T410 docking station issue - VGA external monitor flashes.

[Kicker774]

We've spoken to our Lenovo rep about it.

Suposedly there's a cleaning kit.

But I guess just like the keybaord issues the kit is on backorder and we probably won't see it for another 2 months.

We tried using contact cleaner ourselves but no luck.

[Sylvain_S]

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Kicker774 wrote:

We've spoken to our Lenovo rep about it.

Suposedly there's a cleaning kit.

But I guess just like the keybaord issues the kit is on backorder and we probably won't see it for another 2 months.

We tried using contact cleaner ourselves but no luck.

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I'm guessing a cleaner for the motherboard? or the the docking station itself?

[Kicker774]

I would guess something to clean both the docking connectors on the systemboard as well as the docking station itself.

As soon at it shows up on my desk I'll let you know.

[ThorsHammer]

Sure sounds like the static discharge issue from the previous generation dock.

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ThinkMike wrote:
unbelievable... just tested this, and slightly touching my docked t410s (plus series 3 minidock) caused all usb ports on the dock to disconnect....

This is my first Thinkpad, and I really believed that with this notebook, i buy something extremely reliable, something to trust in.
good lord, when i look on the past weeks, what issues i had...dont know if i'd buy a thinkpad again.

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[Kicker774]

Here's the cleaning kit:

http://i56.tinypic.com/2dlqbfq.jpg

It includes spacer brackets for the dock then cleaning pads for the system.

[Sylvain_S]

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Kicker774 wrote:

Here's the cleaning kit:

http://i56.tinypic.com/2dlqbfq.jpg

It includes spacer brackets for the dock then cleaning pads for the system.

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Thanks for the pictures.

Did you get a chance to try it, did it work?

And do they ship it for free.?

[Kicker774]

I did a dry run and it's a pretty simple process.

Just looks a bit involved with the number of parts involved.

I'm not sure if Lenovo would ship an individual kit out to someone having these problems.

This kit is for 100 uses.  You could check with a local Lenovo service center to see if they have received this kit yet.

One thing I noticed was a small design change with the docking station rib. This little spacer peiece on the right hand side is now a bit more angled giving the laptop a slightly more solid surface to rest on vs. the single point that is on these docks currently.

This could be what makes the difference. I havnt' seen it yet but rumor is people have been jamming scrap paper underneath their laptop while dock to secure the connection better.  This new rib and spacer may eliminate the need for that.

I just finished replacing a persons systemboard that was having this issue before the cleaning kit arrived for us so I don't have any outstanding issues at the moment.  But as I work our usual tickets that come in I'll go ahead and service any T410/T410s units that come my way and hopefully we'll see the number of these issues drop off.

We are also starting to get T420 units in. Since they use the same dock it's easy that they could have this issue as well.

I'll keep everyone updated.

[Kicker774]

After using the cleaning kit the past 2 weeks any instanaces where the laptop was experiencing loose conenctions have been eliminated.  I think primarily by stabilizing the laptop on the dock although I'm sure celanign the contacts help as well.

If anyone is having this issue I would get in touch with Lenovo and see if they can at least send you the 2 little spacers / sabilizers that go on the dock.

[srunni]

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Kicker774 wrote:

If anyone is having this issue I would get in touch with Lenovo and see if they can at least send you the 2 little spacers / sabilizers that go on the dock.

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How exactly did you contact Lenovo? I tried using IBM's Electronic Service Call feature to submit a hardware support request, but ~7 hours after submission, they just closed the request saying "a physical fix has been performed on the machine." I checked the ESC site, and it said that they'd phoned me (which they didn't) at 6 AM my time, and that I "APPROVED CRU AND WAS INFORMED OF CRU RETURN POLICY. I CONFIRMED THERE WAS NO ICPM POPUP PREVENTING CRU OF THIS PART. CRU - 75Y5733 MINI DOCK,"

Of course, I have no idea what that means, what with all the acronyms. Needless to say, this doesn't instill much confidence in me wrt Lenovo/IBM's support system.

Is there some way to get past the automated system and just email a person with my problem? I couldn't even enter more than 150 characters in the problem description field.

[Kicker774]

If you PM JameZ or one of the other Lenovo admins here they may be able to get you these parts.

If not PM me and I can at least send you the spacers in the mail.  Unfortunatley I can't send you the contact cleaner used as part of the process.