X41 tablet - no signs of life. Need help debugging

[yudel]

My X41 tablet was running fine... though perhaps a little hot. Last night it stopped. The power light doesn't go on when plugged in. I tried discharging the capacitors by pressing the on/off button ten times, but that didn't work.

I'm not set up to check replace capacitors, so detailed repair and diagnosis is not an option for me.

My question is: Is this most probably a problem on the motherboard, in which case I can buy a replacement mb on ebay? Is there some other part that might be an issue other than the mb?

Thank you!

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

While it's more than likely that the issue is with the motherboard, it will not cost you any money (just time) to perform the usual diagnostic procedure when confronted with a "dead" system.

If possible, first verify that the battery and AC adapter are working. For that you will either need access to another X41T system (battery) or a 16VDC Thinkpad. If those are not available, then you can still check both using a meter (i.e., DVM - digital voltmeter or DMM - digital multimeter). If both check out working, then....

Pull all of the hardware out of the system, except the CPU, and see what happens. This means the hard drive, memory, PCMCIA card(s), MiniPCI, CDC (communication daughter card; modem, ethernet, bluetooth). For systems that do not have any soldered-in memory, you should get the 1-3-3-1 beep code for bad/missing memory. Since the X41T does have built-in memory, it should boot normally if the motherboard is working (something you just removed has a problem). Re-install one piece at a time and see what happens.

If the system is still dead after everything has been removed, then you might be looking at a motherboard swap.

To help with the disassembly and procedure to check voltages of the AC adapter and battery, download a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 60073.html