Possible MoBo Failure? R61 Thinkpad

[Matt8]

I have a Thinkpad R61 I am working on that has an "interesting" issue;

It will boot to the initial ThinkPad screen and will react a few different ways:

-F12 to boot device list, blank screen and activity light stops
-ESC to get the visual post, I can see the RAM count and it finishes this screen and goes into PXE-boot. After it fails to pxe-boot, the computer will go to a black screen and activity light stops.
-"Thinkvantage" button immediately sends it to the black screen w/no activity light.

[No beeps in any of these]

I am definitely leaning towards motherboard. I have reseated all the RAM, swapped the chips out with each other (booted with one in, both in, etc.), reseated the heatsink to ensure it isn't the CPU overheating, attempted to boot to a CD, yanked the CMOS battery to attempt to clear it, reseated wireless chip, etc. etc.

About my only thought is that *maybe* the BIOS itself is borked and the mobo is OK, but I have no real way of testing that.

I feel like I have covered all my bases, but I am not very familiar with this specific model. Has anyone else seen something similar or have any suggestions other than my assumption of mobo/bios? (My guess is maybe the GPU chip on the mobo)

 

[shamrin]

I just sent one of these T61's to the graveyard, alas. Did all the same procedures as you, I can't see where you've left anything out. I don't know if they all do but at least some of these have the dreaded Nvidia GPU-of-Death in them. We were at least getting a beep code after pulling the CMOS battery. You could disconnect the display from the unit and try booting with an external monitor....

 

[Matt8]

Thanks, I think I am calling this one dead. The fact I can't get a POST beep out of it even w/o RAM or CMOS battery seems to indicate the mobo is fried.

 

[AJ.]

What if you press F8?
It *should* take you to the Rescue & Recovery software of Lenovo.

 

[Matt8]

What if you press F8?
It *should* take you to the Rescue & Recovery software of Lenovo.

Nada, just a black screen

 

[AJ.]

Well, you could unplug hdd, ram, etc.... then try it.

If nothing, I think you loose nothing by trying the Playstation "red light of death" (yellow light?) blower technique.
You can check it out in youTube.

You take a heat gun (not hair dryer), and heat up all the soldering points of the chips.
I dunno... if it's dead, might as well try it!

 

[Matt8]

Well, you could unplug hdd, ram, etc.... then try it.

If nothing, I think you loose nothing by trying the Playstation "red light of death" (yellow light?) blower technique.
You can check it out in youTube.

You take a heat gun (not hair dryer), and heat up all the soldering points of the chips.
I dunno... if it's dead, might as well try it!

I've tried unseating everything, still no go.

I think I'll pass on the heat gun solder extravaganza!