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Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

Older ThinkPads from the 300, 500, 600, 700 Series, iSeries, Transnote etc.
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jack_zhan
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Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#1 Post by jack_zhan » Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:58 am

I picked up a 600E from my IT teacher's office as a "useless junk" for free today.

Fortunately it is complete with every parts except for the ultrabay drive. Coincidentally I have a spare ultrabay FDD, so I installed it, and the 600E looks pretty good now.

Plug in the AC power using my 701C's adapter, switch on, well, at least the LEDs turns on, not a complete junk :wink: The battery indicator keeps blinking orange, which indicates a low or dead battery. Then the beeps come. Two ?long? beeps followed by one short sharp beep(quotation marks because I am not sure if they are long beeps; they are just longer than the later beep). The HMM says nothing about this. Help!

PS: The former owner/seller put a "T61P" sticker on the lower left corner of the LCD assembly as well as a core 2 duo inside and a ATI Radeon graphics sticker on the palm rest. Was he trying to "convert" a 600E to a T61p? Ridiculous.

Edit: I noticed the backup battery is missing. Is there any compatible backup battery from other models, e.g. old T series?
The screen is blank during beeps. Is it possible that the screen is defective?
IBM Thinkpads: SL400 2743-P9C, 701C 2630-7TU(awaiting resurrection), G50 0639-53J, 600E 2645-4AU(Wireless Internet!!!), 555BJ 2437J(awaiting repair), 760ED 9546-U9A
>>Wanted: MultiPort II 10H4021 or External FDD 10H4068

pkiff
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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#2 Post by pkiff » Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:29 am

Well, I'm not sure about all those beeps, but I would bet that you simply can't boot the device without a backup/CMOS battery installed. If you install a dead one, then you should at least get some error codes.

Also, I'm surprised that you are able to plug the adapter from your 701C to power the 600E. Those are not (should not be?) compatible plugs and I would have thought that they deliver different amps. I'm not sure what is going on there, but I wouldn't plug a 701 series adapter into a 600E. Or maybe you mean 770, and not 701C?

But getting a working backup/CMOS battery in there would be the first step to anything. You can get them for cheap off eBay. They are simply regular coin-size watch batteries wrapped in plastic with a couple leads attached, but it is dangerous to solder them yourself, and using tape to connect the leads can be unreliable. Your best bet for troubleshooting is probably to get one online somewhere.

If you want to try double-checking the screen, you could try plugging it into an external monitor during the boot sequence. Normally, you should see the boot sequence (Thinkpad logo, memory check, etc) on the external screen as well, though as I say, I wouldn't be surprised if you can't even get that far without a CMOS battery plugged in.

Phil.
X1E Gen 4 · X1T 3rd Gen · W520 · Legacy: P52, T60p, X61T, 600X, 770Z
Nostalgic for: 600X PIII 850MHz in a SelectaDock III with 64MB Voodoo 5 5500 and Sound Blaster Audigy 5.1.

jack_zhan
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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#3 Post by jack_zhan » Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:49 am

It is a 701C AC adapter. AFAIK, the amps rating shown on adapters are the max current they can withstand without melting. This may explain why it works.

Waiting for a fresh CMOS battery and a fresh main battery now. (The current main battery has a cracked case but luckily it doesn't leak)
IBM Thinkpads: SL400 2743-P9C, 701C 2630-7TU(awaiting resurrection), G50 0639-53J, 600E 2645-4AU(Wireless Internet!!!), 555BJ 2437J(awaiting repair), 760ED 9546-U9A
>>Wanted: MultiPort II 10H4021 or External FDD 10H4068

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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#4 Post by pkiff » Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:00 am

I was just checking elsewhere, and it looks like the 701 series uses a similar "16 volt" connector as what is used in many later Thinkpads, including the 600 series.

However, the original 701 series adapters I think are 2.2 amp, 35 watt adapters, like this one:
http://www.cheap-chargers.com/ac-adapte ... h6903.html
or this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Thinkpad-70 ... 19d78e6aca

The 600 series should have a 3.36 amp adapter (or higher), I think. As I say, if you've got an original 701 series adapter that is rated at 2.2 amps, then would recommend against plugging it into a 600 series machine. That might explain any problems you are having booting.

You should be able to boot it up without a main battery installed. You probably need a CMOS battery installed, though you should be able to use a dead one (though you will get errors).

Phil.
X1E Gen 4 · X1T 3rd Gen · W520 · Legacy: P52, T60p, X61T, 600X, 770Z
Nostalgic for: 600X PIII 850MHz in a SelectaDock III with 64MB Voodoo 5 5500 and Sound Blaster Audigy 5.1.

jack_zhan
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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#5 Post by jack_zhan » Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:10 am

I just checked its FRU number...it's 02K6815, an 16V/3.5A adapter likely for the X series. With 3.5A rating it should be okay.

Tried to boot on AC only but still showed the previous symptom. Now wait for the CMOS battery to come and see if it works.

