a possibility of why it worked before you put the heatsink back on was loose corrosion. when you put the heatsink on, loose corrosion could have shorted some pins together. this still may be salvageable simply for the challenge of it. either way it's nice to see you attempt to repair different types of electronics.
this reminds me of when rip felix had that ylod PS3 that kept dying and coming back alive (he was tricked), before he broke the motherboard by trying to rip off a CPU because he didnt want to overheat it
It's microscopic error if that was really the case. Not worth it since you can buy cheaper laptop at the same price of fixing this one. If the data on HDD still intact, simply put it into the new one and you're good to go
2:28 a lot of screws are better than a lot of glue 😉 Lenovo provides a "Hardware Maintanance Manual" for every ThinkPad Modell, it is a full manual with pictures how to completely dissasemble the device. It is also helpful to assemble it again, since they tell you where which kind of screw must be used if you are doing it for the first time, it takes a bit longer, but if you are used to these models, you can swap a motherboard in 30 minutes 😉
That is surprisingly not very repair friendly for a thinkpad. I've taken the motherboard out of an EliteBook 8440p, a Lifebook T731, some Acer Aspires and a Dell Latitude D630 and none of them were as involved as this. Usually it's just the display assembly, the keyboard, the top case, the bottom case, and the motherboard housed between the top and bottom cases.
This video hit personal for me as I work for a company that provides technology for disabled students and we use laptops similar to this one, albeit slightly newer (T440s from around 2014 I believe.) The ones that are in decent condition still work and run fine and are pleasant to use most of the time. Great video as always.
@oliver_lauritsen_oa luckily we have a drawer full of broken ones (without screens, keyboards etc) and it's fairly easy to take a fan from one of those and swap it out!
I own my own IT Security business and i donate these older thinkpad laptops(after i refurbish them) to good charities that need a reliable laptop for whatever their mission statement. Nice to see others doing the same thing.
The T400 was impossible to kill so this one must have really been put through the mill. Surprisingly these laptops still make sense today with Linux installed. And you can still get a T400 bios with the whitelist removed allowing you to swap out the WiFi card for a more modern one. Used to have two of these, a mate is still using one with believe it or not Windows 10! The other one dedicated it's screen to said mate when he managed to break the screen on the one I gave him. He also managed to destroy the motherboard by plugging a USB drive in upside down while pissed. Bought a motherboard off Ebay and it was up and running again within an hour. Agree with you about the screws though. Only way to take these apart was to use sheets of card with the outline of the laptop drawn on them and punch each screw through the card in the appropriate place.
I still have two previous generation laptops (T61 and T61p) running the Middleton bios (as you mentioned) and Linux. They still work and are useful at times.
The USB issue was very common for the T40x/T50x series, the plastic in the ports is rather brittle and shorting the USB will hinder the BIOS from booting up. By bending back the remaining contacts, you can make the laptop boot again (however don't use that port again)
Me three! Except I misspelled my own name as Jeffery, until my teacher publicly embarrassed me in front of the class 😐 Not as bad as getting Geoffrey though 😂
Thanks Hugh, it's great to see repairs that don't go to plan as well as the successful ones! The trouble with many repair channels is that they only show heavily edited repair videos where everything magically goes right and artificially perfect! Thanks for staying real! 😊👍
There is a small caveat tho, which is trying to power on a potentially liquid damaged device is a BAD idea. Mainly because there might be a nasty short caused by the corrosion, which upon powering up sends the 19v directly into the cpu or another important component, killing it instantly. Its crucial to disassemble the device and check for shorts and fix them up (yea, board repair), PRIOR to powering it up.
I have to say it's really a shame to see that thinkpad in such poor condition. For the record, The laptop I'm still using to this day is a ThinkPad R60. It has been upgraded with a Core 2 Duo T9300, 6GB RAM, a 500GB SSD, newer WiFi card and Windows 11. And it still runs reasonably well (at least for basic use). I absolutely love old ThinkPads. RIP T400
Lenovo ≠ IBM IBM Thinkpads were absolutely legendary. They even had an ad campaign for a while where people told stories of how they'd survived floods and fires.
