T500-Won't boot (weird issues though)

[alexjohnson16]

Hey all,

I have had a T500 for about 22 months and earlier this evening, was browsing the web when the system hard-locked, powered itself down, and now I believe I'm in trouble.

On the initial tries to reboot, I got a 1-3-3-1 beep code (memory/mobo), so I opened it, reseated the ram, tried another compatible stick from another laptop, and neither worked. So I narrowed it down to the mobo. Took the keyboard off trying to gauge what went wrong with the system, and then started getting weird errors.

Every so often, it will load the post screen and freeze on it. Other times, it will turn the LCD on and display nothing. A third symptom is that it will say it's powered up, but the LCD will not turn on and nothing will happen. The weird thing is that the beep code is gone, and when I power it down, there's a short beep as soon as I press the power button.

On two occasions I have had very odd things happen: The first time, it went from the post screen to a blank screen with a blinking mouse cursor and brought up a Windows System Error (Windows could not start, etc. for a System32 file). The second time it brought up a BIOS prompt regarding time and date and allowed me to enter BIOS, where the time and date were reset (which I didn't do, I haven't pulled the CMOS battery). 

I'm sure its mobo-related and have looked around at the prices and am unsure if I want to drop that kind of money on a replacement part, so figured I would try here for any ideas.

If any further information is needed, please feel free to let me know. The system was in fine shape (minus a dead 9-cell battery that I was planning to replace) and has been treated very well (no drops, water damage, etc.).

Thanks in advance for any help.

[alexjohnson16]

After tinkering some more, I have it to where it boots, but am still experiencing issues.

About ~75% of the time, it won't load Windows, yet will give me the fpllowing Windows error:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original CD-ROM.

Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

The problem with this is that Lenovo provided no media with my laptop. The machine was originally supposed to be loaded with Vista, but I chose XP instead. For whatever reason, I received no CD with the machine, and thus cannot do this.

The only 25% of the time it will fully boot Windows, and will be functional for ~3-5 minutes before I get a Blue Screen of Death (different message each time).

The machine will not load Ubuntu fully (loads menus, etc., but won't actually let me in the system) and memtest86 got to 10% before hard-locking.

I am also unable to load ThinkVantage to attempt a system restore, it just doesn't respond to me pressing the button.

Thinking it might be memory-related now?

Once again, any help would be appreciated.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

There is a good possibility that it is memory related, or worse something that is related to the motherboard in relation to the RAM. Do you have warranty remaining?

[alexjohnson16]

No warranty remaining. Hoping it's memory, way easier and cheaper to fix

Plan of attack is to switch sticks and see if I can reformat to clean up some of these errors. Hopefully it will work!

Thanks for the reply. Anyone else have any ideas that I could try?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

if it turns out to be the ram all is well. If it is motherboard, then you should consider the post warranty warranty, which is only 200 USD per year for the basic back to the depot.

[alexjohnson16]

Surprisingly was neither. Not exactly sure what went wrong, to be honest, but decided to change out the CMOS battery (which still gave 3 volts per voltmeter) and install a fresh copy of Windows 7 and it works like a charm so far.

Really weird. No idea what happened. Thanks for your help though!

[sys3175]

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alexjohnson16 wrote:

Surprisingly was neither. Not exactly sure what went wrong, to be honest, but decided to change out the CMOS battery (which still gave 3 volts per voltmeter) and install a fresh copy of Windows 7 and it works like a charm so far.

Really weird. No idea what happened. Thanks for your help though!

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It is possible during your experimenting that the windows install become corrupt.  It is also possible that your inital problem was a corrupt cmos in which case changing out the battery caused it to reload the defaults.   Hope this is the end of your trouble!

[alexjohnson16]

Of course I would speak too soon.

Was just browsing about 35 minutes ago and the system hard-locked again, and now I'm getting similar issues. I can hear components starting up (the fan spinning, etc.) when I power the system on, but the LCD never powers on. Thinking I have some serious issues. Will tinker with it later.

Can the person who mentioned the post warranty warranty explain a little more about it? Thanks.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/THNK-PLUS.html#ma

Find your machine model in the list there, and quote the corresponding part number of the service that you want to buy when you speak to the Lenovo customer support. 

[alexjohnson16]

Back with more problems. The system ran fine for about 36 hours, and now I'm back to step one (1-3-3-1 beep code), etc.

Pretty sure something is pretty screwed up, and I'm leaning towards the motherboard. Wish there was something a little better to use to troubleshoot though. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but using the Lenovo site is an absolute pain (keep getting sent in a circle trying to find out part information, etc.)

Anyways, the system will boot, then reset itself within 5 seconds, then give me the beep code the second time through. Fan is still spinning so I'm not sure whats going on. Pretty frustrated at this point.