Thinkpad T61 randomly died. Only boots up sporadically

[nirad]

My T61 randomly died for no reason I can discern. I was in the middle of watching a youtube video (wasn't doing anything to push the system's limits), and the screen went gray and the sound became a constant buzz. It would not boot up after that- the LED lights will turn on, but nothing appears on screen.

I was able to get it to boot up once last night, after waiting several hours. It actually seemed to work fine, but it died again (just went beep and shut off randomly) a couple of minutes after that. This morning, after waiting all night, it will not boot up at all.

My first thought was that it may be overheating- hence having to wait to boot up. But I already had to replace the fan once and I know that if the fan fails on boot, the screen will at least come on and I will get the "Fan error" message. Is it possible that something came loose inside the computer? I will try taking it apart and reassembling everything (I will have to get some thermal pads and grease). Though considering that the computer has been sitting on my desk for the past week so I can't imagine it was shaken up much.

Any other ideas? Anyone experience anything similar? I would appreciate any help as this is out of warranty.

[ajkula66]

What's the 7-character model number of your T61?

[nirad]

7762-CTO

[richk]

I assume you mean 7662-CTO. That model has nvidia graphics and my guess (hard to be certain without seeing it) is that the motherboard died. Unfortunately, the nvidia chip is a common failure point.

[nirad]

yeah, that was my guess too If I hadn't been able to boot up once since it happened, I wouldn't be holding out hope.

It may be time for me to get a new computer.