T61p: 3 Beeps and Blank Screen =[

Turning on my laptop this morning, I heard one long and two short beeps and then a blank LCD. I can hear the hard drive spinning, and prior to the beeps, I still see the usual system check lights that light up (Z) before booting into Windows.

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary (didn't install anything or mess around with BIOS) last night when I turned it off before going to bed.

If anyone has ever encountered this problem or can help...I would be very happy if I find a way to resurrect my laptop from its coma.

Specs:
T61p
t7500
570m Quadro 256mb
2gb ram (1gb x 2dimm)
Vista Ultimate x64

Bought it the summer of 2007.

 

ThinkPad Beep Codes. Try hooking it to an external screen to see if the LCD is the issue.

 

Ok...I will try that. Currently: I've reseated the RAM, but the problem is the same. Now, I've taken it all apart and reseating the CPU, cleaning the internals, applying new thermal paste. See if that works....

I will try hooking it up to an external monitor later...

And yes, I've read over the BEEP CODE before attempting anything. It doesn't exactly help....well, at least I've ruled out problems with the DIMM....

 

Re-seat the hard drive and WiFi card too as long as you've got the keyboard off.

 

I was thinking...should I take my hair dryer and blow it on the mobo on HIGH heat setting for a while...maybe it'll help the solder connection joints? Some people have claim it helps solve weird issues where solder connections might "reheal"

I also have UWB...reseatable? And next to the WIFI card...i think is the Bluetooth...

 

=[[[[[[[ Nothing works....

I've tried attaching external monitor. NOPE.
I've opened it up and took everything apart and reseated everything from CPU to WIFI card. NOPE

It still gives me the 3 Beeps and a blank screen.

It was working perfectly fine too last night. Did some ghost haunt it overnight while I was sleeping?? It can't be a electrical surge because I always disconnect the AC adapter when I turn off the laptop.

=[

 

Here's a more detailed post that I made here: http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/...thread.id=28970&view=by_date_ascending&page=2

When did everyone here purchase their T61p?


I bought mine summer 2007 for college...encountered severe delay issues and went more than a MONTH in college WITHOUT the laptop, then when it finally arrived, it booted up fine. Turned it off. Turned it back on: NOTHING. Called tech support, sent it in, and the replaced the motherboard. I thought to myself, maybe I was unlucky and got a bad mobo, well at least the repair service was fast.



And now today, I have woken up to the same nightmarish predicament that many of you have found yourselves in. I thought tech support replaced my mobo and so I was good to go. Legendary Thinkpad indestructibility right? I guess I was deceived...



My laptop was working perfectly last night. Before going to bed, I turned it off and unplugged the AC adapter as I do daily. Except, this morning when I went to boot up my t61p, it gave me 1 long beep followed by 2 short beeps (3 beeps) and a blank screen. I can hear the hdd spinning in idle..but nothing. Can't access BIOS or windows....



Thus, I proceeded to reseat my RAM dimms. NOPE

Attached external monitor. NOPE

Took the whole thing apart and reseated everything including CPU and wireless cards and hard drive. NOPE



So now, I am left with a very expensive door stop. And I thought that my T61p would last me through college and beyond...



Please, if anyone finds a solution to this problem post it. I too am out of warranty, and frankly, paying $500 to replace the motherboard (planar card) only to have it self-destruct 2 years from now is illogical. I not wholly blaming this on Lenovo as Nvidia is also the culprit.



At this point, I don't know what to do...It was working so wonderfully and perfectly until all of a sudden, this.

I've taken great care of my laptop and thus have monitored my stats closely.



