IBM laptop won't boot up

My biggest peeve is my T-20 IBM laptop. The problem is that it just don't boot up. Here goes the typical behavior:

  • Switch on the laptop

  • The initial screen comes with "IBM Thinkpad" logo in middle of the screen, and "Press F1 for IBM Bios Utility \n Press F12 to choose temporary boot device" in the bottom

  • Nothing happens after that.. it remains stuck forever there

  • If you press F1, another screen comes saying "Entering IBM Bios Setup Utility", and it remain stuck there forever..

I have tried all sort of things like changing CMOS battery, booting directly from AC power supply, removing RAM sticks one by one. But nothing works.

I tried to search on IBM site for any help, but there was none. Finally I turned to google, and found that I am not alone. There are many people with similar problems, but alas nobody know a solution. It seems that this is due to failure of certain chip on the motherboard - and thousands of IBM laptops are facing same problem.

I am unhappy that IBM has not released any info about this problem, its cause and possible solution (at least I am not aware of. Let me know if you know any).. It's clearly a design failure on part of IBM, and they or lenovo should have handled it.

I am still looking for a solution - I have tried misc solutions found on net without any success - e.g. removing AC power supply, battery, and CMOS battery to discharge capacitors, putting laptop in refrigerator to discharge capacitors ;)

Only good advice I have from my experience is that don't switch off your laptop, if you are facing similar problem. I was not able to power up my laptop for 3-4 months.. then suddenly one day I tried it again, and it worked. I let it on for 2 months, and it worked without any problem. I had to switch it off few days back, and I am back to same bug .. I am trying randomly from last few days for a miracle..

Anyway here goes few related links on the Internet:

Comments

  • kalu
    16 May 07
    GENTLEMEN,

    I BOUGHT AN IBM THINKPAD (390X) LAPTOP THAT WAS PASSWORDED AND I CANNOT DISABLE THE PASSWORD TO MAKE USE OF THE SYSTEM. I HAVE VISITED IBM SITES AND TRIED THE OPTIONS ENLISTED AND I STILL CANNOT GET IN.

    I NEED HELP ON HOW TO DISABLE THE PASSWORD.
    THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

    BEST REGARDS,

    K.I.EKE
    Email: ki_eke@hotmail.com
  • Anonymous
    10 Jun 07
    please help me to boot my laptop
  • sgoyal
    10 Jun 07
    Sorry, I don't know how to remove the bios password.