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

[J R FOX jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

--- Harry Binswanger  wrote:

> If you really think it's in the power switch, why
> not open the case up,
> find the two (?) wires coming from the switch, cut
> them, twist them
> together, solder them, wrap them in electricians
> tape, and put the thing
> back together as best you can. Then it would be
> always on, which is
> probably what you want anyway, unless you pull the
> plug and pull the battery.
>
> The slightly more elegant solution is to go to Radio
> Shack, buy a little
> switch (one buck) and feed the wires to it *outside*
> the case.
. . .

Thanks for the idea, Harry. If things start pointing
back to the switch, I would not be averse to trying
something like that. But at the moment, that switch
is looking to me like Suspect #4 or #5 down the list.
The switch is currently working again, but to no real
avail. I removed and re-attached the battery a couple
times, which seems to have gotten the switch working
again . . . but the A21 no longer reaches POST (which
is how I know it's not a corrupted hard drive or
something like that: it never gets anywhere close to
where the hard drive kicks in); rather, it lights up
for a second or two with the ThinkPad logo, then the
screen gives a "0190 -- Low Battery" error and the
laptop shuts off -- all inside of two seconds. The
battery should have been fully charged, if it can hold
a charge.

Nevertheless, I believe that the battery is not so
likely to be the culprit either, because when it is
removed and the power is coming straight from a wall
plug, the machine is totally dead. To me, this
combination of symptoms has "Power Supply" written all
over it, as the most likely culprit. Interestingly,
my quick online search yesterday regarding this
brought up a large number of hits citing such
electrical problems with some of the TP lines, mostly
involving certain models of the "A" and "T" series.
Some of these refer to a power "board", rather than a
power "supply." (It is definitely _not_ the external
adaptor brick they are talking about, but some
internal part.) I will need to do further reading on
this to learn more.


 Jordan