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  • #2229859

    Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

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    by whoward ·

    I have an IBM Thinkpad T41 with a good battery, 512Kb memory, 80GB hard drive and screen but when i depress the power-on button from an off position, the fan starts, followed by the Keyboard ready light, power-on light, battery light and the fan starts. However, nothing appears on the screen (not even an error code or BIOS error) and I don’t hear any I/O activity. I’m not sure if the HD is spinning but the power-on indicator and the battery light stays on and the fan continues in motion. I’ve even tried hitting the F1 key and the Blue IBM key but nothing ever happens other than I know that the power is on.

    Any ideas or suggestions?

    Willie

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    • #2557568

      Clarifications

      by whoward ·

      In reply to Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

      Clarifications

    • #2557563

      Try this

      by matthewhastings ·

      In reply to Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

      Hi Willie if your unsure of the state of the hard drive try removing it to see if this is stoping the thinkpad from booting. This will not damage the PC in any way its safe to do once you have removed it of course the PC won’t boot into windows but it should diplay post boot screen. If that’s no good try removing the memory and reseating it could have a contact issue. See how that goes…..

      • #2656747

        Remove HDU

        by whoward ·

        In reply to Try this

        Hi Matthew. thanks for the suggestion on removing the HDU from the T41. I removed it and applied the power and still nothing. No monitor display. No errors. No nothing. However, the power-on indicator and the batter light indicator lights and most of all the fan is engaged. I even borrowed a port replicator and plugged in a secondary monitor and that monitor didn’t receive any signal. Seems more and more to me that this is a system board failure. Oh yes. I removed the memory under the KB and reseated it.

        • #2455427

          Sound like a faulty mainboard

          by matthewhastings ·

          In reply to Remove HDU

          Sound like a faulty mainboard to me then but it may be worth trying another RAM it it has none onboard if you remove the RAM do you get beep codes?. But with no beep codes or post boot screen most likely the mainboard.

        • #2553768

          Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

          by whoward ·

          In reply to Sound like a faulty mainboard

          I called IBM and naturally the computer warranty had already expired about a year ago. However, I give a great deal of credit to IBM, the tech talked me thru a series of actions which all failed to produce any positive results. Hence, the tech suggested that the main board probably was at fault. He stated that the T-series machines were thin and when the user flexed the enclosure too much, sometimes there have been instances when the board circuits are broken. I have removed the HDU and copied the useful contents to other media for transfer to another machine.

          thanks for your help.

    • #2551203

      Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

      by bullfighter000 ·

      In reply to Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

      Hello, I have the exact same problem.
      Were you able to find any answers?

      • #2659423

        Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

        by whoward ·

        In reply to Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

        I called IBM tech support and they led me to the conclusion that the problem was more than likely a main board fault. It’s in my best interest now to salvage the good components (HDU, Screen, KB, memory) and get another machine. You may have better luck than that. If you do, post the success story here.

        • #2655926

          RE: Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

          by khartvin ·

          In reply to Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

          i’ve got the same problem, my t41 doesn’t want to boot but all the diodes are on and the fan is spinning. unfortunately i don’t have possibility to talk with ibm technicians so you’ve worried me a lot with their answer that the system board is damaged

        • #2566818

          Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem – try this

          by whoward ·

          In reply to RE: Thinkpad T41 Boot Problem

          Khartvin – I was told to try a few things that you may not have tried yet.
          1. Have you removed and replaced the battery.
          2. Remove the memory and reseat it. The T41 has memory under the Keyboard as well as another seat on the underside near the HDU. If the latter one is populated, try unplugging and reseating them both.
          3. Finally, the IBM engineer told me to hold down the “ACCESS IBM” blue button for a period of about 10 seconds.

          If none of the above yield any positive results, your system board may be at fault.

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