X220 - no post and green light around power button flashes every 3 - 4 second

[cleto]

Hi,

I have the same issue in a X220 laptop (R9-HMXXX) and Lenovo support does not provide me any information. No news about the replacement, when the new mainboard will be available... nothing. Just: "we are waiting for the replacement.". 

My x220 looks like a stone (more time dead than live). A very expensive stone. So so sad. Can you provide more information about this error?  Is it a design or software bug? Which laptops are affected? Things may be wrong, making mistakes may be reasonable. However, no information is unacceptable. I chose Lenovo because I thought I could avoid this kind of things. Obviously, I was wrong.

[mattam55]

I am seeing the same issue here. What is the procedure about getting these replaced? serial number R9-hmxt1.....I just ordered a bunch of X220's and they all have the same serial range.....*frown.

Thanks,

~M

[gregport]

I've purchased (2) X220s (core-i5, 4GB ram) in the last month and I am 2 for 2 on mainboard failures.   Details as follows:

Model: 4287-2WU

Serial:  *

Both had stock BIOS version & settings as shipped to me.   Symptoms:   System fails to power on, no video displayed on laptop monitor or external monitors when used with a docking station.   The Power button does light up green.  No beeping. Tried the "remove all power sources and push the power button 10 times, hold for 30 sec" trick on both systems multiple times, this had no effect.

The first failure got called in the 2nd week of January... mainboard supplies were extremely short at the time but they managed to find one.   Replacing the mainboard did fix the issue.

The second failure was about a week later... by this time, mainboards were backordered with no ETA for replacement.   I'm currently escalating with tech support and they're still telling me mid-February to March 1 to get the replacement mainboard!!!

There's obviously a wider issue here as evidenced by the posts on this thread and the extreme backorder times for the replacement mainboard.   Some official communication about the problem and efforts to resolve it would be appreciated.

Greg

Moderator edit by bananaman: Masked serial number to prevent misuse.

[kvalvik]

I have exactly the same problem, the battery light blinks  three times, the thinklight goes on for a sec, then the on/off button remains lit up, but the screen remains dark - 12 hours earlier, everything was totally normal, the machine is just about 6 weeks old...

Very annoying!

Back home, I‘ll try to boot it from a recovery disk, but I am on the road and should write a report...

Thanks for any suggestions!

[kvalvik]

additional info:

I cannot boot it with the recovery cd either, sometimes, the bluetooth-light goes on, sometimes the fingerprint-reader light, the fan sink works, but not the hd, it looks pretty bad

[jrainey]

I got my X220i today..  and while I was performing a Lenovo Update, the unit went dead.  I'm on the phone with Lenovo and the tech is saying she is getting a LOT of calls on the 4290 models.  Bad System boards released in 4Q 2011.

[kvalvik]

Follow up on previous post:

I talked to Lenovo Service today, they didn't discuss much or anything but said they will pick up the machine tomorrow to repair it. If jrainey's assumption is right, they will replace the motherboard (though mine is a 4286). Although I am in Japan where the standards of after purchase services are high, I was positively surprised. Hope they won't disappoint me with the repair.

I will keep you posted.

[kvalvik]

Mark,

Do you call that "interesting"? Not sure that would be my choice of words. Although I really like Lenovo, we've 6 Lenovo machines in our house, the way Lenovo will treat this problem will certainly influence our future decisions about which brand to buy.

Mine is a 4286. Obviously, I cannot identify the BIOS since the machine doesn't boot at all, not from the recovery cd either. For the first 4 weeks, it run perfectly well, then it started to give some hint of troubles during some ThinkVantage-induced update, several times, it wanted me to redefine the fingerprints, and soon AccessConnection wouldn't work anymore. First I reinstalled AccessConnection, and it worked again, though not for long. Then I did a clean factory reinstall from scratch, and it worked fine again, except after a few days it refused to update (the Lenovo-part gave me some message such as "the packages of this update cannot be used", or so... I'm translating from Japanese, so that's not exactly what it said, the Microsoft-updates went smoothly). Then, last Sunday, it did what several people here experienced, the screen remained black, the light of the power button went on and off, the Capslock-key-light went on once, and so did the fingerprint-reader light. It looked like the fingerprint-reader was still working, it distinguished between correct and incorrect fingers. The fan worked, the Bluetooth light went on, the HDD-light sometimes for a bit. I tried all the reset tricks such as taking the battery away and no AC and pressing the start button, etc. Nothing. No sound, though I'm not sure if I had it on mute before it went down.

Service picked it up this afternoon, i hope to get it back soon.

[fsck0ff]

Hello,

so a quick follow up from me - officially my x220 has now spent more time in the repair shop than it was with me... Noone seems to know when the replacement motherboard will be available and when the laptop will be repaired. This whole situation is ridiculous. I am very very disappointed Lenovo!

[ddochi11]

I need my mainboard replaced too and they are telling me "ABOUT 2 weeks".

Please how your conversation went with Lenovo. If necessary, I will upgrade my warranty too.