How often do thinkpads fail?

I work with computers. I've seen them all with dead motherboards. But I don't remember the last time I saw a thinkpad crying for repairs. What was your biggest failure with a thinkpad? dead mb? dead hd?, dead ram? or maybe screen or something I really want to know your story.

 

I had 6 ThinkPad's in the past, most of the faults come from my current T420 disappointingly. It's something relatively minor though, the hinges failed after 5 months so it couldn’t hold the weight of the lid properly but I had to wait at least a month before IBM UK finally relented to take it in for repairs after the Lenovo forums intervened. My T420 also suffered a stuck pixel from the first day I received it, given Lenovo’s policy that you need at least 3 stuck pixels to qualify for a panel change I changed the panel myself just recently (it wasn't that good anyway!).

Other than that, all my ThinkPad’s have been sound in terms of major components such as the motherboards and drives. I even had a ThinkPad R61e that was thrown on to a ditch when a lorry smashed to the back of my car but it simply will not die! I didn't need to change anything and still works fine to this day.

 

Wow, Lenovo support sounds like a joke.

 

I have experienced three malfunctions with my ThinkPads:

• R51e that suffered mobo problems- sold some parts and got rid of the rest

• X200 I/O card (module that has the headphone jack, microphone jack, and SD card port) replacement- solution was a $9 fix that took 10 minutes to remedy

• X200 fan. Price of new fan ~$20. Time-wise it took about 1 hour for me to fix.

This is out of a pool that consists of a 600X, T30, R40, R51e, R52, R60, T400, and an X200.

 

Well that doesn't sound good considering I'm planning to get a t420 But they do sound like minor problems. They sound like bad luck problems as a matter of fact. I mean aren't those hinges made out of steel or something. But i do hate those pixel problems its like a fly on your screen you cant stop looking at.

What kind of mobo problems? Doesn't sound too bad considering that pile of thinkpads.

 

The R51e exhibited symptoms of GPU detachment- random blocks of colors, lines, and freezing had occurred whenever I moved the unit a bit roughly. It was a bit strange because the R51e had the ATI Radeon Mobility 200M which IIRC was integrated graphics. From what I had read I was under the impression that integrated graphics were not likely to suffer from problems like this. Regardless the R51e worked fine as long as I did not jar it too much which led to the attached image. I kept it until its behavior eventually became too erratic and I salvaged what I could and sold its LCD.

 

The fan once.
The fan twice.
Also a dead lcd cable.
On a T61 that is.

 

Dead fans seem common, however they are very easy to fix. (Had a dead fan in my T61, took me 10 minutes)

My Edge failed on me just over a year old, but I don't consider that a real ThinkPad

 

Wow are you sure it wasnt the display itself or the display cable? did you try changing the cable?

Who needs fans im sure they can take the heat

Yea Im asking about real thinkpads not those other silly machines.

 

I did try changing out the cable but it did not help. After awhile I decided to let it it run its course and would save all my data to the external drive in the picture. Lack of cash was a factor in the impromptu setup

The improvised setup was done ~3 years ago. The R51e was the only ThinkPad that I have seen that used the ATI X200M for graphics. In some aspects it was very good for its time as my R52 with Intel 900GMA could not do aero glass or aero flip whereas the R51e could.

 

Yeah you could say I was unlucky with my unit being a lemon, though I generally think most T420 owners are quite satisfied with their units overall so I don't think you should worry much if you are planning to get one.

 

i've had my thinkpad t61 for 5 years and no issues, other than a battery worn out from leaving the laptop plugged in all the time
edit/
and maybe a dead fan? heh..

how do you determine if the fan is dead? my t61 gets very hot..

 

I got a "FAN ERROR" on boot ... My T61 does not get hot, you might want to check if the heatsink / fan is clogged with dust? (Not generally a good idea to spray the fan with compressed air, fyi)

 

I've had three:
Thinkpad 390X
Thinkpad T41*
And currently, my Thinkpad X201s.

My 390X had alot of use. It was my first computer, but its backlit screen died out of warranty, so I hooked a Gateway CRT up to it. I remember vaguely the entire assembly caught fire, so my 390X died a horrible death.
The T41 was in a house hit by a lighting strike before it was given to me. I was never able to fix it, but that's not the Thinkpad's problem. My X201s is running like a champ since I bought it almost two years ago, so no problems there save for power inefficiency.

 

fan error or when tpfancontrol not reading cfm or click sound.
Sometimes it come back to life though...

battery wise, still holding 70+% after 4 years.

iirc, those with GPU is kind of screwed in the beginning? not sure.

 

Some of us have a long memory...

