RE: [Thinkpad] Need help: Thinkpad Crashing

It sounds like either the system board or memory. Do you have two pieces of
memory in the machine? If so, then you can troubleshoot a possible memory
problem by taking out one piece and run it until it crashes, or until you're
satisfied that it is not crashing at all. If it never crashes, then the
piece of memory you took out was bad. If it does crash, then put the first
piece of memory back in and take the other one and run that way for a while.
Same deal--if that makes it reliable then the first piece of memory is bad.

If it crashes whichever single piece of memory you use, then the system
board is bad. Is the machine still under warranty?

-Mike

> From: Jeff Wabik
>
> I have a Thinkpad T22 running Windows 2000.. I have been trying
> to debug a problem with it for more than 2 years, and am now at the
> end of my rope. :) Any assistance you can provide is greatly
> appreciated.
>
> The problem seems a complete hardware crash -- not a Windows Crash: The
> T22 itself "resets" and goes from "fully operational" directly
> to the "power on" screen.
>
> What I know about the crashes:
>
> 1. Crashes can seemingly happy "any time", but most regularly happen
> while running some graphics-intensive application. This is especially
> true if the graphics application is also IDE-device intense
> [e.g. A crash
> is guaranteed within 5 minutes if running something like Microsoft
> Flight Simulator; Within 30 minutes for some less-intensive graphics
> application or game. Probably once per week if I am just running
> normal windows applications -- recognizing that while windows itself
> is graphical, that the applications underneath are text based.. Like
> the MS-Office Suite].
> 2. Each crash is precipitated by about 500ms of system "lock up", followed
> by what sounds like the devices on the IDE bus resetting, (I
> believe the
> sound is that of the heads on the drives doing a full
> re-position/reset),
> then black-screen, then back to the hardware power-on screen. Never
> windows blue-screen-of-death or any software message - it
> appears to be
> a hardware crash/reset.
> 3. Without a power-cycle, the system will never fully reboot. The reboot
> starts, but in "Windows 2000" terms -- will only get as far
> as the first
> graphical "Windows 2000" screen with the cylon-like blue bar
> below (that
> shows the boot is in process). Eventually the cylon bar
> stops, and the
> system is locked and requires a power-cycle. So, the IDE
> devices appear
> to all come back online and operate (enough to load the boot code, at
> least).. but at some point of the boot-time inventory things lock .
>
>
> What I have done to diagnose:
>
> 1. I have tried running these crash-prone applications on other
> machines --
> and they run fine.
> 2. I have reloaded the OS from scratch several times, but the
> symptoms of the
> crash are the same.
> 3. I have reloaded and updated every graphic and device driver
> that seems even
> remotely associated with the symptoms I describe above, but
> the crashes
> persist. I have also tried different versions of DirectX,
> etc -- no change
> in symptoms.
> 4. I have booted the system having removed all IDE (and
> peripheral devices)
> except
> the hard disk (obviously), but the crashes persist.
> 5. I have replaced the hard disk -- no change.
> 6. I have tried each hard disk in a different laptop (a Thinkpad
> 600E) with
> the same applications, and it/they work(s) fine.
> 7. I have run the Thinkpad self-test hardware diagnostics -- all
> tests pass
> successfully.
> 8. I've scoured the net looking for a similar story/resolution, but have
> found none.
> (Doing a search with "windows" and "crash" as keywords is particularly
> useless.) IBM's helpline wants me to "Click on 'My
> computer'", etc, etc,
> bla, bla, bla.. You know where those attempts have gone.
>
> Hence, I have tried to isolate hardware and software problems by testing,
> new hardware, new software, etc.. but with no effect. I am now
> officially
> completely baffled. My fears are that there is some
> "undetectable" problem
> with the system board.
>
> Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.
>
> -Jeff
>
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>

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Received on Mon Sep 29 14:04:55 2003