T60 graphical crazyness

[benplaut]

I think my Thinkpad is dying... first the ethernet port went kaput and I never bothered to fix it. Then the fan started to go, and occasionally gets off it's track and becomes very loud. Next the battery died, with the dreaded blinking light. Now this.

My 2613HKU (ATI X1400) has, for the past few weeks, become unstable on boot and displays lots of graphical artifacts. I am an Ubuntu user, but these problems occur in POST and in the BIOS, so it isn't a driver problem. I'll describe my normal boot sequence:
1. Turn on. The IBM/Thinkpad/Lenovo screen shows some artifacts.
2. Power On Password screen: more artifacts, but it still works
3. GRUB boot loader: so many artifacts I can't read the screen. Many colours, all ASCI characters
4. Ubuntu booting: blue vertical columns and random dots, all moving around. Sometimes it looks as if the screen had dozens of stuck pixels.
5. The system usually hard locks before login. If not, it will freeze a few minutes after login with the mouse still movable, but very delayed and jerky.
6. Reboot. Less artifacts in GRUB, less artifacts in Ubuntu bootup.
7. The system will now run for as long as I keep it on, with mild artifacts that might be driver related.

Suggestions? I'm thinking that this thing is about ready to be junked. It's my third thinkpad, and, right now, not my favourite.

[ARD]

Is it under warranty?
Sounds like the video memory is going due to the artifacts during the BIOS screen.
I don't think the GPU is hot enough to show artifacts that early on in the boot up.
An overheated GPU will show artifacts and then freeze the system. I've seen it happen.
Even then, open it up and check the thermal pads. You can get new heatsink from the members here, or ebay, or dircetly from Lenovo.
If that doesn't work, get a new motherboard. I had to swap a mobo on a ThinkPad once. Not a walk in the park, but definitely doable.
Good luck.

[benplaut]

Warranty expired a long time ago.
I'm almost completely sure it isn't a heat issue--I used to game on this computer and it ran fairly cool, haven't done it in a while. The symptoms (booting up with problems, and then rebooting without) seem to imply more of a need to "warm up" than overheat, but I'll open it up and check the pads.

I'm almost at the point where it might not be worth repairing this thing if it needs a new mobo and battery...

[ajkula66]

What you've described does sound like GPU/VRAM trouble calling for a new planar.

The good thing is, these are nowhere near as costly as they were a while ago, so you may want to do your math and see whether you're up for a swap...

Good luck.

[benplaut]

What you've described does sound like GPU/VRAM trouble calling for a new planar.

The good thing is, these are nowhere near as costly as they were a while ago, so you may want to do your math and see whether you're up for a swap...

Good luck.

planar is a... motherboard?
Looks like a mobo is $200-300 ebay, and a battery $100-200. That's about the same as the value of the computer. Darn

[ajkula66]

You can do a lot better than that, especially on the battery....

PM me if you choose to repair the machine...

Good luck.

[beeblebrox]

Nothing to worry about.
That problem on the T60 is well known, and it can be solved.
Contrary to the T61 with its defective nVidia G86 chip which dies after 2 years.

Your problem is... FLEXING. Check the threads on the T40 with the ATI chip problem and a solution is near.

(Just reflow the ATI, that's it).

[ajkula66]

Sorry, no.

T60 series are NOT known for motherboard flex. That was NEVER an issue with these machines, Lenovo made sure to design them in a manner that no flex is possible unless you have two elephants using the planar as a see-saw. Even very late T43/p units have substantially strengthened chassis to get around the flexing issue. T60/p went several steps beyond that.

What does fail on T60/p is the graphic card itself, and VRAM, more often than most people realize. There is no re-flowing/re-balling here, just straight planar swap.

[benplaut]

Actually, I have a T40 that had the flex problem, for future searcher's reference, this is unrelated.

I ordered a mobo, HSF, and 9 cell battery from forum member Brad and installed them today--everything is working as it should!