-----------------------------
UPDATE:
I tried to connect the 600E to an external display, and expectedly the external monitor displayed something. From the monitor I figured out that the beeps are produced by the POST. The POST got two errors, 161 and 163, then finished and beeped twice. Then the ERROR screen appeared, with the sharp short beep. It seems the LCD, which remained blank all the time, is truly dead. :( Now go shopping for a replacement LCD. Are LCDs from 600 or 600X compatible?

Since the CMOS battery has not been installed yet, errors 161 and 163 are what I had expected. I am glad to see that no other codes are displayed, which means this 600E has no critical problem with anything other than the LCD. :D
IBM Thinkpads: SL400 2743-P9C, 701C 2630-7TU(awaiting resurrection), G50 0639-53J, 600E 2645-4AU(Wireless Internet!!!), 555BJ 2437J(awaiting repair), 760ED 9546-U9A
>>Wanted: MultiPort II 10H4021 or External FDD 10H4068

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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#6 Post by rkawakami » Thu Apr 18, 2013 1:42 am

A dark screen can be caused by a few things:

- a bad backlight (CCFL); it's the lamp inside the LCD panel that provides light to the display
- a bad inverter board; it's a small circuit board located below the LCD that converts a low DC voltage to a high AC voltage that powers the CCFL
- a blown fuse on the motherboard; the low DC voltage going to the inverter board is usually protected by such a fuse
- a bad lid switch; there's a small lever switch on the Sub Card that controls the backlight and hibernation/sleep modes: http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_600x/sub_card/
- a bad LCD ribbon cable
- the system has been set to only output video to the VGA port; press the Fn+F7 key combination to toggle between LCD and VGA port
Ray Kawakami
X22 X24 X31 X41 X41T X60 X60s X61 X61s X200 X200s X300 X301 Z60m Z61t Z61p 560 560Z 600 600E 600X T21 T22 T23 T41 T60p T410 T420 T520 W500 W520 R50 A21p A22p A31 A31p
NOTE: All links to PC-Doctor software hosted by me are dead. Files removed 8/28/12 by manufacturer's demand.

jack_zhan
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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#7 Post by jack_zhan » Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:01 am

I just saw the screen do something during boot. It flashed one time, with little and nearly unable to see lightness, and then displayed a horizontal line. The line is only slightly darker than the area surrounding it, and is hard to see. The line don't match anything displayed on the external monitor. Any ideas about what is going on here?

P.S. Fn+F7 tried with no luck. Since the line is not the correct thing to be displayed, it seems the problem is not on the backlight.
IBM Thinkpads: SL400 2743-P9C, 701C 2630-7TU(awaiting resurrection), G50 0639-53J, 600E 2645-4AU(Wireless Internet!!!), 555BJ 2437J(awaiting repair), 760ED 9546-U9A
>>Wanted: MultiPort II 10H4021 or External FDD 10H4068

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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#8 Post by Neil » Thu Apr 18, 2013 1:57 pm

Most likely is a burned out CCFL, as those 600e machines are pretty old. And to answer your other question, yes the 600x lid (and LCD) are exactly the same.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

jack_zhan
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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#9 Post by jack_zhan » Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:02 am

That's good news. I asked this question because I found a complete LCD assembly for sale at a decent price here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/310653603568

Now I can place an order confidently :D
------------------------------------------------------
Well here comes the interesting thing....

While I am waiting for the replacement LCD assembly and the fresh backup battery, I suddenly find that the problem is just as simple as a jammed lid switch...just a slight touch with a screw driver and the switch(and the screen) is fixed :eek: What the ****.... :?

Well at least I get a cosmetically better lid....will change the lid and then resell the good screen to cover the cost of the poor poor speaker cable accidentally damaged during disassembly :roll:

BTW, you are right pkiff...without the backup battery the 600E just hangs at the Thinkpad logo screen refusing to boot any further.
IBM Thinkpads: SL400 2743-P9C, 701C 2630-7TU(awaiting resurrection), G50 0639-53J, 600E 2645-4AU(Wireless Internet!!!), 555BJ 2437J(awaiting repair), 760ED 9546-U9A
>>Wanted: MultiPort II 10H4021 or External FDD 10H4068

jack_zhan
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Location: Champaign,IL
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Re: Got 600E...strange beep symptom...need help

#10 Post by jack_zhan » Tue May 21, 2013 1:25 am

Hey guys! I have just got the 600E a fresh CMOS battery. Both good news and bad news. Good news is, the CMOS battery works as it should, errors 161 and 163 no longer appear. Bad news is, the 600E still hangs at the "IBM Thinkpad" logo screen. Now this seems to be the new problem. I have tried different hard disks and floppys, as well as their combinations, even with neither installed, but each time I power it on its symptom remains the same. Boot to the logo screen and stop. And I cannot enter setup/diagnostics because any keystroke at the logo screen produces nothing. Help!

Jack Zhan
IBM Thinkpads: SL400 2743-P9C, 701C 2630-7TU(awaiting resurrection), G50 0639-53J, 600E 2645-4AU(Wireless Internet!!!), 555BJ 2437J(awaiting repair), 760ED 9546-U9A
>>Wanted: MultiPort II 10H4021 or External FDD 10H4068

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