rayboyusmc

I just bought an IBM T 22 on Ebay. I am in the process of learning how to fix basic problems with computers, so a lot of what I have been doing is hit and miss.

The hard drive is good. I loaded XP from the IBM recovery disks I bought. I did this on my T23 which now works great.

When I boot up it will sometimes come up with the IBM start up screen and let me get into set up. Then the screen goes off before I usuall get to check or change any settings.

The battery is good. It shows up to high 90s charge on the good machine. If I leave the power adapter in the power on light stays green and the rest go off. If I let it on battery alone, the other lights start blinking.

The one time I did get into the bios, it looked like the hard drive may have been disabled.

What checks can I do? Where do I start? What is the meaning of computers?

Thanks for any assistance you can give a newby.

TriggerFinger

hi rayboyusmc,

if it turns OFF, i suggest you check the fan, vents and heatsink. make sure they are not covered by dust. also reapply thermal paste on the CPU/heatsink. Considering the T22 could be some few years old, i think the thermal paste may have hardened and not working as it should.

if doing the above still shuts down the computer, observe which part of boot does it shut down as it could be your RAM too. if you have a spare (working) RAM, use that for testing. or run Memtest86+ to test your RAM for errors.

rayboyusmc

It doesn't turn off. It stays on but the screen will go blank. I just got into setup and then it quit responding to the keys.

It went as far as setting up the screen where it asks if you want to start in safe mode or normally, but then wouldn't respond to the keyboard input.

This weekend I will pull it apart using the IBM repair manual I have.

The ram did register when I had it in diagnostic boot up. I changed that because it was taking so long that by the time it got through, it the screen would go blank. It sounds like something is running even then.

I may just leave it on battery tonight until that runs out and recharge and try again.

thanks

TriggerFinger

so it does not turn OFF but screen goes blank... try using an external vga monitor. see if your external monitor turns blank also.

as for the keyboard, try using a USB connected keyboard.

rayboyusmc

I think my son has one. If not I can get one at work and check it out to see if it is a screen or keyboard problem.

When it is on external power with or without the battery it turns off when you hold the switch down. When it is on battery alone, it won't turn off by holding the switch down.

thanks again.

Since I get up at 4:50 for work, I will shorlty retire and work on it again tomorrow.

rayboyusmc

I checked out the keyboard and the monitor. Both are good.

When I leave it off over night and turn it on the next day, it seems to run longer before the problems start. After it has warmed up a couple of times, it may not even get the IBM screen to come up.

I will check on thermal cooling stuff.

TriggerFinger

rayboyusmc

I hooked up the laptop to my regular screen and it worked for a while just like on the laptop screen. Then it started displaying the same problems of losing the picture. I switched keyboards with my t23 and t22. The one from the 22 works fine on the 23 with no problems and vice versa.

It just seems as if it has some part that shorts out after a period of time. The longer I work with it at one setting the shorter it will stay on each time until it won't work at all until it sits overnight.

I just got another used t22 and will switch parts around until I get one working to see if I can locate the fault.

If it is a powermanagement chip on the motherboard, is this something that can be replaced, or is it the whole mobo?

Thanks again.

rayboyusmc

Forgot to mention. I cleaned it with the pressure air and put new thermal grease on the CPU and heat sink. It helped a little.

TriggerFinger

Power management chip? Hmmm may be it's integrated and could mean replacement of the whole mobo.

If overheating continues, it could be the fan not running up to speed. Since you have another T22 or a T23, try swapping the fans.

I am assuming you still cannot enter into BIOS setting (or if you can, you cannot stay long) because your LCD screen or external monitor blacks out after some time. If this is so, this is not good as this could mean a video chip malfunction. This could also mean a bad motherboard since the video chip is integrated.

May be you noticed I always emphasize 'entering the BIOS' and nothing beyond that. I do this because at this point, it does not involve Windows or normal HDD activity yet. You can say we are just working at it on purely hardware alone.

rayboyusmc

I have created a Windows XP Bart CD and a mini Linux ISO CD.

Both boot up and load the programs, but again after anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, the programs stop running. The power stays on, but nothing happens.

When I turn it off, it will normally start again, but will shut off quicker this time. I have tried three fans in it so far.

TriggerFinger

Given the scenario, I think there is a problem with your motherboard/video chip. I say this because I experienced the same with my R30 not so long ago. Mine hangs/freezes after sometime Windows has started. HDD and RAM checks out OK in their respective tests.

I noticed that the video chip sort of heats up when in GUI. Even install of XP hangs once it enters GUI mode. No problems in DOS mode or left for several hours in BIOS settings. Left Memtest running overnight even if RAM has no errors and system does not hang/freeze. I replaced the mobo and everything was back to normal.