to me (I didn't think of asking for them to take pictures and send the pictures instead ).

The "corrosion" is a very small area on the bottom of the motherboard by the radios switch on the front of the T61p. It seems clear to me that the problem has to do with the power circuitry, as nothing else I can think of would explain the AC power LED not going on when I plug the T61p into the AC adapter. Further, it would seem to be a sizable failure to cause the laptop to go from working fine to completely dead in a matter of seconds. Now I know that a short anywhere on the board could theoretically cause a failure in the power circuitry, but I would not expect "corrosion" around very thin traces on the opposite end of the motherboard from the power circuitry, without any signs of heat damage, to cause such a sudden and complete failure of the power circuitry.

What do think?

Photo and links to more photos below.



http://home.earthlink.net/~wmonroe/site ... up_top.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~wmonroe/site ... bottom.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~wmonroe/site ... de_top.jpg