Hello,

I have a problem with an IBM Tinkpad T42 (2373) with a Radeon graphic card.
There are two different cases when powering on the laptop:
Either everything stays black, the system is not booting. Or for the
first three seconds everything works like it should, then where normally
the screen switches from the IBM start logo to the other one everything
goes black again and the system does not boot either.
In both cases the fan is running and the LEDs show normal activity
(except HDD). When I use the external video port the same happens.

I cannot reproduce any behaviour for sure, though the first case is by
far more common (about every 1/20 tries I get the second case).
I opened the case in order to check if there are any loose parts, I
checked the video connectors and tried to boot when the display is not
connected. The same results.

The laptop is from a colleague who dropped the notebook bag it was in.
This seems to be origin of the problem. At first everything worked fine
but after a few days the notebook shutdown randomly until the behaviour
described above occurred.

Does anyone have an idea what may be the problem or a tip how to debug this?
My only idea would be to test part by part from a compatible laptop. But
before embarking on that endeavour I was wondering if there is may be
more targeted approach.

ciao,
Elmar

--
"Religion und Familie sind die beiden größten Feinde des Fortschritts."
(André Gide (1869 - 1951), französischer Schriftsteller)

In news:47F80102.2050802@elmarweber.org,
Elmar Weber typed on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:45:22 +0200:
> Hello,
>
> I have a problem with an IBM Tinkpad T42 (2373) with a Radeon graphic
> card. There are two different cases when powering on the laptop:
> Either everything stays black, the system is not booting. Or for the
> first three seconds everything works like it should, then where
> normally the screen switches from the IBM start logo to the other one
> everything goes black again and the system does not boot either.
> In both cases the fan is running and the LEDs show normal activity
> (except HDD). When I use the external video port the same happens.
>
> I cannot reproduce any behaviour for sure, though the first case is by
> far more common (about every 1/20 tries I get the second case).
> I opened the case in order to check if there are any loose parts, I
> checked the video connectors and tried to boot when the display is not
> connected. The same results.
>
> The laptop is from a colleague who dropped the notebook bag it was in.
> This seems to be origin of the problem. At first everything worked
> fine but after a few days the notebook shutdown randomly until the
> behaviour described above occurred.
>
> Does anyone have an idea what may be the problem or a tip how to
> debug this? My only idea would be to test part by part from a
> compatible laptop. But before embarking on that endeavour I was
> wondering if there is may be more targeted approach.
>
> ciao,
> Elmar

Wow the HD lites doesn't show anything? Being dropped? Oh bad hard drive
or bad motherboard is my guesses. But I am thinking of the latter
actually. This isn't good Elmar.

--
Bill

Hellp,

BillW50 wrote:
> Wow the HD lites doesn't show anything? Being dropped? Oh bad hard drive
> or bad motherboard is my guesses. But I am thinking of the latter
> actually. This isn't good Elmar.

Thanks for your reply. HDD was defect after the crash, I replaced it
with another one that works and boots (in another laptop) but the
notebook never comes that far.

In case of a defect motherboard its of course FUBAR, although its hard
for me to imagine that the motherboard is gone because it sometimes
produces a "normal" first few seconds.
Although there are not mechanical components on the motherboard, is it
possible that a circuit path has some kind of "loose contact" - if you
can call it that - based on the crash?

ciao,
Elmar

--
"Religion und Familie sind die beiden größten Feinde des Fortschritts."
(André Gide (1869 - 1951), französischer Schriftsteller)

In news:47F80DD0.2010200@elmarweber.org,
Elmar Weber typed on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 01:40:00 +0200:
> Hellp,
>
> BillW50 wrote:
>> Wow the HD lites doesn't show anything? Being dropped? Oh bad hard
>> drive or bad motherboard is my guesses. But I am thinking of the
>> latter actually. This isn't good Elmar.
>
> Thanks for your reply. HDD was defect after the crash, I replaced it
> with another one that works and boots (in another laptop) but the
> notebook never comes that far.
>
> In case of a defect motherboard its of course FUBAR, although its hard
> for me to imagine that the motherboard is gone because it sometimes
> produces a "normal" first few seconds.
> Although there are not mechanical components on the motherboard, is it
> possible that a circuit path has some kind of "loose contact" - if you
> can call it that - based on the crash?

Yes exactly! Odds are so great that something has came loose. If you are
lucky, it just might be something that came loose from a socket
somewhere. The worse case is that the motherboard has cracked (even just
a hair line one would do it) and one or more connections are lost.

--
Bill

Elmar Weber wrote:
> Hellp,
>
> BillW50 wrote:
>> Wow the HD lites doesn't show anything? Being dropped? Oh bad hard
>> drive or bad motherboard is my guesses. But I am thinking of the
>> latter actually. This isn't good Elmar.
>
> Thanks for your reply. HDD was defect after the crash, I replaced it
> with another one that works and boots (in another laptop) but the
> notebook never comes that far.
>
> In case of a defect motherboard its of course FUBAR, although its hard
> for me to imagine that the motherboard is gone because it sometimes
> produces a "normal" first few seconds.
> Although there are not mechanical components on the motherboard, is it
> possible that a circuit path has some kind of "loose contact" - if you
> can call it that - based on the crash?
>
> ciao,
> Elmar
>

You are not saying what kind of OS is on the replacement hard-drive.
Without more info, I would suggest you boot into Bios, so that any OS
problem can be ruled out. If the Bios screen appears correctly, there is
a good chance the system is not damaged and you need to reinstall the OS
to confirm this.

