Question Lenovo Thinkpad T480s Dead Thunderbolt Port

[bloodregis]

I bought a T480s laptop about 3 weeks ago. Everything was working fine when I got it. First thing I did was try and update thunderbolt firmware on Windows. The port was appearing on Device Manager after downloading the thunderbolt controller software, but nothing showed up on the controller software itself. Not sure if this the normal behavior without having a thunderbolt device connected or not, and I had no way of testing it since I do not own a thunderbolt device/dock.

Having no luck with updating it on Windows, I ended up installing Linux Mint on a USB stick and updated from version 14 to 20 successfully. I can't believe how much easier that was. About 3 weeks forward, my USB-C headphones that were connected to the thunderbolt port were not working. I tried plugging in the charger to the port, and it wasn't charging. I shut down the laptop and tried pushing the small hole in the back that disconnects the battery with a toothpick for 1 minute, and also held the power button down for 30 seconds after that. The port was charging again, but it was starting to get picky about which side the charger was connected through. It charged on one side, but not the other. A few days later and it is completely dead. The battery disconnecting method does not work either. The main charging port still works fine however. For reference I'm currently running Arch Linux and I haven't tried another OS since then.


Could this be the an issue with the thunderbolt chipset? Or is it more likely that it is a mechanical issue with the port?
I was thinking maybe I should get a CH341A and try zerofilling the chipset and reflash the firmware before the other port dies too, but I would like to hear your thoughts on it first.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I would start by using the serial number on your laptop in Lenovo's support page, then see if your laptop is pending any BIOS updates. No, I wouldn't go with a CH341A BIOS programmer.

Out of curiosity,
I bought a T480s laptop about 3 weeks ago.
Looking up it's specs;
https://www.lenovo.com/bd/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-t-series/ThinkPad-T480s/p/22TP2TT480S?orgRef=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
You purchased this second hand? If so, then there might've been a latent issue with the device.

 

[bloodregis]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I would start by using the serial number on your laptop in Lenovo's support page, then see if your laptop is pending any BIOS updates. No, I wouldn't go with a CH341A BIOS programmer.

Out of curiosity,
I bought a T480s laptop about 3 weeks ago.
Looking up it's specs;
https://www.lenovo.com/bd/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-t-series/ThinkPad-T480s/p/22TP2TT480S?orgRef=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
You purchased this second hand? If so, then there might've been a latent issue with the device.

Thanks!

Yes I did purchase the laptop second hand. To give you some extra information, these laptops are known to have a firmware related issue that eventually kills the Thunderbolt controller chipset. That's why the first thing I did when I bought the laptop was updating the firmware.

I have updated all of the firmware (including BIOS and Thunderbolt) through fwupd on Linux.

Since the time of making this post, I reinstalled the thunderbolt firmware using fwupd which did get the port to work again. The port only worked with one side of the cable plugged in, and not the other. However, after a few minutes I think I heard a small electrical arc from the port and it stopped charging again. I could get a faint smell of whatever was burning near the port when I held it up close to my nose. The other port (main charging port) was detecting the charger but it had now also stopped charging. Nothing changed after several reboots. I reinstalled the thunderbolt firmware again and rebooted once more. The main charging port is working again but the Thunderbolt one is still dead.

I think this could be related to the 3rd party charger that I'm using. The charger is not a cheap quality one as it is from Anker but I'm suspecting that it is the culprit. I will try to only use the official charger for now.

Any advice on what to do from here would be appreciated.