Member Avatar for richard06877

I have an IBM T22 that I've had for a few years; lately it has been acting up. I'm running Win2K 512 Mb Ram. When I put the machine on either Standby or Hibernate, I'll have a tough time waking the thing up again. When I push the "Fn" button (if on Standby) the half moon "Sleep" indicator will go out, and it will behave as if it was turned completely off. Before it had a problem, the "Fn" key would wake it up fine. When I put it into Hibernate, then attempt a wakeup, it will just flash the HDD light and the AC power indicator alternately. Weird. The only way to get it to function (sometimes) is to unplug the battery, wait (sometimes a day or more) then put the battery back in and try it. It has been less and less willing to start up, so the question is: is it the motherboard, or what? If so, how expensive and difficult is it to replace one on this machine? Where could I find one cheap? Many thanks for any suggestions. I'd just like to get this up reliably and give it to my 8 year old for his "destruction" :-)

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Quick expert note for : the behavior you describe most often comes from either the laptop's power-delivery/charging circuitry or the ThinkPad's embedded power controller (EC). Software/BIOS/ACPI bugs can also cause bad suspend/resume, but there are a few cheap, quick checks to try before deciding a motherboard swap (as and already hinted).

Try these in order:

  • Remove AC and battery, then press and hold the power button for 30-60 seconds (discharge/EC reset). Reconnect AC only and try to power on.
  • Swap in a known-good, compatible AC adapter or check the adapter output with a meter; inspect and wiggle the DC jack for intermittent contact.
  • Replace the small coin-cell RTC/CMOS battery if it’s old—cheap and can fix odd BIOS/power-state behavior.
  • Check BIOS version and install the manufacturer power-management/ACPI drivers for Win2K; update the BIOS only if necessary and only with reliable power and a backup (flashing carries risk).
  • Do a minimal hardware test: remove PC cards/peripherals, reseat RAM (try one stick), remove the HDD and try to reach BIOS. This narrows whether the fault appears before Windows loads.
  • Open the base and look for bulging or leaking electrolytic capacitors or burn marks near the DC-in/charging area—cap failures on older laptops cause exactly these intermittent power faults.

If none of the above helps, the fault is likely on the mainboard (charging circuitry or EC). At that point a donor T22 board or a broken-screen T22 is the usual source, but weigh parts+labor against buying a newer used laptop. Back up or remove the hard disk before any major work, and consider a local electronics repair shop if you’re not comfortable with board-level troubleshooting.

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Member Avatar for Xlphos

I don't think getting a new motherboard would be worth it; even if you could find one.

Does the laptop work without the battery?
How full is your HDD?

For now it may be worthwhile turning hibernation off.

Member Avatar for richard06877

Thanks for the reply. The machine won't start without the battery (with A/C adapter plugged in). It's a 20 gig drive, with 7 gigs free. Even if I turn hibernation off, and put it into Standby, when I try to wake it up, it shuts all the lights off and acts as though it has been "Shut Down".
I'm at a loss. Any other thoughts are welcome!

Member Avatar for jbennet

The machine won't start without the battery

Thats wierd, it should do. Ive got an old r30 (Win2k, 384mb ram, 25gb hdd) and its battery is no longer holding charge so i just dont bother having it attached. It starts fine without it.

Indeed, im surprised your battery still works if its the one it shipped with.

I would say it *may* need a new BIOS battery by the way - i dont know if this would cause the problems you are experiencing, but its an avenue to explore.

Secondly, what BIOS version do you have. Thinkpad BIOSes tend to be buggy, mine would hibernate at all (or scale the CPU speed) when I upgraded to XP, until i flashed the BIOS to a newer version.

R.E: motherboard. Not worth it. It will cost more than a new,better laptop unless you get lucky and manage to find an identical model one on ebay (try and look for a t22 with a broken screen or something, which you could try and can steal a motherboard from)

Edited by jbennet because: n/a
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