ThinkPad R40 Not Booting

[hunterman223]

I recently went back to the US to visit family and friends, and ended up selling my R40 to my grandparents as a second computer. I am now back in the UK, and of course now it decided to have a problem. I am doing all of this over skype, but apparently the computer has been fine until now. When the computer is turned on, he gets error 0210, stuck key. So I told him to make sure there were no stuck keys, and that he is not holding anything down when he turns on the computer. Then when he continues the boot process, there is a blinking cursor at the top of the screen. So I had him try to boot a Windows 7 DVD, and it hung at the Press Any Key... screen. I was able to help him through the process of reseating the memory, and the computer beeped without any memory in. No joy, same thing. I had him try to reseat the hard drive, but the hard drive screw is stripped. He said he would drill it out and let me know tomorrow. I am not sure what would be causing this. Any ideas? Verbose booting doesn't give much away, just the stuck key. Tomorrow I will ask him which key it is, if I remember right it tells you the code.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. It's so frustrating that my trusty workhorse let me down when I'm 4,000+ miles away.

[emtee3511]

Check this -- http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/0210_errors/

[hunterman223]

Thanks, I think I found something similar but that is better. Any ideas why it won't boot from a cd or to windows?

[hunterman223]

Okay, I helped him get the stuck key issue sorted out. We made some serious progress, and got it booted to an xp cd. The administrator password wouldn't work however, even though I was 100% positive to what it was. I gave him a link to the NT offline password and registry editor, and helped him burn the iso, but that didn't like "C:\WINXP" instead of "C:\WINDOWS" , so that was bust. The BIOS was also having an issue an wouldn't accept the supervisor password, so I had him reset cmos by unplugging the backup battery. I made sure to say "be careful!" a few times, since in the past I have broken off those stupid fragil connectors. He ended up pulling it off with the cord, so no more cmos battery for thinkpad. The laptop would not boot off of the battery now, but it boots fine on AC. The bios password is somehow accepted now, and we restored defaults and moved the HDD to top. XP still won't boot, so we decided to reinstall. I am going to use remote assistance to remotely install all of his drivers and programs and all of the windows updates. (Pre-SP1 CD!!! )

Anyways, will it be possible to reattach the CMOS connector? I can't phisically see the connector anymore to tell if it can be easily soldered (UK speak now ) back on.

[jronald]

If the connector was "left" on the motherboard, its not worth the hassle of reattaching it. Buy a new CMOS battery. About $3.00USD

WARNING:
The R40 battery is NOT universal, and dont let anyone tell you they are. You need a R40 CMOS battery, looks the same but is wired backwards to most Thinkpad batteries. RealBlackStuff has a post on them, Ill see if I can find it.

Ron

[RealBlackStuff]

You can use a standard CMOS battery from another T23/T30/T40 etc. (the common yellow one). Easier to find and probably cheaper.
What you need to do with that, is cut both the red and black wires ONE AT THE TIME, then resolder the black battery wire to the red plug wire and the red battery wire to the black plug wire. (in other words cross the connections).
Use some electricians tape (scotch tape will also do) to cover each solder joint.
You can then put it in your R40.
The CMOS connector on the motherboard is universal, and could be taken/unsoldered from another laptop motherboard.
If just the plug from the old battery broke off, remove it first, then insert the new CMOS battery.

[hunterman223]

Thanks, I will see if I can find a battery for him. I won't mess around with crossing the connections and that, since I can't be there to help him do it. We are doing everything over skype and my Grandpa is not incredibly tech-savy. I think my uncle can help him solder it, he has done a lot of work with computers in the past.

Does anyone know if Windows XP remote assistance on the R40 can connect to Windows 7?