Re: [Thinkpad] A 770 (9548) in coma ?

I thank you, Art.

I'll try once more, splitting the 770 totally and reseating the CPU-card again.

My previous assumptions, blaming the standby-battery, can't be the cause.

And:
Since it has to use the CPU to go through POST, show mem-info and so on.....it's very likely the CPU-card.
If the CPU-card was okay, but the problem was some fault on the systemboard........the POST would have showed numeric error codes.

Well....back on the dining table with this lady for some treatments ;-)

Brian

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: gwydion
  Cc: thinkpad@stderr.org
  Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 1:21 AM
  Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] A 770 (9548) in coma ?

  I had 2 non-working 770s, one of which had symptoms similar to
  what you describe, that I "fixed" by taking them apart and
  re-seating the cpu card. The old 770s run a bit hot, and I think
  that the heat may sometimes cause things not to fit together just
  right.

  Art

  Brian Hougaard Baldersbaek wrote:
>
> Today I got my dirty hands on a first generation 770, model 9548.
> (P233MMX, 32+128MB, 24xCD)
> I got it for roughly $65 and bought it as being dead on delivery and arrival.
>
> Of course I want it to come alive again. That's why I bought it. :´-) It's a ThinkPad 770.
>
> It's kinda strange...really.
> It's not that dead. Something is definately wrong, but I can't figure out what.
>
> It's medical history, provided from the seller, tells this story:
>
> One day it just won't boot.
> He tries another HD...still no luck.
> He puts it away for 14 days.
> It now boots normally.....!
> Windows is up 'n' running....
> Suddenly it freezes.....light and image is still on the LCD.
> Tries a reboot, but it freezes during Windows startup. Image on LCD is okay.
> Tries a reboot one more time...freezes after only 20 seconds. LCD okay.
> One more try.....but it won't even boot.
> A couple of days later, he's trying again...but it's dead.
> No mercy.
>
> Now I have my hands on it.
>
> I took out the Lithium 3V batterycell....only showing 0.03 Volts.
> Replaced it with a fresh one.
>
> At power-up....:
> The power LED on top is working okay.
> CPU-fan starts at high-speed....slowing down for a couple of seconds...then high-speed again permanently.
> The floppy gets some juice...I can hear it getting some power, but the machine don't get a taste of it like in a normal POST.
> I can't hear the HD running.
> There's absolutely no POST going on.
> No beeps.
> The LCD is black. No life.
>
> But...here's the strange part:
> The indicatorpanel works !
> It can charge a battery. I can see the gauge showing and counting the percentage.
> It shows the NumLk, CapsLock and ScrLk indicators in the normal way at power-up...All 3 at the same time during a second or two.
>
> On my beloved ;-) 770Z...I opened the HMM.
> I disassembled the 770 totally. Ruling out bad connections. Reseating everything.
> Got it back together again...still no life. With all peripherals off or on. No life.
> I noticed a Standby-battery, NiMH. I took it out...it does have current, 3.9 Volts.
> But a NiMH-cell can show a lot of current, but then having no capacity.
>
> It's an old machine :-)
> What is causing this coma ?
> Is it the Standby battery, that's old and worn out ?
> Is it the CPU-card ?
> Systemboard ?
>
> If it's a dead CPU....then it should be dead....dead as a stone the first time it wouldn't boot.
> Same, I think.....goes with the systemboard.
> Does a dying systemboard acts out this way ?
> "No, sucker, I won't boot now. Wait 14 days"
>
> The symptoms provided by the seller....I think, indicates something with a battery.
> Leaving it for 14 days could bring some juice back to the surface.
> Powering it up...see it running.
> Then...in shorter intervals....it dies on him.
>
> If it's the backup-battery....then it would boot and show some numeric error codes.
> What if it is the Standby battery that's dead ?
> There's no reference to this in HMM.
>
> Am I on the right track ?
>
> My very best regards.
> Brian

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Received on Fri Sep 26 02:46:48 2003