T40 Dies Randomly Due to Movement / Pressure

[trawson]

I have a T40 whose display died maybe 18 months ago. I bought a new LCD panel on eBay and installed it and ever since it has this behavior where I am working and it just completely freezes -- no warning, no error, everything just stops. It appears to be mechanical (solder problem perhaps?) as it will happen more frequently if I am hitting the keyboard hard. Also sometimes it will not reboot unless I twist on the case a bit.

This all happens often enough that the machine is essentially unusable.

I could replace the MB as they are not that expensive but I don't really know if it is the MB, something else that got messed up when replacing the LCD, or perhaps the new LCD panel itself -- though that seems unlikely to cause this kind of problem.

Any ideas on what to do and/or how to diagnose further?

Thanks,

Tom

[Harryc]

It sounds like a loose GPU chip problem. To isolate further apply pressure directly to the ATI GPU chip on the motherboard to see if you can change the symptoms. You can remove the keyboard but leave it connected to power up, or use a dock and remove it completely.

[drmacpro]

I have the same problem. I'll be working and suddenly nothing is working. So I turn it off and turn it back on, and nothing will show. I have to twist the LCD a bit before I get video. I used a external Keyboard and mouse to prevent this from happening, but even still it randomly does it.

[RealBlackStuff]

Read the Sticky: t42 shuts down when i move it.
It has all the info you need.

[trawson]

It sounds like a loose GPU chip problem. To isolate further apply pressure directly to the ATI GPU chip on the motherboard to see if you can change the symptoms. You can remove the keyboard but leave it connected to power up, or use a dock and remove it completely.

Thanks, I was thinking it might be something like that. Is the GPU readily identifiable with the keyboard removed?

[Harryc]

Yes, it has 'ATI' printed on it in large letters.