T61 Power Up Problem

I left my T61 (XP Pro) in sleep mode last night, as I always do (I run SyncBackSE at 3AM). This morning, the machine appeared to be completely dead--no lights at all and no response from the power switch. SyncBack hadn't run at all and nothing appears in the System Log. The power cables appeared to be connected normally and the outlet was live. I saw no sign that there had been a power failure in the house during the night. Removing and re-seating the battery solved the problem. When I booted the machine, the battery showed a 99% charge. I haven't mucked with the power management settings since I got the machine two years ago and the only recent software updates I've done were for Firefox and IE8.

OK, so I'm back in business, but I am at a loss to understand what the problem was. Can the battery get into a position where it neither supplies power nor permits the machine to use the connected power cord? It seems to me that the physical design of the battery lock is pretty solid and it has never been an issue since I have had the machine. I would think if the power cord became disconnected the machine would have switched to battery and run it down.

 

Maybe it was just one of those things.

 

Yeah, I was sort of hoping for a more technical explanation. While the machine appears to be fine today, I am still a little concerned that what I saw was the first sign of, well, damned if I know, but nothing good. If the aliens from the planet Zork pay another visit, I'll let everyone know. Hmmmm....

 

It's the GPU failure if it use nvidia. There's a lot of threads in lenovo forum and this forum relate to this problem. If you are still in warranty, just call them. There's nothing you can do by yourself.

 

I am aware of the GPU failure issue, but I don't understand how that explains the behavior I saw. My machine has a Quadro NVS 140M and it runs a bit hot (63 C at the moment). So how does that affect power supply/management?

 

i think it is just a case of static buildup in the power management circuit.

 

OK. This would seem to be in the just one of those things category. I can live with that, and really it's what I was hoping to hear.

Only problem is, now I'm obsessively watching my GPU's temp and worrying about impending sudden death. It's always something.

 

Don't worry about watching your GPU too much. This exact thing just happened to me with my R61 the other day. Completely dead, no lights. Unplugged/plugged power, no help. No lights at all. Would not respond to the power button in any way. Ultimately removed the battery, waited a little bit, put it back in and all was good. Just like you, booted up with 99% battery life. And this is an R61 with only integrated graphics.

 

It looks like yejun may have been correct after all. The machine abruptly went belly up about two weeks ago, with a system board failure. Fortunately it was still under warranty and Lenovo replaced the motherboard. They did not say whether it was, in fact, the GPU that failed. Could be coincidence, I suppose.