Idle temp: about 50 C

Underload (3d gaming such as Team Fortress 2): usually 78C but have over the years climbed up to the 80s. (Highly suspect that my GPU was on its last leg)



Specs:

t7500

100GB 7200 rpm Hitachi HDD

2 GB (1gb x 2 Dimms)

wifi agn, bluetooth, wusb

Quadro 570M 256mb

 

It does no good to get upset about it. There's no magic wand someone can wave to make things better. In a perfect world, nVidia would own up to their failures and fix everyone's problem, but probably go bankrupt in the process. Unfortunately, Lenovo is not going to help you. It sucks, but that's the way it is. You can look for a cheaper board and do it yourself or sell yours for parts and get something else.

 

TO ALL WHOM THIS MAY CONCERN:

(as the problem seems to be increasing in number with each passing day...)

Dear Mark,



Sorry for getting back to you this late...I have been out of the state for the summer.

Also, thanks for making the support and effort to lend a helping hand; however, I have already solved the issue through my credit card company with which I used to make the purchase of this laptop.



This is the method that I would also recommend EVERYONE else who has a similar problem with their thinkpad to follow. Call your credit card company with which you used to make the laptop purchase. Most credit card companies will have an extended warranty coverage (+1 year after manufacturer's warranty has expired) on purchases up to around $10,000, YMMV. Explain the issue you have with your laptop and notify them of the faulty Nvidia gpu present in the laptop, which is the main problem that's causing all of these issues (esp the 3 beeps). You will get a full refund of the price that you purchased the laptop. Firstly, they will most likely send you a prepaid box with which you will use to send your laptop into your credit card company's own diagnostic center. There, they will evaluate the problem with the laptop and conclude that a repair is not the best possible solution to a defect.



The above is the BEST route to use. I suggest this because after sending my laptop to a plethora of 3rd-party repair shops, one after the other concluded that the Nvidia GPU is indeed defective, a conclusion I easily arrived with myself yet one that Lenovo consistently denied on the phone. Sending in your laptop and paying an exorbitant fee to have it repair will only "buy you another time-bomb" which will inevitably fail in the near future. Afterall, Lenovo will just replace the motherboard with the same defective gpu soldered onto it. There is no way to "fix" this defect.



The heart of the problem lies with thermal bumping that plagues the G84M core and all other cores in that same family. (Note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro) The Quadro 570M is based off of the notoriously failing 8600M gt, both of which use the same faulty G84M core. Nvidia, at first, attempted to hide this issue from the public, and until only recently, they have come out truthly to admit the issue. It seems from everyone else on Lenovo forums that this problem has finally caught up and showing its face. The number of users with this very same problem will only rise as time passes because these defective GPUs have reached their failing point through the many power cycles of typical laptop usage.



This is where I lose faith in LENOVO/THINKPAD products. Many other OEMs, including Dell, Sony, and HP, have issued a public notice to all their laptops containing the defective chips. Yet, Lenovo has done nothing. Other OEMs sought to "remedy," though only TEMPORARILY, the overheating and prematurely failing chips with BIOS updates, even though these updates do NOTHING but merely elevate the fan speed to max RPM, hoping to keep the chips running cool enough until they are out of warranty at which point you are basically left with an expensive doorstop. Yet, Lenovo did not even try to acknowledge the problem. Nvidia even agreed to pay back part of the costs for OEMs to repair/replace the defective chips ( "The chipmaker said in July it was taking a one-time charge of $150 million to $200 million to cover expenses relating to the glitch." Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10063844-37.html ). Thus, OEMs have discounted or even issued free repair notices for laptops affected. Even so, Lenvo insists that we pay the $450+ repair fee without acknowledging the issue at hand. To make it worse, Lenovo has quietly gone and replaced all their laptops with AMD/ATI radeon branded gpus, effectively isolating and cutting support to the older laptops containing Nvidia chips.