A2x/T2x prior to T23 - Blink Of Death

T23 - capacitors that detached from the board resulting in blank screen and growling fan

A3x - VRAM corruption, GPU detachment, Sudden ThinkPad Death Syndrome (the machine goes to sleep and never wakes up), bad RAM slots on later models

T30 - bad RAM slots, GPU failures

T4x/R5x - GPU detachment, SouthBridge detachment

X31/32 - Sudden ThinkPad Death Syndrome

R60, T60/p, Z61m - VRAM corruption on ATi-based units

X61T with SXGA+ - "bubbly" LCDs

T61/p - GPU failures on nVidia-based models

That's just off the top of my head...

No ownership experience with T420 here, but the word on the street is that they are pretty reliable.

 

I guess thinkpad and GPU dun mix well

 

Nah...that's just overexposure to ThinkPads on my end...:wink:

I'm dead certain that someone who has gutted as many Dells or HPs as I have ThinkPads would have stories to tell and then some...

 

ThinkPads fail often enough to mar a flawless victory, but not often enough to justify buying a new one.

 

Hearst is based in the UK, where IBM of US is completely different than UK. IBM repair for Think branded products here is GREAT.

I think this isn't a question of how often do they fail, as I have owned many ThinkPads, but just random luck.

I've been fortunate with the ones I've owned; 3 x T60, 3 x T61, T410s, T400, 2 x X61t, X61, X60t, X60s, X200t, X201, X220t.

 

I've had my share of Thinkpads.

Starting from the beginning, X40, T60, X60s, X32, X120e, T400s, T410 and finally an X200s.

I currently have the X200s/X120e and T410 in use. The only problem I have ever had so far, is a power button issue with my X120e. Sometimes I push the button and it won't shut down correctly. But, that's it.

I haven't had any hardware failures. I sold all of the other computers I don't use anymore, and the new owners are quite happy I believe

 

I'm still using my t61 from 2007.

2008 - Battery died.
2009 - Some keyboard keys stopped working.
2010 - CPU Fan died.

I've repaired it all myself and it's chugging along still.

 

Only the on-site repair agreements have actually anything to do with IBM at this time. Depot is a completely different ballgame.

You're correct to a degree, but certain models (A31p, 14" T4x units, T61/p with nVidia) have experienced a significantly higher failure rate than the rest. Most of your past machines are from fairly safe batches.

 

False: Phone support - probably the main support mechanism for most people - is also IBM and America-based.

 

I've had my T500 since august 2008. This thing is a beast, absolutely no probs. I've just been upgrading it slowly until now.
Ram upgrade
CPU upgrade
HDD upgrade
Nothing has failed. Although I must say, the T9900 chips run quite hot on my T500 chasis. Gaming with an ambient Temp of 28C, My cores hit 96c/94c and this is while undervolted. I just need to get a good cooler and game in my basement or turn the AC on.

Oh and the battery is completely dead, it died last summer of 2011 I believe. Not really feeling like spending $150 on a new unit at the moment.

 

I never said anything about the location...however...when you dial the number and choose the option of Lenovo product you get the "Lenovo Technical Support in Atlanta, Georgia"...not IBM anymore. Depot itself is run by Flextronics, not IBM. Just look at the return label on the box.

IBM still ships out certain CRUs on behalf of Lenovo, though.

When a ThinkPad is serviced under an onsite agreement, the tech actually calls IBM - not Lenovo - to close out the trouble ticket once the unit was repaired to customer's satisfaction.

Hope this clears it.

 

Do bear in mind that running a machine with a dead battery will eventually blow the charging circuit. Brand new 9-cell genuine Lenovo batteries can be found for $75 or thereabouts.

 

George, as far as I know, whenever our tech shop mails out a ThinkPad under warranty to IBM, it goes to North Carolina for repair, and last time I checked that was IBM, not Lenovo.

I don't count the T61/T61p a fault of Lenovo per say, as they had defective chips supplied by Nvidia, which affected other OEMs like Dell, HP, ASUS, Apple, etc.

 

Bought my T420 last September and I've had zero problems with it so far.

 

I think the generally answer is: one day after the end of your warranty

 

And this is why you extend your warranty or sell before it ends.

 

whys this?

 

I've got an IBM Thinkpad from 1998 that I don't believe has ever failed.

On the other hand, my friend had one which had a catastrophic motherboard failure 1 month out of warranty. Support told him "Hold the power button down for a while, or send it into us and we'll fix it for $700."

 

Which model was this?

blink of death, sudden death syndrome that sounds horrible O.O Well i have been only working on them laptps for about 4 years and mostly consumers ones maybe that's why i havent seen too many specially the old ones. Funny thing is today is the first thinkpad ive seen in years and all it needs is a virus clean up. Its a thinkpad r52

Have you tried cleaning the fan and heatsink? There may be dirt stuck inside.

yay

 

I'm not sure, it was a 15" with Quadro FX graphics and a C2D. I only know that because he got it right before I built my desktop, and we tested it for performance in Half-Life 2. The Quadro would place it in the W range, right?

