[SOLVED] My IBM Thinkpad T20 will not boot up.

StoicBlade · 08-01-2008, 12:58 PM

Hi. I have a IBM Thinkpad T20 laptop. It worked fine yesterday. Now it will not boot up. When I press the power button, the hard drive light and the battery light (located on the keyboard base, near the power button) flicker for a second and that is it. I know that the laptop is getting power from the power supply. I have checked all of the cards to make sure that nothing is loose and I have removed and replaced the battery several times. I even swapped out the hard drive, just in case. Nothing works. Any ideas? Thanx.

Oh yeah, I upgraded to Service Pack 2 about 3 weeks ago.

**TriggerFinger** · 08-01-2008, 01:07 PM

Try this:
1. remove the battery and unplug AC adapter
2. press power ON button for 30 secs at least
3. plug back the battery and the AC adapter
4. power ON as normal.

EDIT:
Do you hear any beeps? Have you tried running on battery alone or AC adapter alone?

StoicBlade · 08-08-2008, 03:14 PM

Hey TriggerFinger,

Yup, that worked like a charm. Thanks. I am curious though...why did it do that and why did I need to press the "on" button for 30 secs with no power? Is that a self-diagnostic process or was I re-setting the BIOS or something?

Anyway, thanks for your help.

StoicBlade

**TriggerFinger** · 08-08-2008, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StoicBlade

Hey TriggerFinger,

Yup, that worked like a charm. Thanks. I am curious though...why did it do that and why did I need to press the "on" button for 30 secs with no power? Is that a self-diagnostic process or was I re-setting the BIOS or something?

Anyway, thanks for your help.

StoicBlade

It is another way of resetting the CMOS configuration. Some laptops have a reset button at the bottom. I believe that is the equivalent of that.

jmy714 · 07-30-2009, 06:38 AM

I also own an IBM T20 that will not power on. It has not been used for over a year. When plugged in it appears to be charging the battery. When the on/off button is pressed, the HD light flickers but no action. I followed TF's advice - holding down the on/off button for 30+ seconds, but no change. I've also unplugged it, taken out the battery, HD, modem/network card and memory, let it sit that way for a while and then tried to power on, but no change. I have not changed the CMOS battery or disconnected/reconnected it (trying that now).

Any advice is welcome! Thanks

08-01-2008, 12:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
StoicBlade Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows xp	[SOLVED] My IBM Thinkpad T20 will not boot up. Hi. I have a IBM Thinkpad T20 laptop. It worked fine yesterday. Now it will not boot up. When I press the power button, the hard drive light and the battery light (located on the keyboard base, near the power button) flicker for a second and that is it. I know that the laptop is getting power from the power supply. I have checked all of the cards to make sure that nothing is loose and I have removed and replaced the battery several times. I even swapped out the hard drive, just in case. Nothing works. Any ideas? Thanx. Oh yeah, I upgraded to Service Pack 2 about 3 weeks ago.

08-01-2008, 01:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,802 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: My IBM Thinkpad T20 will not boot up. Try this: 1. remove the battery and unplug AC adapter 2. press power ON button for 30 secs at least 3. plug back the battery and the AC adapter 4. power ON as normal. EDIT: Do you hear any beeps? Have you tried running on battery alone or AC adapter alone? __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE Last edited by TriggerFinger; 08-01-2008 at 01:08 PM.

08-08-2008, 03:14 PM	#3 (permalink)
StoicBlade Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows xp	Re: My IBM Thinkpad T20 will not boot up. Hey TriggerFinger, Yup, that worked like a charm. Thanks. I am curious though...why did it do that and why did I need to press the "on" button for 30 secs with no power? Is that a self-diagnostic process or was I re-setting the BIOS or something? Anyway, thanks for your help. StoicBlade

07-30-2009, 06:38 AM	#5 (permalink)
jmy714 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1 OS: xp sp3	Re: [SOLVED] My IBM Thinkpad T20 will not boot up. I also own an IBM T20 that will not power on. It has not been used for over a year. When plugged in it appears to be charging the battery. When the on/off button is pressed, the HD light flickers but no action. I followed TF's advice - holding down the on/off button for 30+ seconds, but no change. I've also unplugged it, taken out the battery, HD, modem/network card and memory, let it sit that way for a while and then tried to power on, but no change. I have not changed the CMOS battery or disconnected/reconnected it (trying that now). Any advice is welcome! Thanks