t41 problems

My wife was on and the computer and the screen started flicker and lines then froze up. I figured I might need to reinstall, the operating system, because there were virus' and other stuff on it. During an attempted installation of windows, the screen went black during quick ntfs format. Can anyone help or have a solution?

t41 pentium m
1.60 ghz
120 gb HDD

 

Is the screen still black ?

 

yes it is still black

 

Hook it to an external monitor to see if it is the screen or something else.

 

hooked it up to an external no workie... if i power it up @ random times the screen works... I think it's the video card, cause when I power up the laptop you can hear it booting, but all black. Is it possible the ati mobility card, could be going out or over heating, and might need a can of air too it? obviously if it's going out a can of air won't work. what should I do?

 

If you are booting it from a cold start I don't think it would be overheating. Since it's not working with an external monitor, either the GPU or Mobo are the most likely candidates. You could try cleaning it out or re-seating everything, it don't cost anything. The cost of a replacement motherboard is pretty high. You could look for a cheaper used one on eBay. If it were me instead of spending money on replacement parts, I'd stick the money towards a new/used laptop laptop. Good Luck.

 

Yep I had a motherboard bust on a T4x, with similar symptoms to you.

T41 comes with at least a 3-year warranty... you are on the edge of coverage because those were sold 2003-2004 i think

You can check for warranty coverage online (the sticky in this section of the forum has the link).

The T41 (and T42) were good computers! Not so much the T43.

Anyone else reading this, you see why you should upgrade to 3 years from 1 year (for $95).

 

so I called IBM and they told me since it is a Canadian laptop, and the warranty was bought in Canada, that I could not get it fixed unless it was in Canada. So i looked on ebay and found a motherboard for 103 bucks which I had 103 bucks...

The ibm rep said that t4x series it is possible that the video card could have gotten shaken loose. I asked if it could be screwed back in he said that he meant the soldering could've came loose (last time i checked soldering something is like welding it) but i could be wrong...

so no fixey unless in canada...

Ebay here I come.

 

If I'm not mistaken, not all motherboards on the t41 are the same. Be sure that the one you are looking at is compatible with the system you have. Check fru's etc...

 

IBM called me and they are sending a box, for the laptop, told me take the battery out and the harddrive and when I get the box ship it back. they have a turn around of about 3-5 days. so i hope to see the laptop back within 7 days.

 

Today, I got the laptop back and the trackpad isn't working. I called IBM and I am waiting for the entitlement people to call me back.