[SOLVED] Lenovo T430s wont POST

[connorfarkas]

I have a Lenovo T430s ive had for about a year now and it worked fine till a few days ago, i setup a new router with it, turned it off and now it refuses to turn on again. I plug it in the indicator blinks goes green for a second then blinks and goes off. When i press the power button it flashes the leds and camera light like normal but dies immediately after. removed the battery, same thing, removed the ram, its fine and beeps at me saying there is no ram. Is there any way to test if both of my sticks of ram died on me or if the motherboard is dead? because i do not want to go out and buy ram just to say the motherboard is cooked. cause its odd for 2 sticks to hit the bed and die, but its also weird it wont charge. Maybe i am mistaken and when its powered down the battery led doesnt stay on but i have never payed attention to it before so i am not certain. I need this thing to not be dead as i use it for my vehicle diagnostics and i do not have a spare on me. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

" setup a new router with it " you mean just plugging ethernet cable ? You did nothing else than just shuttdown the laptop and plugin the cable?

 

[lga1156_ftw]

1. remove power cable and try to boot with battery only (does it work?)
2. both ram dont just die like that, unless theres liquid damage then its possible, remove battery, then try all possible combinations to see if its bad slot or ram stick, remember to always remove power cable /main battery when you switch the ram stick or slot.'
3. Look all the ports for shorted pins (external ports) expecially USB ports and power jack (where u connect power cable), use flashlight if necressary this can cause the issue easily. if you find dodgy one take a picture of it. Also check the charger connector that it looks normal, you can also measure that voltage (from power brick) is right if you have multimeter

 

[connorfarkas]

1. remove power cable and try to boot with battery only (does it work?)
2. both ram dont just die like that, unless theres liquid damage then its possible, remove battery, then try all possible combinations to see if its bad slot or ram stick, remember to always remove power cable /main battery when you switch the ram stick or slot.'
3. Look all the ports for shorted pins (external ports) expecially USB ports and power jack (where u connect power cable), use flashlight if necressary this can cause the issue easily. if you find dodgy one take a picture of it. Also check the charger connector that it looks normal, you can also measure that voltage (from power brick) is right if you have multimeter

to the first thing, yeah my mother wanted a new router so last thing i did was put an ethernet cable into it and set it up. now

1. battery will let it run (if no ram is installed)
2. when the ram is out it beeps 1-3-3-1 (no ram) any combination of seating the ram 1 or 2 sticks it does the issue and boots for 1 second before turning off.
3. worked last week on my 2 cables i use regularly. port looks fine no damage.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Check all the external ports really closely for damage / short, did you try to remove all external cables when you troubleshoot? Usb sticks etc too.
, do you have multimeter to test voltage from the power brick?

Next step would be to disassembly

 

[connorfarkas]

Check all the external ports really closely for damage / short, did you try to remove all external cables when you troubleshoot? Usb sticks etc too.
, do you have multimeter to test voltage from the power brick?

Next step would be to disassembly

i have nothing connected to it at this time, and yea i have a multimeter ill use tomorrow to check it

 

[connorfarkas]

Check all the external ports really closely for damage / short, did you try to remove all external cables when you troubleshoot? Usb sticks etc too.
, do you have multimeter to test voltage from the power brick?

Next step would be to disassembly

multimeter shows it works fine, im all out of ideas, i drained the battery and when the ram is installed it does the same thing as a dead battery, on for half a second and dies blinking the battery led on the lid

 

[lga1156_ftw]

is there any error code you can notice when trying to boot it, a pattern to the blink code?

Next step is disassembly, look videos for your exact model from youtube, remove power cable and main battery first then disacharge with pressing power button for 10sec, disassembly on non conductive surface so you can test it with certain parts removed. After you removed keyboard and front panel its easy to see if theres liquid damage on the motherboard, if you accidentally spilled something. (if there is liquid damage visible below keyboard then do not continue below)

Keep the ram connected when you troubleshoot, watch carefully what screws need to be removed for each part and only use plastic like credit card or similar nothing metallic to help disassembly. First perform CMOS reset 2min10second on the video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrKUTtFOj5M


, after removing keyboard you can alreaydy see the the coin battery, remove it from the connector (yellow cover on the coin 3.3v battery). Then wait 15minutes and put it back, after that connect keyboard and plugin power cable only and try to boot. If same thing happens remove power cable and discharge again with power button, you can test the battery if its below 3volts then replace it later after issue is fixed. If that wont help then continue below:

When CMOS battery is disconnected you do not need power button to boot up the laptop, it should automatically boot when you plugin power cable. Next step is to try find the "shorted component". Keep the cmos battery removed and also keyboard, now test with power cable if it boots up without pressing the power button (not all models do this) If you can succesfully boot without keyboard that is the broken component. It also might be several other things like the Power jack cable (also yellow) where power cable connects, you can test it with multimeter, black wires are ground. If your sure Power jack cable is fine (you can measure that cable is not shorted) then continue removing components Just remove component and then plugin power cable when your sure nothing is shorted, after testing remove power cable and test next part, repeat. Be careful when removing connectors, there might be small plastic clips which only open/close one way, no force is needed. Also test if you can boot without LCD cable connected. If you find something which causes the issue, for example if LCD screen is the issue and you see fan spinning longer than few seconds then you can try add external HDMI to see if you get a picture.

 

[connorfarkas]

is there any error code you can notice when trying to boot it, a pattern to the blink code?

Next step is disassembly, look videos for your exact model from youtube, remove power cable and main battery first then disacharge with pressing power button for 10sec, disassembly on non conductive surface so you can test it with certain parts removed. After you removed keyboard and front panel its easy to see if theres liquid damage on the motherboard, if you accidentally spilled something. (if there is liquid damage visible below keyboard then do not continue below)

Keep the ram connected when you troubleshoot, watch carefully what screws need to be removed for each part and only use plastic like credit card or similar nothing metallic to help disassembly. First perform CMOS reset 2min10second on the video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrKUTtFOj5M


, after removing keyboard you can alreaydy see the the coin battery, remove it from the connector (yellow cover on the coin 3.3v battery). Then wait 15minutes and put it back, after that connect keyboard and plugin power cable only and try to boot. If same thing happens remove power cable and discharge again with power button, you can test the battery if its below 3volts then replace it later after issue is fixed. If that wont help then continue below:

When CMOS battery is disconnected you do not need power button to boot up the laptop, it should automatically boot when you plugin power cable. Next step is to try find the "shorted component". Keep the cmos battery removed and also keyboard, now test with power cable if it boots up without pressing the power button (not all models do this) If you can succesfully boot without keyboard that is the broken component. It also might be several other things like the Power jack cable (also yellow) where power cable connects, you can test it with multimeter, black wires are ground. If your sure Power jack cable is fine (you can measure that cable is not shorted) then continue removing components Just remove component and then plugin power cable when your sure nothing is shorted, after testing remove power cable and test next part, repeat. Be careful when removing connectors, there might be small plastic clips which only open/close one way, no force is needed. Also test if you can boot without LCD cable connected. If you find something which causes the issue, for example if LCD screen is the issue and you see fan spinning longer than few seconds then you can try add external HDMI to see if you get a picture.

I will do this as instructed, but here is a short video of what happens if the ram is installed (no battery in the video but happens with or without the battery)

View: https://youtu.be/OCAvJVZErR8

 

[lga1156_ftw]

probably gets fixed by a simple cmos battery reset (remove coin battery for 15min and put back), do that first as i instructed above : https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkP...boot-power-button-flashes-3-times/m-p/2235873

You can just do that and assembly back. Most likely this is the case. If its not , disassembly again and continue with my "guide"