this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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[T400] Not booting, lights flickering (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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We had some heavy rain yesterday and my bag (containing my T400) got soaked. I tried to turn it on just now, and it appeared to boot at first.

I entered my geli(8) password and FreeBSD began to load, then the screen and status LEDs began to flicker rapidly. I tried holding the power button, but for the first time it didn't do anything, so I removed the battery.

When I turned it back on again, it didn't even show the ThinkPad boot screen; it just sat there flickering.

I have opened the case up and looked inside. I hve checked the RAM, the CPU, the SSD: even the DVD drive; and everything seems fine, yet the problem still persists.

Does anyone have any idea what's wrong and how I can fix it? Or is my laptop now borked? Thanks!

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[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like some serious hardware damage, man... Maybe it's time...

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yeah, I've talked it over with a friend and (of all people) the school librarian. Here's my plan:

  1. Wait a week and see if the T400 (hostname Amethyst) fixes itself, which is how I managed to resurrect my Acer (hostname LapisLazuli) last year.
  2. Transplant the RAM and SSD into LapisLazuli, which should be compatible and will receive a massive performance boost from it.
  3. Once I have enough saved up, buy an old ThinkPad to replace it. This will become Amethyst-II, and could be obtained second-hand from my institution.