Can this laptop be resuscitated?
October 30, 2018 12:45 PM Subscribe
I've had this T-61 Thinkpad for a while. One of my several similar laptops; I buy 'em refurbished, this one still had but hardly any use - I was keeping it elsewhere, as a backup, and only used it for web access, just a few days every few months. Then it goes back on a shelf. Last time was April, everything was fine. I've just retrieved it, push the button, and nothing. Swap out batteries, different adapters - 100% brick, no response.
It's still on Windows 7and I am able to open it up and maybe fix stuff inside, but before I start messing around, where would you look first? Power supply? I have a Voltmeter, but no experience using it in this context.
It's still on Windows 7and I am able to open it up and maybe fix stuff inside, but before I start messing around, where would you look first? Power supply? I have a Voltmeter, but no experience using it in this context.
Leave it plugged in for a long time. Sorta sounds like the old BIOS battery has lost it's charge or needs replacing. Maybe good batteries and letting it be 'charging' for a longer time might bring the internal BIOS battery thing (if they even still exist, something has to keep that clock running and hold onto things while you remove all power/batteries for a swap...) back up to the point where it works.
Also,any wild temperature variations? Non-purpose-built batteries will just croak after being way too cold.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:30 PM on October 30, 2018
Also,any wild temperature variations? Non-purpose-built batteries will just croak after being way too cold.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:30 PM on October 30, 2018
Just a bit of further explanation. I once pulled a new-in-box first gen chromebook off of a shelf where it had been sitting for years and years. I had to leave it plugged in for like a week to get it to boot. Its batteries were shot, it wouldn't run for more than an hour without power, and if you left it off and unplugged for a few days... you'd have to plug it in and wait a week to get it started again.
And I lost a battery due to it having been left in a truck for a few days in a really cold place.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:45 PM on October 30, 2018
And I lost a battery due to it having been left in a truck for a few days in a really cold place.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:45 PM on October 30, 2018
It should still power on with a dead CMOS battery. Just means it won't retain your BIOS settings when it goes off power the next time. Do you get any lights on it at all when it's on the adapter or is it just blacked out dead? If you're getting some indicator lights, that to me would read that the RAM isn't seated or working and it's not able to boot (or something further down the hierarchy). If you're not getting indicator lights, that means a power issue so it's either the power supply, the jack where it attaches to the system board, or something on the system board itself. I'd also remove the battery (assuming it's not glued in). If it is a permanent battery, a long long charge time (eg many hours of just sitting on AC) might be needed to wake it up.
posted by msbutah at 2:59 PM on October 30, 2018
posted by msbutah at 2:59 PM on October 30, 2018
You get no lights at all, right? No sound of drive spinning up.
Remove battery, plug in laptop, try power button.
Most things that can go wrong happen after the boot process starts, so you'd see the light indicating the battery is charging, and other lights that come on briefly. I'd try putting the battery in, and leave it charging.
posted by theora55 at 6:03 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Remove battery, plug in laptop, try power button.
Most things that can go wrong happen after the boot process starts, so you'd see the light indicating the battery is charging, and other lights that come on briefly. I'd try putting the battery in, and leave it charging.
posted by theora55 at 6:03 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: No lights, no drive sounds, nothing. I'll try leaving it plugged in without battery for a while.
posted by Rash at 6:36 PM on October 30, 2018
posted by Rash at 6:36 PM on October 30, 2018
If you have a multimeter handy, you can check that the adapter is working and what the state of charge of the battery is.
FWIW, my T60 would happily run and boot without a battery. My T60p required the 65W adapter (I think that's the number, it was the higher wattage one), but would still power on with no battery.
That said, leaving it plugged in a while certainly won't hurt anything. It might be worth removing the disk (I believe the T61 still has the access door, so all you need is the right Phillips driver) to see if it will power on without it since the extra load could be enough to trip the adapter's protection circuit.
Better yet, download the hardware maintenance manual and pull the wifi card and memory and see if it beeps at you angrily. If not, I suspect your adapter is bad unless maybe some caps have failed on the motherboard. I'd suspect the power source first, though.
posted by wierdo at 8:21 PM on October 30, 2018
FWIW, my T60 would happily run and boot without a battery. My T60p required the 65W adapter (I think that's the number, it was the higher wattage one), but would still power on with no battery.
That said, leaving it plugged in a while certainly won't hurt anything. It might be worth removing the disk (I believe the T61 still has the access door, so all you need is the right Phillips driver) to see if it will power on without it since the extra load could be enough to trip the adapter's protection circuit.
Better yet, download the hardware maintenance manual and pull the wifi card and memory and see if it beeps at you angrily. If not, I suspect your adapter is bad unless maybe some caps have failed on the motherboard. I'd suspect the power source first, though.
posted by wierdo at 8:21 PM on October 30, 2018
Oh, and what you'd check with the multimeter is that the voltage between the center pin and the outer barrel of the power supply is as specified on the label. Use a light touch, though, the pin is pretty small and easy to bend, though it's well designed enough to still work unless it's pretty far out of whack.
posted by wierdo at 8:24 PM on October 30, 2018
posted by wierdo at 8:24 PM on October 30, 2018
I'll try leaving it plugged in without battery for a while.
No need; with the battery removed it either should power right up or it won't at all. The battery being bad may keep the power circuitry from coming up and providing the right voltages to the rest of the system; without a battery the system should just start up if the rest is OK (I've worked on T and X Thinkpads from the T21 on, including the T61, and I can state that they all work fine without the battery).
If you have a multimeter handy, you can check that the adapter is working
Note that the T61, and other Thinkpads from that range, have an adapter plug that has minus on the outside of the barrel, and plus on the *inside* of the barrel. The center pin is a sense wire.
You can find a lot of info on thinkwiki.org
posted by Stoneshop at 8:24 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
No need; with the battery removed it either should power right up or it won't at all. The battery being bad may keep the power circuitry from coming up and providing the right voltages to the rest of the system; without a battery the system should just start up if the rest is OK (I've worked on T and X Thinkpads from the T21 on, including the T61, and I can state that they all work fine without the battery).
If you have a multimeter handy, you can check that the adapter is working
Note that the T61, and other Thinkpads from that range, have an adapter plug that has minus on the outside of the barrel, and plus on the *inside* of the barrel. The center pin is a sense wire.
You can find a lot of info on thinkwiki.org
posted by Stoneshop at 8:24 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Rash at 12:54 PM on October 30, 2018