Common T6x Problems?

[laboye]

Hi everyone! As my laptop repair gig is starting to grow (and as 2.5" IDE HDs are getting more expensive), I am making the transition from repairing and refurbishing mostly T4x to T6x machines. Most T4x problems seemed to involve the BGA on the GPU and fuses that caused power problems (and the spring-loaded IDE connector on the T43s), but what are the typical physical problems with the T6x series?

I may also begin selling my refurbished ThinkPads through the forum store, if it works out.

[Harryc]

T6X series - Nvidia GPU's going bad and noisy fans. You will also see a few ATI GPU problems but very rare. WiFi adapters sometimes cause intermittent problems, like loss of signal or freezing. You will also see some backlight problems, but not more than usual. It really is a very reliable series.

[laboye]

Excellent! What sort of video card issues? Anything reasonably repairable?

Also, I have a pair of T60s that I've been working with--one of them that won't turn on the LCD at all and doesn't light up the system LEDs but otherwise works great with an external monitor. I was getting ready to sell it when this suddenly occurred after a reboot. I replaced the inverter, LCD cable and tried a different LCD panel for the heck of it; no such luck. I inspected the motherboard and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The other T60 I just received shows lights but won't power up at all. The fan is halted too, so I'm thinking poor user treatment or electrical damage. Any ideas with the other T60, though?

[Harryc]

There is a problem with the nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M - the only repair is systemboard replacement.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpos ... stcount=15

[sktn77a]

There's also a problem with the early T61p (FX570) motherboards causing video crashes with 3D apps when you have 2 memory modules in. Only fix, again, is a mobo replacement (or using a single memory module).

[laboye]

I am going to split off the machine problems to another thread... Thanks for the responses so far.

[crazyfrog]

WiFi adapters sometimes cause intermittent problems, like loss of signal or freezing.

This problem seems to be due to bad old driver or poor power manager in Windows XP. It'll never happen again after a certain patch is installed in XP or upgrading to Vista/Win7.