T61p exhibiting 1 long and 2 short beep and black screen [ Edited ]

[eecon]

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esaino wrote:

Hi

Mine just has the same problem (1long 2short) yesterday.  Type:  6459-CTO (T61P)  Nov 2007.   I was assuming TP had very good quality and that's why I chose this machine.   I really surprised this happend yesterday.  As this is out of warranty now and the price for new laptop is cheap, I am going to buy new laptop....      very sad..... 

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Sorry to hear about your T61p ..... I saw a new Lenovo Y560p laptop on-sale yesterday (one day only) with an i7 Quad-Core 2.0 Intel Processor and discrete ATI HD6570 1GB Graphics for $849.99 minus one-day discount of $200 = $649.99

That is only $150 more than the current repair cost of your old T61p, which should fetch at least $100 to $150 on eBay as a spare parts unit.

The Y-series may not be as physically durable as the old T61p series, but for me that would not be an issue since I always use them docked with external monitors, keyboards and mice.

Most newer laptops will run circles around our older T61p units performance-wise in all areas including more than double our current T61p's 3DMark06 score of only 4460:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/549667-lenovo-y560p-sandy-bridge-review-benchies.html 

http://www.frys.com/product/6548083#detailed

Specifications:

Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology (2.0GHz, 6MB L2 Cache)

Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 6570 graphics w/1GB video memory

Memory: Configured with 4GB DDR3 1333MHz

Storage Drive: 500GB Serial ATA hard disk drive

Optical Disk Drive: DVD/CD Combo burner/reader

Display: 15.6" high-definition (1366x768), 16:9 widescreen

Sound: 2.0 JBL® designed speakers (2x2W) with Dolby® Home Theater™ surround sound

Webcam: Integrated web camera

Communications: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 802.11 B/G/N

Expandability: 6-in-1 Memory Card Reader (SD, SD pro, XD, MMC, MS, MS pro), 34mm ExpressCard Slot

Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 eSATA combo, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Microphone input jack, 1 Headphone out jack

Battery: 6 cell Lithium Ion battery

Software:

OneKey Rescue, Lenovo ReadyComm, ooVoo, McAfee Virus Scan 2009 trial version, Adobe Reader, Windows Live Toolbar, YouCam, Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition, Veriface, Lenovo Energy Management Software, Power2Go, Media Show, Lenovo Direct Share, Lenovo Slidenav, DDNI 2.0, OneKey Theater II

Warranty:

1 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY

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[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Read the very first post of this thread, you may get the laptop fixed under the provision of post warranty warranty, they should be about 200 dollars for a basic one year back to base. This maybe a good price to pay to get the laptop fixed, if you want to keep it.

Also, ideapad is slightly different to the top of the range Thinkpad in terms durability and toughness (provided there is no intrinsic problem with the hardware).

[eecon]

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lead_org wrote:
Read the very first post of this thread, you may get the laptop fixed under the provision of post warranty warranty, they should be about 200 dollars for a basic one year back to base. This maybe a good price to pay to get the laptop fixed, if you want to keep it.

Also, ideapad is slightly different to the top of the range Thinkpad in terms durability and toughness (provided there is no intrinsic problem with the hardware).

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Yes, very good point ..... that first thread was so long ago that I had forgotten about it.

BTW, what is the difference (if any, other than name and when purchased) between an extended warranty and maintenance agreement ...... MA's here in the U.S. run $200 for one year or $329 for two years (and even less .... by around 20% .... if you purchase through your educational/business/professional portal should you be eligible).

Also ..... what about coverage for pre-existing conditions?

___________________________________________

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

i think from memory, the extended warranty is just an extension on the standard warranty, while the maintenance agreement is more of a warranty for post warranty machines (hence the name). I think it is more of a marketing thing then anything else.

The maintenance agreement costs more since Lenovo wants people to purchase extended warranty with their laptop rather do this as an after thought, which will raise the transaction cost and other overheads associated with it. Think of the normal extended warranty as the early bird pricing, while the maintenance agreement as the normal pricing, etc. Also, some of the  machines are fairly old (i.e. say T60), which means there is increased inventory cost, which are passed onto the end user. 

Pre-existing condition, well normally it is not covered, but given the fact that Mark_Lenovo told you people to get the warranty, then i guess this is a reprieve for the 31st March deadline for the GPU repair. It will also help split the bill of the repair between Lenovo and the end users.

[texudo]

I think in case you pay money (~200 USD) to replace a new mainboard, we should buy a new laptop.

I love T61P alot (like I loved with T43), but now I need to change my mind about the Lenovo and IBM products, I hoped they have the same quality, but not really true.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

@texudo, to be fair to lenovo, no laptop that used that particular series of Nvidia GPU was immune to failure, be that Apple, HP, Dell, ASUS, or Lenovo.

So what you are expressing is not a balanced assessment of the situation.

[quokka]

I had a T60 earlier on and no end of problems with it. The t61p which recently developed this problem, also had other problems before that.  The hard drive failed both smart tests and had to be replaced, when it was only a couple of months old and the DVD drive also had to be replaced as it vibrated so much it sounded like a swarm of mosquitoes on steroids.  The hard drive they replaced it with was a reconditioned one and it would never do a complete defrag and it then it too died (just out of warranty of course}}.  So in all honesty I think that since Lenovo took over thinkpads are not what they used to be.

[eecon]

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quokka wrote:

I had a T60 earlier on and no end of problems with it. The t61p which recently developed this problem, also had other problems before that.  The hard drive failed both smart tests and had to be replaced, when it was only a couple of months old and the DVD drive also had to be replaced as it vibrated so much it sounded like a swarm of mosquitoes on steroids.  The hard drive they replaced it with was a reconditioned one and it would never do a complete defrag and it then it too died (just out of warranty of course}}.  So in all honesty I think that since Lenovo took over thinkpads are not what they used to be.

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I tend to agree ..... My IBM A30 (now owned by a neighbor) and T42 units are tough as nails and still trouble free compared to my Lenovo T61 and two T61p units.  Was it a coincidence that this happened when government-controlled Lenovo took over from IBM in 2006/2007?

Let history be the judge as I'll never know for sure.

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[quokka]

My experience has been, IBM =  high price BUT good quality.

LENOVO  = high price and rubbish

[andyP Retired SuperMod]

This thread is specifically about "T61p exhibiting 1 long and 2 short beep and black screen".

If you feel the need to discuss other matters and experiences please take it elsewhere.

thanks