Dead T60?

So my buddy tells me his Thinkpad t60 is borked and asks me to look at it.

What he failed to mention is that it wasn't turning on at all.

When he got it here, it seemed like a brick, but after "jiggling the cable", I got it to POST and even booted a Live Linux distro and emailed him from it!

Thinking that I may have solved his issue (he never told me WHAT was wrong with it, so I assumed maybe his OS was just fried), I turned it off.

WELL.... Now I can't get it to turn back on.

Anyone have similar issues?

My first idea is to hit a store that sells Thinkpads and try plugging it in to rule out the Power Supply.

After that, I am at a loss. I honestly thought I'd be saving the day w/ a clean install of XP.

He's about to sell it for "parts or repair" if we can't figure it out...

 

It may be that the AC jack connector that is soldered to the motherboard bay be loose; that would explain why moving the wire about allowed the T60 to power up. If you plug in the jack, can you wiggle it around much?

 

ok here is the deal with ibm/lenovo power jacks (at least on the t61 and t400)

they are not soldered onto the board (I have taken several apart in addition to changing out a mobo)

they actually do this thing where the plug anchor by a screw, but gets the voltage via a wire (that is connected to a solder point).

so i would first make sure that its not the plug itself (ie the male/female connector) or the power brick's end wire

then

crack it open and inspect the power wire (the connection from the yellow female jack to the mobo)

ps

I have also notice that on some machines, you need to really push the power jack in hard to make the connection actually "click"

but before all this, check the warranty and make sure its actually gone before messing around with the unit (if you are in warranty, let them fix it)

pps

make sure the ram is also seated correctly and not loose

 

Thanks for all of the ideas guys.

He doesn't know about warranty, because his company went under a year ago, and it was a company laptop (apparently they had more important things to do then recover company PC's).

I am nearly positive it's the AC Jack as well. Gonna crack her open and have a look. If only I'd have let the battery charge when it WAS working!

 

Further Scientific Cable Jiggling has me CONVINCED it's not the cable since I have gotten it to momentarily light up the power/charging lights with some force/movement.

If anyone could point me to a decent T60 disassembly page (if one exists), I'd be very grateful.

 

Use the warranty look up to see if there's any warranty remaining. Many T60s were sold with three year warranties. There's a fair chance it's still under warranty.

 

What exactly are you jiggling to make the machine turn on? Also Zaz's idea is really great. Go to this page and see what warranty the machine has left. If that page doesn't work, call them up with the model and serial numbers.

 

Cable Jiggling=I was moving the plug of the adapter around in the socket on the laptop.

Great info here. Warranty lookup proved to be no help.

It's out of my hands now. I had him order a new DC plug (nice of Lenovo to now make them plug-in vs solder) and find someone to do the repair.

Too much work for me to do gratis, and I can't charge a friend a fee.

 

Why not?

 

"Information for Warranty was not found. Please click back and try again or you may navigate clicking on 'Warranty'."

That's why. And it's after midnight on a Saturday. Probably no phone support at this time of night.

 

SCRATCH THAT...

Took the date out of the S/N I was typing in... Apparently, it was extraneous.

Warranty information

Type: Model: Serial number:
1953 D9U L3B****


Status: Expiration date: Location:
Out of warranty 2007-12-26 UNITED STATES

Warranty service upgrades & maintenance services Warranty service upgrades and maintenance services


Description:
This product has a one year limited warranty and is entitled to IBM EZServ service. Customers may call their local service center for more information. Dealers may provide carry-in repair for this product.