 

Maybe in the UK, but Lenovo on the USA side overnighted me a new HDD when I called them over the Memorial Day weekend when mine started throwing SMART errors.

Other than my T400 spitting out the H key from overuse it's been flawless. The T520 is less so, though it may have been due to me not updating certain drivers ("optional", my foot!) and the subsequent HDD SMART errors that nearly ruined the experience (GPU software glitching, constant BSODS). It's been night and day after the HDD replacement and a fresh Windows install.

 

I don't know what type of service agreement you guys have, but:

a) Depot repairs are normally shipped to Flextronics in Memphis, TN.

b) NC is Lenovo, not IBM.

That's a fair enough statement. Having said that, they still failed in bulks and that's why I included them in the list above.

 

My x100e went in for repairs a total of 5 times before they gave me a replacement. Although it was having motherboard issues, no one could pin point what was causing them to fail. (I think high temperatures were to blame.)

On the flip side, my T61 has been nothing but gold over the years even with the "faulty" Nvidia GPU.

 

My dead 9cell T500 batt. has been sitting in the closet for a while now.

 

sounds like a T61p. the "Txxp" series became the W series after that.

i've seen a few fan failures, mostly on very used thinkpads. besides that sanyo battery failures are probably the most common thing i've seen.

 

My 600X has lasted since 1999 and had only one Problem in the entire time:
-Empty CMOS Battery

It still looks like new on the inside, and even the screen is still in good condition.

My X220 and T60 didn't have any fails so far.

 

I started my T61 this morning and started giving me a two beep fan error. I was working on it last night with no issues. I pressed the ESC key and logged in but the Fan Error persists each time I try restarting. I downloaded TPFANCONTROL and notice that the Fan RPM remains at Zero no matter what I do - change from Smart mode to Bios mode to Manual mode. Does it mean the fan died. The CPU temp is about 50-55 C.
Correction: The CPU temp is now at 90 degree C. I just shutdown the computer. ANy thoughts?

 

You need a new fan. Don't use the machine until you get one.

 

I've got a T60 I bought in early 2007, still going strong. I did get a new T530 to enjoy more computing power, but the T60 is still kicking.

 

Dear AJKula,

Thanks. Actually I opened the machine and ensured all is nicely plugged in. Guess what - the fan is working fan. I also configured TPfancontrol to manage the heat. Moreover, I followed Hearst's thermal paste application document to apply TP. The heat seems to be in control now. Thanks for the response.

 

My t42 bought in 2005. Keyboard "broke" 4 years later. Installed windows 7 and keyboard started working again. Dropped it from chest level onto hard floor at least on 3 separate occasions in college. They're built like tanks.

 

t61 from mid-2007 - right hinge broke in 2011
t420 from mid-2011 - no physical problems yet

i almost use these laptops every day

 

I had a bad firmware flash on a x61 that enabled the power on password. Since it was a known issue with that firmware "which I didn't know at the time" I sent it in under warranty thinking all would be good etc. I got a call from the center stating that I needed to buy a new motherboard for something like 750ish. I went up the latter but it didn't matter so I had it shipped back and then shipped it to a guy in VA that fixed it in a hour by clearing the code
and flashing a different bios firmware. It ended up costing me like 180 shipping it back and forth fedex next day etc. Now with my last
attempted buying experience for a X1c I think I'm frankly done with Lenovo and the new KeyBoard kinda just makes it easier to walk away.

Its Sad to cause Lenovo have been my go to company for not only laptops but desktops, and some servers for my company and my clients.
As of late they have been acting like they really could care less. The x220 IPS screen ghosting "ghost-gate" and the fan "fan-gate" comes to mind. I really feel sry for the mods over at the Lenovo-Support site cause I think they really try to help but with the lack of interest from corp to make things right they end up getting crucified by the end user.
Anyway there you have it. Problem is I don't think any other OEMs is any better. Shrug.

 

In my experience - fingers crossed - not very often!!!

Sure there may be a few niggles like the palm rest on my R400 was creaking when I first got it. After a few attempts to replace the palmrest, Lenovo replaced the entire machine, which I really appreciated. I hope I continue to (1) be as lucky with ThinkPads as I have been thus far and (2) I get the customer service that I have thus far experienced! My X201 (which I recently returned to my workplace) has worked without a hitch for about 2 years (or thereabouts) - no problems whatsoever. Which is why I am planning to by a T430 by the end of the month! Can't wait!

 

Issue known to whom? Care to elaborate?

I've been working on ThinkPads for twelve years now and have *never* heard of anything like that.