FuzzButt Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Hello, I got a new T60 1951-29u about 2 weeks ago and have had some odd lockup behavior since I started using it. I have had many different Thinkpads over the last 10 years. This T60 is my most recent one. Before that I had a T40, T21 and 360x (I think). Anyway the T21 I had the longest and was a great road warrior. It took anything I could dish out. It even fell off a chair while it was running and kept on going. I am a mobile user. I have VZ BB Access and use the T60 in my car for work every day. Yes it is while I am parked. The issue I am having is the T60 does not like to be moved much when it is running. It can handle sitting on the seat while the car is in motion. Even railroad tracks and the pot holes/bad roads of Michigan don't stop it. However if I unplug the DC adapter and pick it up the T60 will stop responding to anything but the power button. Basically if the T60 is rotated out of the horizontal and into a vertical carring position it will stop and not wake up. It is not like sleep or hibernation. Those work fine. What have I done so far. Well I have tried all 3 settings for the Thinkvantage Active Protection System. I have even tried killing the process in XP. Still all the same results. I checked BIOS and there does not seem to be anything in there to turn off the system either. I updated it thru the Thinkvantage Productivity Center. The APS seems to work. The gyro works in the real-time tab. The hard drive stops upon serious shocks and recovers. Any ideas on why I can't shut the cover and switch to a carry position without needing to hard boot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 I'm also thinking some kind of loose connection causing the strange behavior. I've never owned a TP, but I've heard that they are solid...but I think that most notebooks are going down in quality in order to be a lower price, even TP's.If you were complaining about a desktop, my first thought would be a power supply...Just a thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted December 14, 2006 Author Share Posted December 14, 2006 Ya it does not seem to be a setting and really only occurs 90% of the time with the lid shut and switched from regular use in the horizontal to the vertical carry position. For instance when I close the lid and take it back in the house after work or if I bring it in to a site instead of leaving it on my front seat in the not so good areas of Detroit.I updated the Active Protection software so tomorrow will tell if that helps. One of the mods on another board just for TP users mentioned to return it but that is a last case option. By the way the power options are as follows:Close lid = do nothing (I might try stand by but did not want to since I loose my WAN connection when that happens)Power Button = Shut DownSleep = HibernationMinimal Power management scheme: On battery 5 min/15min This is not a case of the battery being dead. I have the 65w AC adapter at home and the 90w AC/DC adapter in the car (worth the $90 option price for mobile users by the way)Just as a test as I write this I lifted the front edge 2 inches and dropped it on my desk. The real-time gyro sensed the motion but did not stop the hard disk. I moved it up and down out between horizontal and vertical with the lid open and the APS pauses the hard drive operation as it passes 45 degrees then restarts at the 90 degree point. Then I shut the lid and tried it again and it locks up with a blank screen after movement.I scratching my head with this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 Hello,As Temmu noted, it is possible a component inside the case is poorly-connected to another one inside the chassis of your ThinkPad T60: When the unit is rotated on an axis, the connection between the components is momentarily broken as they shift position, leading to the fault you experienced.Try removing all user-serviceable parts from the T60 such as the primary and CMOS/RTC batteries, memory, mini-PCI cards, hard disk drive, optical disc drive (or whatever is in the UltraBay), PC Cards in the CardBus and ExpressCard slots and so forth. Don't forget to disconnect the antennas from the WLAN and WWAN adapters. If you are comfortable doing so, you can download the Hardware Maintenance Manual for your ThinkPad and disassemble it further (remove keyboard, disconnect LCD from system board, and so forth). When you are finished, reseat all the components and see if the problem has been resolved.If the problem still continues, then it is likely there is a poor connection between some of the boards inside the case, or perhaps between the CPU and its socket and will need to be resolved through an RMA to EasyServ.RegardsAryeh Goretsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted December 14, 2006 Author Share Posted December 14, 2006 Oddly it only does it with the lid closed.I may dig into it further but doubt I'll tear into it since it is a corporate laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 Do they have a lemon return plan at your corporation ... cuz I think you have a lemon. Very unusual for IBM PCs, but IBM doesn't own it anymore. ;)Since you really can't go into it to confirm the loose part (because it's a corporate computer), I would strongly suggest you use a pen/thumb/external USB drive to back up your data and remove it from the laptop (secure erase if you are so inclined), and return it to the IT department for a replacement. That laptop is more trouble than it's worth since closing the lid is very important to keeping the screen from getting damageed while carrying it and other things. There is no reason it should be doing that. Or maybe they will let you borrow another one temporarily so you can see if it also does it. If it does, maybe it's time to ask the IT department for another model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rons Posted December 14, 2006 Share Posted December 14, 2006 ah, a corporate laptop, then as lilbambi suggests! take it back to the it department and swap it out... or let 'em fix it or have it fixed!That would seem to be the best course of action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted December 15, 2006 Author Share Posted December 15, 2006 Ya except the repair department is in New England area and I'm in Michigan. I've shipped a laptop back to them 5 times since Labor Day. UPS Overnight at $45 each way. I'll think about it but being without for another week is a serious drag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 The company doesn't reimburse you for that?! Eeek! I hear ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 I don't know if this would work for the T60, but it does for the Averatec 2100 and maybe other notebooks as well.http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2991(near the bottom of the review) have only very limited experience here. When I first received the notebook, I played around with the Windows Power Options in an attempt to maximize battery life. Running on battery alone, the notebook would constantly lock up if the option "Minimal Power Management" was selected. Worried about a defective unit, I sent an e-mail to tech support and within a few hours I received a reply from a technician. He gave a couple of suggestions but also provided information for RMA in case I had to send the notebook back for repair. Fortunately changing the power option back to "Portable/Laptop" seemed to have solved the problem. Overall I am pretty satisfied with the prompt response from customer service, but again my experience is very limited.Maybe a Windows issue on that laptop in the configuration he has. Maybe something to test out in your configuration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 update to previous issue.The Thursday before Christmas the t60 would not boot. No BIOS screen or anything. I ended up getting a new T60 again. So far this one is good. IT does have an odd issue starting the display after the lid is closed for a bit. I don't really care about that. So in the past few weeks I have used it as a road warrior and it works well. My VZ Broadband access works most of the time outside but forget about a steady connection indoors. The WiFi works well. Battery life is stellar. Easily more than 3 hours using the Wifi or VZ access card. The lack of a real parallel port makes plugging into different printers a real pain. If I have to print on the road I get to guess which usb virtual port the attached printer is on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Hello,You may wish to visit Lenovo's (IBM's) support web site and see if there are any updates available for your ThinkPad T60. If it possible the issue witht he display may be solved by an update for the BIOS, power management, video chipset or other device driver software.Have you considered installing a parallel port PC Card such as this one from Quatech? RegardsAryeh Goretsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted January 12, 2007 Author Share Posted January 12, 2007 On the parallel port front that card is $129. Also since this T60 only has one type 3 PC card slot and it is occupied by my Verizon Broadband access PC card/modem I am without a place for it. I have a Belkin usb-serial DB9 connector and if this becomes an issue I might get the parallel version.I'm going to try the updates. Since I can't get it online without the VPN active I am a little concerned about updating something as major as BIOS across a VPN and a proxy server. The risk for bit loss worries me. The Nortel VPN software is a bit buggy here on the 54g wireless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Hello,I think the parallel port card uses a Type II form-factor, judging from the photo. Can you get a version of your Verizon WWAN card that fits in the ExpressCard slot? If so, you would then be able to use both cards simultaneously (assuming there is no problem with the dongles blocking each other).RegardsAryeh Goretsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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