[ltp] t43p hardware problems

[Francois Maltey]

Hi Steven,
>      I have a t43p with 15" screen, that I bought nearly three years
> ago (summer of 2005).  I've been very happy with ubuntu and my T43p
> for most of the time I've had it.  Now it's almost at the end of the
> hardware warranty, and I'm experiencing several hardware issues.
>
> My fan died in 2007, which was annoying enough, ...
> and also replaced my battery at that time, due to a battery recall...
> Mid-may 2008, my drive failed...
> I started having problems with my wireless...
> I started having problems with the laptop failing to boot up...
>   
I feel that your t43 becomes (too) old.

During the warranty of my t42, IBM changes first the fan, and one year 
later the mother-board because the display  had fuzzy errors. Now the 
cd-writer is almost(?) broken, but the warranty is out of date.

Twice IBM takes the laptop without the hard drive. I keep it.
Twice I test my laptop in order to describe not a fuzzy brakedown but a 
real and obvious brakedown. I keep and use the window partition only for 
theses tests.

F.


 

> which I then attributed to a kernel upgrade from 2.24.6-16.
>
>      During the process of monkeying with the kernel trying to revert
> it, and doing lots of reboots, I started having problems with the
> laptop failing to boot up.
>
>      I learned that the fail-to-boot was because of problems with the
> LCD screen.  When I plugged in an external monitor, it booted.
>
>      At the time, I assumed that the wireless was due to the kernel
> upgrade and that the boot problem was due to my monkeying with the
> kernel trying to fix the wireless.  However, I have since reinstalled
> my root partition using the original install CD and I'm still having
> both problems.
>
>      I guess what I'm wondering is:
>
>      Are other t43p owners seeing these kinds of problems?
>
>      Are they hardware failures, or is there possibly some subtle
> change wrought by the linux installation that would stick through a
> reinstall?  
>
>      If I end up shipping this back to IBM, is there anything else I
> should ask them to check on while they have it?
>
>      Will they give me grief about sending them a thinkpad with linux
> installed on it?
>
>      I have the winxp install disks they sent with the hard drive
> replacement; should I try installing winxp before I send it back to
> them?
>
>
> More detail:
>
>      The power icon LED and the battery charging icon LED both light,
> the fan powers up, but the LCD screen stays dark, no IBM hardware
> splash screen, no power to the screen at all, as far as I can tell,
> and no other activity (drive noise, drive LED, etc) occurr.  Leaving
> it alone (powered up) for 20-30 minutes didn't help.  Holding down the
> power button to force a shutdown and then starting again sometimes
> helped, but sometimes got the same failure.
>
>      A couple of times it just failed to boot no matter what I did.
> Leaving it turned off for a few hours (on the theory that the problem
> might be heat-related) seemed to to help.
>
>      Eventually I reinstalled Ubuntu Hardy from the original install
> CD I'd used (which kernel 2.24.6-16, which had worked fine). But even
> after that, the wireless just never worked, and then shortly after
> that, the laptop just never booted.
>
>      I tried plugging in a separate monitor to the video out and then
> it booted.  I discovered quite by accident (when I left the install CD
> in the drive) that if I booted in a video mode that the monitor can
> support (the monitor I have can't do the full 1200x1600), and then
> unplug the monitor, then the laptop LCD comes on.
>
>      At this point, I decided it was a hardware issue after all, and
> called IBM tech support.  Turns out the t43p has a surge protector
> that is built into the LCD screen.  The support guy talked me through
> disconnecting the battery, unplugging the power and holding the power
> button down for 30 seconds to reset it.
>
>      Bingo, it booted up.  But still no wireless.  And then the failure
> to boot came back, and I reset it, and it came back, etc.
>
>      Eventually I gave up and called back IBM tech support.  They told
> me I'd have to ship it back to them for repairs and we set up an RMA.
>
>      Just now I went to reboot and try logging in under a new user account
> (since I kept my old /home when I reinstalled), to see if there was
> possibly some subtle account-specific setting that was messing with the
> wireless. I shut down, let it sit for a minute, then powered up
> and it beeped twice and displayed:
>
> ERROR
> Resource Conflict - PCI on Motherboard
>    Bus:04, Device:00, Function:04
>
> Press <F1> to Setup
>
>