Click here to get back home

Thinkpad: Video dies after bioscheck
 Home | NewsGroups | Search | About
Login Password
Register Now!
 comp.sys.laptops    Post an article   get this group's latest topics as an RSS feed add this group's latest topics to your My MSN content add this group's latest topics to your My Yahoo content
Subject Author Date
Thinkpad: Video dies after bioscheck Elmar Weber 04-05-2008
Posted by Elmar Weber on April 5, 2008, 6:45 pm
Please log in for more thread options
 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)

Posted by BillW50 on April 5, 2008, 7:10 pm
Please log in for more thread options
 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


Posted by Elmar Weber on April 5, 2008, 7:40 pm
Please log in for more thread options
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)

Posted by BillW50 on April 6, 2008, 8:52 am
Please log in for more thread options
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


Posted by John Doue on April 7, 2008, 2:42 am
Please log in for more thread options
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

Similar ThreadsPosted
thinkpad x20 display flickers, then dies January 10, 2006, 11:43 am
problem with video in my t23 thinkpad November 10, 2005, 8:21 am
video in /out features on thinkpad a22p July 5, 2005, 9:44 pm
How do i check video output on my IBM Thinkpad R50 January 9, 2007, 3:05 pm
How do i check video output on my IBM Thinkpad R50 January 9, 2007, 3:06 pm
HP laptop LCD dies 6 weeks out of warranty! August 8, 2005, 12:22 pm
My Kids' Inspiron 1000 Overheats and Dies... December 31, 2004, 8:46 pm
Pavilion ZV5000 dies on BIOS upgrade? May 11, 2006, 8:52 am
Acer Travelmate 4222 dies when moved August 27, 2006, 9:44 pm
Toshiba HD dies. Warranty support sucks. Review:MK6026GAX/HDD2194 2.5" 60GB Laptop June 15, 2005, 6:35 pm

Our other projects:

Art Dolls, Fairies and Mermaids - Sunnyfaces.net

Roy's Linux, Programming and Search Engines messages

1-Script XML SitemapXML Sitemap