T420s not Booting

[tripplec]

LOL

[gregrubin42]

My T420s crapped out on me about 10 days ago as well.  A bit disheartened to hear that it is a problem with many t240s units.  Lenovo service center auto-escalated my job but I am pessimistic about the turnaround.

HOW DOES THE 2ND LARGEST PC MANUFACTURER IN THE WORLD NOT HAVE SYSTEM BOARDS AVAILABLE FOR ONE OF THEIR HIGHEST MARGIN PRODUCTS??????????

[dcolver]

Adding my name to the list of those with two week old machines exhibiting this symptom.

[kaitanium]

I'm almost fed up with my t420s (i7). IBMs are supposed to be reliable which is why I bought it in the first place.

Bought the unit new in October

Took the unit in in novemeber-ish for a fried mobo with an inwarranty repair. The unit would turn on but nothing would come on screen. Basically black screen with the fan blowing. Got it fixed with new mobo. Service dealer loses my ac adapter and blames it on me. Extra $$ getting a new adapter.

Then 2 weeks ago I get a unbootable fan error. Took it in for service, in warranty. Fixed.

Just now I got what the OP is saying about the blinking power light with no boot. Another fried mobo? SERIOUSLY?

And what am i to do when the warranty runs out on this machine and the problems persist? What an utter waste of time this computer has been. Someone should be paying me $$ to spend my time taking it into service so many times. Takes me about 1hr to travel roundtrip per visit to that service dealer! This never happend with my X40 or T43P. Did the Lenovo brand take over affect reliabilty here?

[ThorsHammer]

---

kaitanium wrote:

IBMs are supposed to be reliable which is why I bought it in the first place.

---

Lenovo purchased the IBM personal computer division 7 years ago. 

[mkalen]

My Lenovo Thinkpad T420s 4174-PEG dated 11/12 also died a few days ago with this same problem (alternating flashing power button and fingerprint reader). I'm in Sweden and just called IBM Global Services and got through to a technician without any delay, after describing the problem I was told that on-site replacement of the motherboard will take place and could book a time that fits me. Very prompt response and perfect support - not at all the same problems as some people in this thread have described. I guess it depends a lot on in which country you are and how the service people there handle things.

[yahel]

Sadly, this same problem now happened to me...

T420s won't start, slowly blinking the light around the power button.

Tried removing the battery and disconnect power for a long duration - but nothing helps...

Model: T420s

Type:  4174-XF3

Manufecturing date: 12/03/27

Purchase date: 04/17/12

On Lenovo Outlet as Lenovo-Refurbished product.

The machine spent most of it's life enroute to Israel - so was hardly used.

Now exhibits these symptoms.

It's in Israel - what do I do next?

That's what happen when you buy a $3000 laptop known for being the most relaible machine in the world...

I bet the "refurbished" status would make the warranty issues more challenging, not to mention the machine being in Israel and no longer in the US...

Ideas anyone?

Thanks!

Yahel. 

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

@yahel, your laptop is covered for warranty in Israel according to the International Warranty Page.

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-service/iws.page?

So contact the following service:

ISRAEL 972-3-5313900

[yahel]

Thanks...

I already found this phone number on the Lenovo web-site...

Guess what - it's a dead number!

(Tried calling both from Israel and from the US)...

I'll try to find Lenovo Israel (if they even exist still) using their postal address here:

http://www.lenovo.com/contact/xe/en/index_il.html

I wonder how many weeks/months until they get the main-board FRU to their local stock ;-(

Thanks,

Yahel.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

@yahel thanks for reporting back with the information.