Re: OT: Hand-me-down Thinkpad is down for the count (?)

[Philip Friedman pfilf@xxxxxxxx]

Have you tried taking the battery out and running it on wall power with no battery installed?  I know this sounds dumb, but I've had many a Thinkpad, and can attest from experence that when the battery goes funky the computer will act dead, plugged in or not, but it will work fine (plugged in, of course) if (and only if) the battery is removed. Your problem does sound more like the power switch or perhaps power supply, but ths is worth trying.

-----Original Message-----
>From: J R FOX 
>Sent: Jan 5, 2008 9:49 PM
>To: xywrite@xxxxxxxx
>Subject: OT: Hand-me-down Thinkpad is down for the count (?)
>
>This may be a shot in the dark. I'm only posting this
>here because a number of you have some experience with
>laptops, and my experience with them is infrequent and
>fairly minimal.
>
>I got an A21M Thinkpad from a relative a few days ago.
> The power On button was flakey from the git-go;
>sometimes it started right up, but other times it
>required 20 or more presses to start it up. (I tried
>varying degrees of pressure and duration, in case that
>made any difference, but I could see no pattern to any
>"technique" that worked.) For most of the last few
>days, I could eventually get it going. Over that
>time, I removed about 3/4 of the old data files that
>were personal to the former user, plus any programs or
>data that were of no continuing relevance for my own
>use. I also began replacing, updating, or installing
>apps that I intended to use. None of these tasks
>reached completion, and all of this work may have well
>gone to waste, as this Thinkpad now will not power up,
>no matter what.
>
>The battery was at full charge when the laptop ceased
>working, and still glows green from its LED. Whether
>it is plugged into the wall or not makes no
>difference. My first suspicion leans toward something
>electrical involving the Power ON button, or perhaps
>the power supply itself. Considering what an A21
>sells for used -- even if in very good condition -- I
>seriously doubt that it would be worth repairing.
>(This is _one_ of the reasons I have steered clear of
>buying a laptop in the past, as I find the
>cost-to-risk and trouble-to-risk equations
>unfavorable, and feel that I'm out of my depth. This
>is in contrast to my having built desktop systems,
>swapped parts around to troubleshoot them, etc.) I do
>recall either reading online or on one of these lists
>about an overheating problem with some older laptops
>that can be ameliorated by cleaning some part of them.
> That is what I'm trying to retrieve here . . . or any
>other good suggestions.
>
>Failing that, I suppose all I can do is to extract the
>hard drive, and either dispose of the laptop or
>reserve it for parts. The components seem to be
>uneconomical to replace; it is often cheaper to buy
>another used laptop of the same model -- if one can be
>found at an attractive price -- until one has the full
>parts complement to make up a functioning unit.
>
>
> Jordan
>