Curious how people touting how great the IBM-made Thinkpads were seem to always sweep the whole T4x series that ALL died from flexing under the rug. Or the 770 with the dying IDE controllers. Or the 600 series that pretty much had battery charging logic issues from day 1. Or the T2x pentium 3s with randomly dying motherboards that would stop POSTing out of the blue. But yeah... _sooo great and perfect_ /s
Well maybe it could have survived a flood if it would have been disassembled and cleaned up right after it got wet. This laptop probably sat like this for more than 5 years. The corrosion was way too bad and it ruined the motherboard
I've fixed dozens of these, often for liquid damage, and it's really not that bad to keep track of the case screws. You can use a screw mat until you get used to it, but after a while it's pretty obvious which screw length made the most sense to use where, and lenovo were consistent throughout generations, so the T410 and 20 weren't too far off. Having the most commonly broken items very easy to replace was considerably better than other manufacturers. A screw removal tool is crucial for corroded fasteners. Great video, I think with the screen damage it's not repairable, and there's very little value in the parts. The most damaged laptop I saw in my time was one which had been dropped in a bucket of paint. Every single item in it was damaged, with the exception of one flatflex cable. It was replaced under warranty.
Right idea with drilling out the head of that screw! What you have to do, is then step up to the next size drillbit so that you can actually get into the shaft/threaded portion of the screw to weaken its hold onto the case. Going up to the next size drill, bit drilling into the screw and then tugging to see if it loosens if it pops off great if not, go up to the next size drill bit and repeat. Did this before with a Sony VAIO that had a rounded off screw.
From an era where proper service manuals existed. Still using and supporting the very similar T201 laptops around the family over a decade later. Compered to Dells from20 years ago they are a dream to work on.
From what I understand Thinkpads can be super durable devices. At the end of the day they(Thinkpads) are susceptible to simple and quirky faults like any other laptop or phone. What I am trying to say is that this device may decide to work if you don't attach the cracked screen or replace it. If you really wanted to you could possible scavenge a new vga port from an old/dead part and use an external display. Let me know if you do this and it decides to work!
The reason it has so much screws is because of magnesium roll cage, which helps in providing rigidity and act as a passage for keybaord drainage holes.
I can't say I enjoyed this one since I have a T400 and it's a nice computer, which makes this video the stuff of nightmares. BTW, Lenovo gives you a hardware service manual for each model that has diagrams and charts clearly showing the diameter and length of every single screw.
2:25 Fun fact: Some Thinkpads (like T42) had a label showing screw lenghts and their numbers. Every screw hole at the bottom of the laptop also had na number so you know where the screws should go. Unfortunately T400 doesn't seem to have this feature.
That's what people lement about these old Thinkpads. If you want to spend the money, you CAN fix it. It can be revived with enough time and money. Modern laptops you can't do that no matter how much you spend because they werent designed to be upgraded. They are mostly hermetically sealed and you break everything trying to repair them. I have a pristine T400 in my Thinkpad collection and it's one of my favorite vintage laptops. I'm going to polish it again right after this comment. 🥰🥰🥰
Great effort! Times when IBM had quality keyboards and the whole units were so well built that I would have had the same curiosity to go this deep. To this day I wish IBM would have kept their laptop range.
This laptop's design is closer to IBM than lenovo. Lenovo could never make a so well built laptop. And even if it is old, newer ones have a lot to learn from this one. Great video as always!! Keep up the good work!
Jeeeezuz, did they keep it on the deck of a boat or drop it in a chlorinated pool ?? I'm a Repair Tech too and I've never seen anything like this 😲 At least you can salvage the webcam from it for home security 👍
Always love your videos. Even a failure provides a lot of good information. Good video work, good commentary, good subjects. A very professional individual.
