Thinkpad X31

After nine years of stellar service, my very first ultraportable TP the X31 is dead! It still remains one of my all-time favorite Thinkpads. Today, it decided not to power up . Ran Ubuntu on it for the last four years and it worked so well. I will probably look for a cheap battery for it on eBay to give it one last try....but otherwise its off the the recyclers.

 

Does it work with the battery removed and the AC plugged in? If not, then it's not a battery issue. But yeah, an X31 is getting to be quite the senior citizen--glad it's lasted you this long

 

It worked with AC only (no battery) for several weeks. Now even that does not do the trick. And, yes it is a bit of a senior citizen having survived many a drop and fall and at least two glasses of fine red wine ..... maybe time to give it the dignified goodbye it deserves.

 

I'd say you got your money out of it.

 

Ah. In that case, I wouldn't bother with a new battery; it probably won't help matters either. I think it's probably time for it to be retired!

 

Well, it keeps coming back....or rather, I can't let go of it. I tried the press the power button 10 times+hold down for 30 seconds w/out battery or ac trick and the machine is back running ubuntu the way it ought to!

 

You may find this thread interesting:

forum.thinkpads.com • X31- no signs of life. Need help debugging

Both X31 and X32 (but not X30) have a tendency of dying out-of-the-blue or going to sleep and never waking up - the latter is sometimes referred to as STDS (Sudden ThinkPad Death Syndrome).

Some folks say that it's a bad batch of capacitors that was used on these machines...I've given up on the X3x and X4x palettes quite some time ago, and don't work on them anymore, but there might be some truth to that claim...

Good luck with your resurrected X31.

 

I feel for you, I had the same issue about 3 years ago, my X32 died, not really died, after about 4 years. but I kept having issues with the ram, kept giving me a BSOD and it was related to RAM, I was able to RMA the RAM, but the new RAM did not help. So I sold it, I still have the docking station, 3 batteries, and 2 HD Caddy for Docking station, hoping someday to replace it. But since I also had a X41 Tablet, it became it replacement. Later an X60 Tablet, I now roll with an X200/X200 Tablet and an an X61. I also have a X40/X41, and an R50. My X41 Tablet is collecting dust, waiting on a HD, my older X60 when with my son to New York for College. My wife has an X60 Tablet.

 

Thanks for reminding me....I had followed that thread for a while when I first came across it hoping that my X31 was not afflicted by the sudden death syndrome. Since nothing had happened to the machine until this past week, I figured I was safe. Even now, its not clear what caused it to not power up. Only explanation I have is that I had not powered it up for about 8 weeks (from June 4 to Jul 30th) since I was on the road. Right now, it seems to be working just fine and will see how it does for another month or so before I recycle it. Am waiting to read more about the X1 Carbon, T430u and the X130 before I pick one of them to replace my main travel machine, an X60s (which will replace the X31 as the Linux machine).