This whole ordeal has truly tainted my perspective on the quality, indestructible, and "customer-always-comes-first" characteristics that were previously only held by Lenovo/Thinkpads. Afterall, that is the only reason I purchased my T61p. I wanted a reliable work machine that will last me through college and beyond, never expecting that it will suddenly fail one random morning when I go to turn it on. Now that I am searching for a new laptop to purchase, I am very hesitant about buying another Lenovo. Don't get me wrong here...I blame Nvidia for the issue that has caused my laptop and many others to suddenly perish. However, the fact the Lenovo did nothing to step up and address the issue makes me very worried about their dealings with any possible future issues if I were to purchase another product from them.

 

Hmm... just wondering: have you contacted Lenovo regarding the recall of those chips? I'm waiting on a used R61 (read: sig) and I called Lenovo today regarding this potentially bad GPU. They told me that if it's on the list of recalls they would fix it for free, even if the warranty already expired.

 

Can you elaborate and provide a link regarding this recall from Lenovo. Last time I checked, month ago, there was no such recall and they refused to pay for the $500 repair fee to replace the motherboard.

Note: http://forum.lenovo.com/lnv/board?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads

Read the posts there...everyone suffering from same issue is slapped with the hefty repair fee.

 

You mentioned it might be your GPU, which, if it's on the list of the recalls from NVIDIA from last year, would make you eligible for free repair/replacement from Lenovo from what I heard from the Lenovo rep. I am not sure, however, whether your GPU is on the list of recalls, but I know mine is. Also, if it's any other part that is bad you'd have to repair/replace it at your own cost I'm afraid.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=64393

 

Iron Eagle, I recommend not to purchase the R61 with nVidia graphics, if you need a laptop with dedicated GPU go for the T400 or a T61 with integrathed graphics. You would be getting a time-bombed machine anyways.

 

As your link has noted...all G84, G86 cores are affected along with others of the same family. This includes the Quadro 570M (a rebranded 8600m GT for workstation graphics that also uses the same exact G84 core) on the T61p's. No where does it say that Lenovo is offering free repair or replacements...unless they have only recently finally acquiesced to the growing number of users being plagued by gpu failure. If you're out of warranty through Lenovo...tough luck. You will have to pay upwards of $500.

 

I thought there was a recall by NVIDIA and the various manufacturers? When I called Lenovo they said if the chip is on the list of recalls they would fix it for free, but maybe I am mistaken and there never was a recall.

 

No...maybe you're right. Maybe they've finally started recalling. We shall find out soon enough by this years end, that's for sure because by just observing the trend of failures, many die in about 2years. Since the G84 and G86 cores were massively sold on many laptops in 2007, we will probably see more similar cases.

 

I encountered this issue last month and I still haven't gotten it fixed. Any news about a recall? There are a few people over at Lenovo forums, who have this issue as well. It happens after my extended warranty has expired, which sucks. If it would have happened just a few months earlier, I wouldn't have to spend the 500 dollars.

 

So far Lenovo is not fixing this after the warranty yet some manufacturers like HP are.

 

Thanks for the news, kind of unfortunate.

 

try your credit card warranty if you have one. I had a defective GPU outside of warranty and visa took care of it.

Lenovo didnt help at all, but if I didnt have my cc warranty, I would taken copies of the nvidia pr release along with copies of the pages of HP and Dell (who have taken steps to fix this) and file a complaint with the BBB.

Lenovo has pretty bad customer service when it comes to this GPU issue.

I believe nvidia set aside 150 to 200 mil to deal with this, and they released an 8k to let shareholders know as well. Gather as much evidence as you can and file a BBB complaint.

 

Batman, do you have copies of the press release or know where i can find it?

I just ran into this problem a few days ago, and it had just passed the 2 year mark by a month, so i cant go through my CC. Does anyone here know of any other ways to get this fixed without having to pretty much buy a new laptop?

 

Its a tough situation. Since you don't have the warranty from Lenovo left and the CC one ran out, I think you are out of lick

I think the best you can do at this point is sell the machine for parts or try hunting for a cheap T61p motherboard on ebay(I haven't checked prices but I doubt it will be that cheap, but try, you never know) and try to do the repair yourself.