RE: [Thinkpad] 240x - won't boot, blank screen, no beeps - help

> I found a battery which I'm assuming is the CMOS battery or RTC or whatever
> IBM call it. I tested it and it is dead. Unfortunately it is attached to the
> motherboard using metal clips which are permanently fixed to the battery
> casing. After some effort I mananged to get it out but it will require me to
> solder the new battery in place which will be OK.

Yeah, the problem with the 240 series is that they have very few field
replaceable parts. I mean, the mini-PCI modem card isn't upgradeable,
(Although I should buy a MDTel v92 MiniPCI modem from the Dell Latitude
C-series to test that theory out), the LCD is fixed in stone, and the
CPU/memory are all soldered in. Basically if something buys the farm, you
are effectively left with a dead laptop. And parts on the 240 series are
unjustifiably expensive due to their sarcity and the fact that they are
very useful subnotebooks.
>
> Do you think that will make any differenc anyway?! Is that the only system
> battery?

It's pretty much the only battery, but if you really want to test that
theory, you can always push a voltage out using a calibrated supply
(Battery? EE bench equipment? Bah, be my guest) to the contacts and see
if a steady voltage will resurrect it. I strongly doubt it's something as
simple as a wiped out battery.
>
> I've tried booting without the drive and with CRT monitor attached but
> nothing happens :(

Ooh. In that case, you might be dealing with a far more problematical
defect. The 240's motherboard seems to be rather fragile, in that it is
possible to do something to screw it up royally if you try to reseat the
LCD connector in a bit too hard. And since the memory is non-removeable
it's also (remotely) possible to damage it in a way to render it
unbootable.

However, to put a positive spin to it, it might be possible that something
is loose in that machine, and perhaps you accidentally flipped a
connection around when you are putting the machine back together after
taking it apart, or maybe you forgot to check the jumper settings on the
Hard Drive. That might give you a similar error as well.

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Received on Tue Jan 27 18:47:37 2004