T61 suddenly won't boot

My trusty T61 has suddenly died. Whenever I press the power button, the two led lights (the z) and power light come on but it won't go past that. I can hear the fan running, and feel the hard drive spinning, but it won't boot. No initialization of any kind.

I don't know if this is an indication of the faulty nVidia GPU failing, but I had no symptoms prior that indicate a failure was imminent. I tried the static discharge test (pressing the power button 10 times while unplugged) but it didn't help. I took out the two RAM sticks and when I tried to boot, the motherboard did make several beeps indicating the missing RAM, so the motherboard doesn't appear to be totally dead in this regard.

Not sure what to else to do. May be time to get a new laptop, although I'm quite partial to this trusty T61.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

That does sound like a failed board, whether it's a nVidia chip gone haywire or not can be debatable...probably is.

You can swap the planar with one that has Intel graphics, if you're looking for a safe bet.

Or you can get a post 08/08 nVidia board from a trusted seller, but this is likely to set you back a pretty penny.

If it were my machine and I liked it a lot, I'd just throw in an Intel board and be done with it.

Your T61, your call.

Good luck.

 

I just replaced my mobo last week (after doing the fan a few weeks earlier prior to the NVIDIA bug rearing its head). I bought a used and slightly messed up (missing keys, etc.) T61 with Intel graphics off of ebay for $48. The swap was easy--just make sure you have some thermal grease (e.g., Arctic Silver), and a set of small screwdrivers. The machine now works great again, so I can hold out for a good while longer until I can justify a T440s.

Good luck!

 

Any chance it could be something as simple as the CMOS battery going bad?

 

No.

Try this old trick:

Remove the battery, hard and media drives, unplug the AC adapter.

Press the "power" button ten times in a row, holding it down for ten seconds each time and thirty seconds the last time around.

Plug the AC adapter - but nothing else - back in and try to power on.

Good luck.