My T21 won't boot

[luludro]

My T21 Thinkpad won't boot. The far left light blinks and nothing happens. It does boot normally, though, about once a week, but after 5 to 15 minutes of normal operation it goes black without notice and will not reboot. The fan does operate when it's on. The battery and AC adapter check out OK. I removed the battery, hard drive, CD drive, and memory with no success. I also disassembled it down to and including the fan to see if the fan was turning smoothly and if anything obvious appeared, but my knowledge is small. This has been a very reliable computer, and I would like to continue using it as a backup and for old programs. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

luludro

I forgot to mention that this began right after I blew off the keyboard with compressed air.

[nikki605]

It sounds like your T21 may be suffering from what we here on Thinkpads.com have come to call, the Blink of Death or BoD.

Mine had it many years ago and the solution was to replace the system board. Read some of these topics to see if your problem sounds similar:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48835

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=62785

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=39957

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=59577

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=61104

These are only a few. There are many, many more.

Regards,

[luludro]

Gary A:

Many thanks for a most comprehensive and effective reply. I haven't as yet gone through all the references, but the nature of the situation has become abundantly apparent. Useful answers are there, and I'm looking forward to the fix, even though it may involve resoldering some connections on the motherboard.

luludro