A31 Won't Bootup after Battery Charge

[pixtureskk]

I am really stumped on this one, there are no manuals so I am on my own. I have an A31 2652 j3u that I got used. For some reason, after I charge the battery ( usually get at least 90 minutes per charge), the screen stays black when I bootup. I am not much of a techie so this is very frustrating. I wait for the battery symbol to flash orange, the recharge the battery, which usually takes 2 hours until it turns green. I saw in a pamphlet I got from the Lenovo site, that the charge takes at least 3 hours. Can you please explain in point form, very easy to follow how to properly charge the battery. When this first happened, I reset the boot order in the BIOS to "C" drive, floppy, cd. The computer boots up perfectly. Now I can't even get into the BIOS, can't see anything on the screen. How can I get this computer to work normally. Thanks.

P.S. Just out of interest what is a fair price for this computer in Canadian money. This particular computer has 512 megs of ram + a dvd/cdrw + a floppy.

[pixtureskk]

Just another point. after 2 hours of charging and the battery symbol turns green, if I unplug then replug the AC, the battery light turns solid orange again, then in about 30 minutes, it turns green again, that makes me think I am not charging it enough. If I just use the AC, the screen still stays black, the machine seems to be in some sort of inactive mode (I think I also accidently hit the Fn key). I wonder if in the charging process, the boot order might change, because after setting the boot order correctly, the computer worked perfectly for the duration of the charge, I know I am doing something that is probably very easy to fix, very frustrating!!!. Thanks again, Ken.

[ajkula66]

Let's try this:

Unplug the AC adapter, remove the battery, hard and media drives. Press the "power" button ten times in a row, holding it down for ten seconds each time and thirty seconds the last time around.

Plug the adapter-but nothing else-back in and try to power on.

Boot order can only be changed in BIOS, or by removing a device, BTW.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[pixtureskk]

Can unplug the ac adapter, battery, no way I will even attempt the other two. Will do the power button thing as you suggest, report back. Thanks.

[RealBlackStuff]

Make sure you have a 72W 16V AC-adapter.
There are identical looking ones around that have only 56W!

[ajkula66]

Removing all the drives is an essential part of the process that I've suggested, there's only one screw to remove...you may want to take a look here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-39796

[pixtureskk]

I have that maintenance manual, can't even begin to follow it. I am running the machine now. The battery is green, the light next to the power button (looks like a "z") is also on. Thought I might let it run until the battery turns orange. Another point I forgot. After the last charge, the XP screen came up offering the F1, F12 choices but the screen froze, could not power off the machine, so I unplugged the ac adapter, took off the battery to turn off the machine. Most of the other times I was able to discharge/recharge with the machine starting properly. I think if I could get into the BIOS, reset the boot order, this is what worked before. Is there some simple fix we are overlooking? Thanks, Ken.

[ajkula66]

pixtureskk wrote:

Is there some simple fix we are overlooking?

Well, if you don't want to remove hard and media drives to possibly help the machine boot, I honestly don't know what type of "simple fix" you're looking for. It doesn't get much simpler than that...

[pixtureskk]

SUCCESS!!! Probably just pure luck but here's how it went. I pressed the Fn key in combination with the F1 to F12 keys, nothing seems to happen, then I took off the battery, unplug the computer, then unscrew both covers on the bottom, just took a look inside, saw that my ram was Samsung DDR (2x256megs) PC2700S CL2.5 which I think runs at 333mhz. These computers originally came with 128 megs of PC2100, I guess the guy I got it from put in more, better ram. Then I close the covers screwing the screws "tight" into the bottom. Then I push the latch holding the floppy, something pops out, try wiggling it a bit, nothing happens, the floppy won't move so I push the piece of plastic back in. Then I push the latch holding the dvd/cdrw, nothing pops out, try pushing on it but nothing pops out. Then I insert the battery, power up the computer, the XP start screen is there again, then I plug in the AC adapter, works again. Then I remove the battery, just use the AC, works again. Then I unplug the AC, plug it back in again, works perfectly. While I am typing this, I have reboot the computer at least 6 times, works perfectly. Next I boot up to the BIOS to check the boot order, just as I left it "C" drive, floppy, cd.

If I leave the battery connected but use the computer most of the time with the ac adapter, will the battery continue to maintain a full charge? As a lithium ion, I assume there is no memory so it will charge to as long a time as possible.

As far as installing XP PRO, I can use my legal XP PRO Corporate SP1( which cost me 30 cents Canadian at a garage sale), after formatting my "C" drive, then attempt the lengthy update process or I just got from the internet an IBM specific OEM XP PRO Corporate SP3 with most of the updates plus Firefox, other software. It will format my "C" drive before installing this OEM. Given all the time + anguish trying to get the computer to work again, my temptation is to go with the OEM, to make things as easy as possible, would appreciate your input on that. Anyways, what a relief!!! Thanks for all your help, Ken.

[pixtureskk]

I spoke too soon. Back in the same situation again. I was busy for a couple of hours after my initial success so I remove the battery from the computer as well as removing the ac adapter so the computer sat without any power for 2 hours. Then after re-connecting everything, the problem came up again. Should some power always at least be attached to the computer? What about the computer going into stand by or hibernation mode, what about Fn combo keys, is something not working there. When it was working, it was perfect. Perhaps something in the BIOS settings (eg: power settings, timer etc). I'll repeat the same activities that got it working the first will report back if successful. Thanks, Ken.

[RealBlackStuff]

You get sound advice, but don't pay a blind bit of attention to it.
Not very encouraging to help you any further...

[pixtureskk]

Please forgive me but I am not in any way competent with computer hardware, so I am going to take my A31 to a techie I know, trust, he has done great work for me, let him have a go at it, I just can't attempt this myself. Thanks guys for all your help, will report back with what I learn. Thanks, Ken.

[Dos3.1]

Let's try this:

Unplug the AC adapter, remove the battery, hard and media drives. Press the "power" button ten times in a row, holding it down for ten seconds each time and thirty seconds the last time around.

Plug the adapter-but nothing else-back in and try to power on...

I've got a non-booting A31 here, too. I tried all of the above suggestions, even removed the RAM. When I attach AC power again and power on, all that happens is that the green LEDs flash on, then the green "Z" power LED stays lit. No beeps at all. Nothing. MB problem, it seems like.

[A31]

I've got a non-booting A31 here, too. I tried all of the above suggestions, even removed the RAM. When I attach AC power again and power on, all that happens is that the green LEDs flash on, then the green "Z" power LED stays lit. No beeps at all. Nothing. MB problem, it seems like.

That's how mine died... bad motherboard. It happens.

Just realised this is a 5 year old thread.

[Dos3.1]

That's how mine died... bad motherboard. It happens.

Just realised this is a 5 year old thread.

Yep, isn`t it great that we have this forum available, for even years-old questions and sharing of Thinkpad knowledge!

If my A31 has a dead MB there`s not much I can do with it, outside a MB replacement, and I don`t think I would bother. If anyone wants it for parts, let me know with a PM, or I`ll sell it elsewhere (I may make a posting in the Marketplace if no one snaps it up, from here).

[A31]

Mine died about 4 years ago. I just chucked it out - too old to bother with (even back in 2010).

[Saucey]

I'm getting a few artifacts reminiscent of a bad NES game cartige at a few boots.
I just turn off and restart again till it works.
slow as a dog, but when I am web surfing it is ample enough at the websites I view (which is mainly text w/ the exceptions of images opened in new tabs)

CPU is what is churning most power, RAM seems to about 500-800MB, maybe 1.2GB when I "push it"