t43 very slow

[tor rubble]

my t43 stops running until i press the left button of the three on but just above the mouse pad
i discovered this by pressing every button on the laptop
when i let go it grids to a near halt or stops
as well as this the hard drive light goes out till pressed this then flashes

has my hard drive gone

[poshgeordie]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

It's possible the southbridge chip has become unsoldered. The symptoms for this are that the hard disc only runs when the palmrest around the tackpad area is pressed - the Southbridge chip underneath is actually being pressed on - not a dissimilar area to the button you mention.

The way to confirm this is to remove the parmrest - you'll need to remove th keyboard first - download the how to docs in my sig, and from there the T4x screws doc which shows which scew is which, if you need any help.

Remove the wifi card and the southbridge chip is the square Intel chip at the front of the motherboard under the card.

Refit the kbrd and boot up.

When it appears to stop loading, press on the top of the chip and check if the HDD then continues loading / running again.
if so then it's unsoldered Southbridge. If not then get back to us.

If it is the chip I run Reflow Repairs in Newcastle which specialises in this area - click on blue graphics Reflowing banner which tells you more about us and our contact details etc