Really strange problem with my Thinkpad

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Daniel · #1 Post by **Daniel** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:15 pm

Hey guys, I need your help. My thinkpad is acting very weird. I'm surprised I'm able to type on it right now. Earlier today, I was just typing on it and all of sudden my LCD just turned off. It's very intermittent. Sometimes it turns off after 1 minute, not even making it into Windows and sometimes it turns off after 30 minutes.

Any ideas on what is causing this?

(UPDATE: scroll to the bottom)

rjm1135 · #2 Post by **rjm1135** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:35 pm

You could try running on an external monitor for a period of time. This could help determine if it is the lcd itself that is playing up.

If this makes no difference you will need to look at other possible causes.

Rob.

IR0NMAN · #3 Post by **IR0NMAN** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:40 am

Maybe there's a connection problem between your LCD and thinkpad, try what rjm1135 said and if it works great with a monitor, call IBM!

ThinkPad · #4 Post by **ThinkPad** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:35 am

What model thinkpad do you have?

KillaByte · #5 Post by **KillaByte** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 4:24 am

Does only the display go black or is the machine hanging completely?

My machine had this issue a few weeks ago. The display went black and the machine was completely unresponsive - you could only turn it off via the power button. In my case the system board had gone bad and was replaced.

jl209 · #6 Post by **jl209** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:31 am

This wasone of the symptoms on my T42. IBM had to replace the system board, too.

Daniel · #7 Post by **Daniel** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:10 pm

KillaByte wrote:Does only the display go black or is the machine hanging completely?

My machine had this issue a few weeks ago. The display went black and the machine was completely unresponsive - you could only turn it off via the power button. In my case the system board had gone bad and was replaced.

I have a T42P - 2373-KTU. I think this is what it is. Killa, tell me exactly what happens.. For me, after it goes unresponsive, I have to turn it off by holding down the power button. I'm able to turn it back on and it works but then it does it again. Did you get support in the US?

Daniel · #8 Post by **Daniel** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:12 pm

jl209 wrote:This wasone of the symptoms on my T42. IBM had to replace the system board, too.

JL, what else happened on yours and can you give me your case # so I can show them that it's cropping up here and there?

KillaByte · #9 Post by **KillaByte** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 4:19 pm

Daniel wrote:
KillaByte wrote:Does only the display go black or is the machine hanging completely?

My machine had this issue a few weeks ago. The display went black and the machine was completely unresponsive - you could only turn it off via the power button. In my case the system board had gone bad and was replaced.
I have a T42P - 2373-KTU. I think this is what it is. Killa, tell me exactly what happens.. For me, after it goes unresponsive, I have to turn it off by holding down the power button. I'm able to turn it back on and it works but then it does it again. Did you get support in the US?

Yeah that sounds like the problem I was experiencing (2373-HTG). In my case it got worse over time - in the end the machine would hang right after powering on. I called service and they exchanged the system board. Unfortunately they were out of stock on system boards - I had to wait about five weeks until I got a new one. I hope for you that they are in stock again right now. BTW - I live in Germany.

Daniel · #10 Post by **Daniel** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:06 pm

KillaByte wrote:I had to wait about five weeks until I got a new one. I hope for you that they are in stock again right now. BTW - I live in Germany.

Not good, I hope they do too.

JL209, how long did it take for IBM to fix yours?

jl209 · #11 Post by **jl209** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:43 am

They took a week to replace the board, but they put the wrong one in. (The one they put in has a Radeon 7500). I've had it back for 2 and a half weeks and am still trying to get them to get me the right system board. Supposedly they're coming to my apt tomorrow to make the swap. According to IBM executive relations, though, the system board for my T42 (2378-FVU) is in stock.

Beware of IBM EZServe Repair!

Daniel · #12 Post by **Daniel** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 1:56 pm

Thank you, I'll keep you guys updated.

Daniel · #13 Post by **Daniel** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:25 am

Well, got the computer back and it's working fine again. They replaced the system board and it's working good as new.

I sent it in Friday afternoon and got it back Tuesday morning (today). No wrong screws or bulging parts.

livevil · #14 Post by **livevil** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:46 am

Hi !

I think I'm experiencing the same problem.

The first time it crash was when launching a game. I thought at first a problem of drivers of something like that. But then windows started to freeze also, with or without BSOD (with different reasons each time).

When I booted under linux, it was OK, so I was thinking about a "windows" problem. But then, as mentionned before, it became worse: linux started crashing as well, sometime there is nothing on the boot, sometimes beeps or crash during windows loading.

I just got an IBM tech on the phone. The problem is I'm living in France and I'm currently abroad (UK). I leaving in about two weeks so it may be a little bit short for them to pick up the laptop, repair and check everything. I don't really wanna go home without it and then have to deal with other problems to get it back.

When it loaded correctly yesterday, I ran PC Doctor to check everything. System and motherboard tests went well and it crash during the video card test. So maybe this is the problem.

I've been looking on the web for 3 days before finding a similar problem on this forum. This is kind of reassuring somehow ! Today the T42 won't start at all

ian · #15 Post by **ian** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 7:14 am

Daniel wrote:... No wrong screws or bulging parts.

I have to say, on a purely personal level, that I'm relieved to know that you have no screws loose, and that your parts are not bulging...

Really strange problem with my Thinkpad

Really strange problem with my Thinkpad

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