Laptop won't power up under power

[Tannin]

No biggie this one, but it bugs me a little.

My IBM Thinkpad refused to switch itself on if it's plugged into the power. If I disconnect the AC power adaptor, it powers up no worries off the battery, and you can re-plug the power right away. But with power supplied, it flashes a few lights, the CPU fan kicks into life, and then it does absolutely nothing. Doesn't matter if I have it plugged into either of the docking stations or direct to my 12VDC/240VAC brick.

Seems like hardware to me, but it's weird. Any ideas?

 

[Mercutio]

That's weird enough to be a warranty issue IMO.

 

[Tannin]

Yeah ... I was afraid of that. It's out of warranty. Guess I'll just live with it and hope it doesn't get worse.

Damn it, if Lenovo would get of its collective arse and make a new laptop that I actually thought was signficantly improved on this one, I'd buy one.

 

[Bozo]

Posibly a BIOS upgrade or refresh would fix it.

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[Tannin]

Nope. I had thought that too - flash the BIOS would either kill it dead or fix it, but I upgraded the BIOS a couple of days ago and it's still the same. Lucky I didn't kill it.

 

[mangyDOG]

Two questions Tanin:

1) have you tried starting the laptop with a different AC adaptor plugged in?

2) have you tried starting the laptop on AC but with the battery completely removed?

I have had an old IBM in the shop which wouldn't start at all, but once I removed the battery it worked fine.

Cheers,
mangyDOG

 

[Tannin]

1) have you tried starting the laptop with a different AC adaptor plugged in? Yes, three different ones, both plugged in diectly and via docking station. Never powers up except on battery.

2) have you tried starting the laptop on AC but with the battery completely removed? No. Thankyou. I'll try that and report back.

Oh, and I think I've met this same problem with both batteries, but I may only have tried it with the original battery. I'll double check with the new high-cap battery as well.