Thinkpad T61 repair help needed

aarrgghh... my daughter's T61 - i had just spent mucho time 6 months ago tweaking vista to the nth degree and upgrading ram. running perfectly.
had a storm at her place. after that no worky... no power, no batt, no led. :cry I tried the static-discharge incantation but nothing happening :-o

good dvd, good disk [small] good ram, good screen, good p/s, good batt.... what to do?

if any of you have done this, what's the best course? if I pull all the parts, can someone counsel me on what other T'pads these would fit in? i know the ram is common to many but the dvd? battery?

 

Do you want help diagnosing the problem? What's the discharge incantation? If you do want help can you post the steps you've tried so far and how you've ruled out various components.

There is a better way,if you have ruled out everything and the only thing left is the motherboard then buy a replacement motherboard/system board,it's a pretty big job but you'll have a working laptop at the fraction of the price of a working used thinkpad of the same spec, depending how hard you shop for one of course.

I can't vouch for this E-tailer its the first I found,hence the price.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/105...1-motherboard-14-1-with-video-G86-740-A2.html

 

hi and thank you for your help.
yes, I'd love the help - I probably assume too much.
apparently the unit was plugged in via a/c adapter during a storm, but not a particularly frightful one, just enough to knock down internet provider - they had to come out and do a bit of work. the t61 and the a/c adapter display no smells, no sign of a spike.
the 'incantation' [] is a method of thorough discharge of static buildup in the components, which this model IS subsceptible to - multiple power button presses with the ac and batt out/gone, and it has worked for many people who thought they had bad mb's.

watching all sorts of pc gear on ebay, I'm not seeing hope that fixing it is the right approach. we're not thinkpad cultists, just wanting to do the right thing. what's your suggestion?

 

What your describing sounds like a reset procedure,its definitely not static.

I'll start at the beginning,plug the ac adapter into the wall make sure the socket is turned on,connect the adapter to the laptop,does the AC connected light on the laptop light up?

If not this is where you need to start,get a multimeter and test the voltage from the adapter "The plug that connects to the computer",this is where to start as its the closest component to the ac the suspect cause of the fault.

If it lights up or you have a voltage reading remove the battery and connect JUST the AC adapter and try to boot the computer.

Try these basic steps and see how we go.

 

nada. no lights, no sounds, no smells. my daily driver thinkpad uses the exact same spec a/c adapter - tried with that one also with same resounding result. nothing at all. no led, no click, no smell, no nothing. tried with battery out and in. tried holding power button while applying power. no dice. :cry

 

For testing remove hard drive and all add in cards,

does the laptop even have an AC light when the power is connected?

There are only a few steps you can try with laptops getting the multimeter and soldering iron out,change out the memory for know working memory,try one stick then another. The next is a cmos reset,you have to find a small coin shaped battery and remove it for 20 secs with the power disconnected then replace and try to boot,if its not located under the memory slot you will most likely have to disassemble the laptop to find it.

Since there is no sign of power getting to the laptop I would disassemble until the power connector is visible then test for power coming through the socket with a multimeter,with any luck its the socket that bad which is an easy fix but that's up to you.

I'm wondering does the other thinkpad you have use the same battery? If so you could try removing the battery and charging it in the working laptop then replacing in the dead laptop.