This being said, as Bill, I am not holding my breath ...

Regards

--
John Doue

Hello,

John Doue wrote:
> You are not saying what kind of OS is on the replacement hard-drive.
> Without more info, I would suggest you boot into Bios, so that any OS
> problem can be ruled out. If the Bios screen appears correctly, there is
> a good chance the system is not damaged and you need to reinstall the OS
> to confirm this.

the HDD is not the problem, whether with HDD or without makes no difference.

The problem is that the system does not boot into bios. It goes black
before one has the chance to do anything on the system level - in the
few cases it produces a video output. As described in the first post, in
most cases there is no video output at all.

ciao,
Elmar

--
"Religion und Familie sind die beiden größten Feinde des Fortschritts."
(André Gide (1869 - 1951), französischer Schriftsteller)

Elmar Weber wrote:
> Hello,
>
> John Doue wrote:
>> You are not saying what kind of OS is on the replacement hard-drive.
>> Without more info, I would suggest you boot into Bios, so that any OS
>> problem can be ruled out. If the Bios screen appears correctly, there
>> is a good chance the system is not damaged and you need to reinstall
>> the OS to confirm this.
>
> the HDD is not the problem, whether with HDD or without makes no
> difference.
>
> The problem is that the system does not boot into bios. It goes black
> before one has the chance to do anything on the system level - in the
> few cases it produces a video output. As described in the first post, in
> most cases there is no video output at all.
>
> ciao,
> Elmar
>

Then, hope for the best, which might be a loose connection. Open the
machine and try reseating all chips and connectors. Good luck.

--
John Doue

John Doue wrote:
> Elmar Weber wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> John Doue wrote:
>>> You are not saying what kind of OS is on the replacement hard-drive.
>>> Without more info, I would suggest you boot into Bios, so that any OS
>>> problem can be ruled out. If the Bios screen appears correctly, there
>>> is a good chance the system is not damaged and you need to reinstall
>>> the OS to confirm this.
>>
>> the HDD is not the problem, whether with HDD or without makes no
>> difference.
>>
>> The problem is that the system does not boot into bios. It goes black
>> before one has the chance to do anything on the system level - in the
>> few cases it produces a video output. As described in the first post,
>> in most cases there is no video output at all.
>>
>> ciao,
>> Elmar
>>
>
> Then, hope for the best, which might be a loose connection. Open the
> machine and try reseating all chips and connectors. Good luck.
>

The T41 & T42 series had issues with the video processors coming loose
from the mainboard (due to heat), and displaying the symptoms you describe.
While I don't think it was the Radeon chipset that had the problem, it
may be that "the drop" could have resulted in the same type of problem.
( There is a guy that charges $150.00 to fix just that).

Best bet is to do what was recommended, reseating connections and chips.
Those mobo are expensive to replace, but if the rest of the laptop is in
good shape ( LCD, Chassis) it might be worth a replacement.

One other piece of advice before a complete breakdown of the unit, is
reseating the ram under the keyboard. It may have come loose and is
making just enough contact to get the symptoms you are seeing.

Hi Elmar,

I have exactly the same problem with the same laptop.

I too have taken it apart looking for problems and can't find
anything. I also tried disconnecting the LCD and connecting an
external monitor, but it didn't help.

So I'm keen to hear if you come up with anything, because I'm stumped

Cheers

Anton

Hi Elmar,

I have exactly the same problem with the same laptop.

I too have taken it apart looking for problems and can't find
anything. I also tried disconnecting the LCD and connecting an
external monitor, but it didn't help.

So I'm keen to hear if you come up with anything, because I'm stumped

Cheers

Anton

Hi Elmar,

I have exactly the same problem with the same laptop.

I too have taken it apart looking for problems and can't find
anything. I also tried disconnecting the LCD and connecting an
external monitor, but it didn't help.

So I'm keen to hear if you come up with anything, because I'm stumped

Cheers

Anton

Hi Elmar,

I have exactly the same problem with the same laptop.

I too have taken it apart looking for problems and can't find
anything. I also tried disconnecting the LCD and connecting an
external monitor, but it didn't help.

So I'm keen to hear if you come up with anything, because I'm stumped

Cheers

Anton

Hi Elmar,

I have exactly the same problem with the same laptop.

I too have taken it apart looking for problems and can't find
anything. I also tried disconnecting the LCD and connecting an
external monitor, but it didn't help.

So I'm keen to hear if you come up with anything, because I'm stumped

Cheers

Anton

Hi Elmar,

I have exactly the same problem with the same laptop.

I too have taken it apart looking for problems and can't find
anything. I also tried disconnecting the LCD and connecting an
external monitor, but it didn't help.

So I'm keen to hear if you come up with anything, because I'm stumped

Cheers

Anton