New guy, dead T60p

[mafoose]

I've had this T60p for a while, I got it cheap because it had a bunch of issues that I slowly whittled away at.

It's a type 2008 with 2gigs of ram and the Centrino dual core. 15in screen (not a widescreen model).

It's been running great until 2 days ago. After a few hours playing starcraft with some friends the machine shut off. I figured it was because of heat, the machine was set to Maximum Performance and someone placed something close to the exhaust vent and it got quite warm.

Didn't think anything of it and took it home. Following day it wouldn't turn on, I hit the power button and the power led would flash as well as the battery one.
Thought the battery was dead so I plugged in the AC adapter and the machine booted right up.

Today I turned the computer on, browsed for a bit, then closed the lid (which makes it go to sleep). About an hour later I pick it up and even though the little moon is on the battery light is also on and the CPU fan is running. I open it and it does nothing.

And that's where I am at today. If a press the power button the power and battery leds flash, but it does nothing. If I hit it again the power and battery LEDs come on and the caps lock, numlock, and CD drive flash like if it was booting but no CPU fan, hard disk, or anything is displayed on the screen.

I removed the RAM and get the 1-3-3-1 beep code about once every 20 tries. It has started up once since doing all this but powering it down makes it unresponsive again. I've tried swapping the ram, putting one stick in and not the other, changing which dimm slot I use, and nothing. I've also tried disconnecting the AC adapter and removing the battery and pressing the power button 10 times and holding the 10th to 30sec with no change.

Am I right to think system board? Should I bother replacing it? I've replaced the keyboard, touchpad, fingerprint scanner, cleaned the internals, and just bought a screen for it (the current one has some dead pixels) so this laptop has definitely been through hell. Am I fighting a loosing battle?

TIA

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.
Some laptops have a lid push-switch when you close the lid, other models use a magnetic or proximity switch.
The T60 has a magnetic switch, see this: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 93#p574953
Check if that has gone on the blink first.
Also check the fan for dust-bunnies, you never know.

If you want a long(er) life out of that machine (and find another PC/laptop to play games), get a motherboard with Intel integrated graphics. It runs cooler and uses less battery.
The T60p motherboard is quite expensive and one of the hottest running mobos around!
After all the renovations you have made, a new mobo would still be worth it.