All,

There have been multiple discussions over the past months concerning a 1 long and 2 short beep symptom on some T61 and T61p model systems.   Over the last several weeks members have begun to start additional topics on this theme and cross post between threads.  

I am consolidating all the threads into this new discussion today.  Since many of these discussions were originally parallel, the dates and some of the context will now appear somewhat out of chronological order.  Please keep that in mind while browsing this thread.

If you are presently experiencing the 1 long and 2 short beep code with a black screen on boot up, I would recommend that you contact service at this time for assistance.

UPDATE 1/4/2011

Previously, I have advised customers to contact service for assistance with the symptoms discussed here. In an effort to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty, Lenovo has repaired a number of systems as post warranty exceptions. Lenovo will continue the post warranty support; however, with some revisions to the extended coverage effective December 31, 2010.

Customers who experience these symptoms on qualifying models that are no more than six months beyond expiration of warranty should continue to contact support for assistance. This additional coverage ends March 31, 2011.

Coverage beyond this date is available under the terms and conditions of extended warranty or maintenance agreements. Warranty extensions may be purchased for systems that are still within the base warranty period, and post warranty maintenance agreements may be purchased to provide coverage after base and extended warranty periods have expired. Extended warranties and maintenance agreements are a great way to ensure coverage for all the major system components.

Best regards,

Mark

Hello,

I meet the same problem with congfucius(http://lnv.lithium.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&thread.id=28970)

I just powered my T61p normally this afternoon but nothing displayed on my screen. And it gave a 1 long beep and 2 short beeps. I tried several times and resulted same. I am aftraid it was the problem of the GPU (NVidia  FX570M). I heard that the T61p is in the defect product list of NVidia's GPU-gate.

Unfornately, my T61p is out of warraty now. Is any one can help me? Will lenovo serve this replacement of the video card?

Thank you.

2 is a coincidence, 3 is a pattern... and your problem is identical to mine, too, and happened just some days after mine did...

It seems to me, without wanting to be alarmist, that the T61p with the 570M gpu (or a batch of them) is failing with the same exact problem (1 long 2 short = GPU error) at the exact same time... scary thought, really.

Mine arrived at the lenovo repair center (it's still on warranty) on wednesday, and the status shows as "Repair complete, shipped to customer" as of yesterday. There is no tracking number or "Failing Element / part number" in the status page, tho. It hasn't arrived, either.

Do you know your planar card / motherboard part number? It would be interesting to know if it's the same as mine (42W7653). Were you affected by the problem shown at http://forum.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&thread.id=30460&view=by_date_ascending&page=1 ?

And once Mark_Lenovo reads this, Mark, do you need any info? (serial number for the laptop, easyserv reference, etc?) 

I called the EasyServ warranty customer support to ask if they had any additional info not in the website, and as a matter of fact they do. The (very, very helpful and nice) man on the phone told me that the motherboard had been replaced and the laptop was due to arrive today, and he gave the UPS tracking number for it, which indeed says it's scheduled to arrive here today, at some point.

Once it's here I'll update with information about the actual repair and the part number of the new motherboard, etc.

To be honest  I'm more than pleasantly surprised about the service: the box for shipping my laptop arrived on wednesday, it was picked up that very same day, the laptop was repaired on thursday and arrives to me today, friday. If the laptop works as expected, this is a 10 out of 10 for lenovo customer support, at least for me.

I called the EasyServ warranty customer support to ask if they had any additional info not in the website, and as a matter of fact they do. The (very, very helpful and nice) man on the phone told me that the motherboard had been replaced and the laptop was due to arrive today, and he gave the UPS tracking number for it, which indeed says it's scheduled to arrive here today, at some point.

Once it's here I'll update with information about the actual repair and the part number of the new motherboard, etc.

To be honest  I'm more than pleasantly surprised about the service: the box for shipping my laptop arrived on wednesday, it was picked up that very same day, the laptop was repaired on thursday and arrives to me today, friday. If the laptop works as expected, this is a 10 out of 10 for lenovo customer support, at least for me.

I'm less-than-happy about the quality of the product, of course. 

"Can you really blame Lenovo for Nvidia GPU failures??? When it is occuring across all systems that are built by Apple to HP?"

Yes, I most certainly *can* blame Lenovo. 

Lenovo is responsible for everything that goes into their machines.

Centex

Centex actually you are wrong. Nvidia only released the detail that a batch of their GPU was faulty to the OEM manufacturers when the T61p had already been out for nearly 14 months. 

Not everyone have a crystal ball like you. 

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wrote:

 

Yes, I most certainly *can* blame Lenovo. 

 

Lenovo is responsible for everything that goes into their machines.

 

Centex

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If you read the statement by Nvidia, which stated that only few selected batches of the Nvidia GPU chip was affected by the problem, and it was not the initial batch. In addition, the GPU would only produce problem after been used under certain condition for some periods of time. I don't think it would be possible for Lenovo to stress test every GPU that goes into every laptop for a month or two. There is something called manufacturing cost. 

The word "responsible" is being used in two ways here.

As you say, lead_org, Lenovo isn't "responsible" for putting the faulty GPUs in the T61 in the first place, because they had no way of knowing the GPUs would turn out to be faulty.

But once the GPUs *did* turn out to be faulty, then Lenovo *is* responsible for the faulty component, because they sold it in their product.

Let me illustrate with an example. I write and sell a major Windows software application. From time to time, flaws have shown up in my product because of flaws in Windows itself and because of flaws in video drivers. But I can't just sit there and say "This isn't my fault, and I'm not going to do anything about it. That's just tough stuff, and you'll have to live with." No, I've had to develop workarounds for these flaws in other people's products (but used in my software) at considerable time and expense, because *I* am responsible for the end product.

Centex

Actually Lenovo did post a recall notice for the some of the affected motherboard on the T61p, i will try to find it and post it here later. 

In addition, not all boards are affected, only those boards affected would need to be replaced. Software fixup is much easier to implement then hardware fixup, you can just upload the patchup or update and then your client around the world just download it, this is not possible for hardware problems.

Your software probably cost the same as a T61p, how much does it cost you to mail out update cd compare to Lenovo shipping all the T61p back, checking every laptop, replacing a handful of affected models then ship it back to the customers, then if any of the things got delayed, then people will start complaining about the slow service.