I still have a IBM Lenovo t61p made in 2008 with Centerino chip (Aka Caleron with Wifi). The Fan corrsion is not probably due to liquid damage but more due to dampness where the unit might have been stored(probably a damp shed) and these beautiful machines had magnesium cage alloy for the mother board that could corrode as magnesium oxidizes into a white powder. These machines were truly upgradable because Thinpad used to come with manuals instructing how to take them apart and you could buy the individual assemblies from thinkpad, batteries, wifi card, keyboards, display cables, assembly, power jack you name it and you could buy it. These machines were so realiable that the ISS space station had these machines. Given the current scenario Lenovos have become trend followers following aple, you cant even but batteries for new machines 2-3 years down the line.
Just got a broken laptop soaked in floodwater and mud. They both have dead HDD and LCD but only one survived because the power brick was swept away while the other had it intact and the owner tried to turn it on after being cleaned on the exterior and thinks it is completely dried.
Oh I found the screw that represents me I'm glad Lenovo was inclusive in their screws picking all shapes sizes and attitudes "I'm not leaving you're gonna have to break me" Really forward thinking of them
When a laptop met a large cappuccino. I recall those laptops with Windows Vista, how many of them I had to downgrade to XP in order to make them functional. Vista was the beginning of the end; nowadays a laptop with windows make no sense. Thank you Mr. Jeffreys! Greetings, Anthony
Did you check the USB ports on the side for bent pins creating a short? I've had this problem before on a ThinkPad T61 where the board showed power but the power button did nothing. Great video!
The old reliable IBM Thinkpad on this Lenovo flavor. I’ve been around thinkpads for almost 6 years so far at my workplace and I can say they are very well made…the latest gen, well they already start going south with quality. Those early 2008 until 2017 are built to last. I’m still using a t530 (2013) as my daily. Greetings to Hugh for having this awesome channel.😊
My old work used to use the T430 models. If taken care of and not abused they were solid laptops. Though by about 2020 or so they really showed their age even with maxed out RAM and SSDs the poor dual core CPUs really didn't agree with the heavy W10 installs.
I used my t400 for 5 years back in school. These things are absolute bricks save for one weakness: the backlight. I once stuffed the laptop into my bag with too much stuff, and pulled it out to find I had no backlight. No worries- I had a spare bad condition but working t400😂. Ensue a full exterior swap from my pristine one including top lid, screen bezel, palm rest, keyboard. I feel your pain 😅
You were hella impatient on the disassembly and cleaning, which were the most important, but also annoying and infuriating parts! 😆 It's a good laptop that -isn't- wasn't far from being fixed, just not your thing, but that's ok. Thanks for the attempt. 👍
Years ago I bought a used ThinkPad on eBay and at one pointing I also bought a docking station for it. Unfortunately, even though it physically plugged in fine, it turned out to not be compatible with my model, and it wouldn't turn on after that. I found a guy online that repaired them, and he was right in my city. I went to him and, long story short, he just gave me a new (used) motherboard for my model (he had piles of them laying around) and said good luck. Something I found out is that, at the time (early 2000s), IBM had fantastic online support for all their laptops. I didn't need to talk to anyone, but they had complete, exploded-view diagrams of how to take them apart. I worked in IT third shift so I took the whole thing apart one night on a conference room table and installed the new motherboard. And to my amazement it worked! Only thing that was still wrong was the screen wouldn't display correctly. But I figured that was just a software issue. Installed new firmware and it was as good as new! And I had never taken any laptop apart before this..
I have T400 which I still use as a backup laptop. Not bad machine with 8GB of ram, SSD drive and light weight linux distro. My main machine is T420 with 16 GB ram. These old Thinkpads are still well worth keeping in running condition.
Those old Thinkpads were a tank! My dad has this exact model, the speakers are broken, the CPU fan too (now it's running off an external fan), the screen has a horizontal lines running across, and it's still running fine! The hard drive has been interrupted countless times, yet I wonder how it still hasn't corrupted. I was particularly surprised when it still turns on after the fan breaks, because all it took is a press of the escape button to bypass the warning! But my dad isn't willing to fix it, because he said it's better to buy a used laptop with the money the charge him to repair it. I would definitely preserve it once it breaks. Thanks for the video!
The Centrino platform on laptops used Pentium M processors. In general, it hasn't been a particular success. My daily driver is a T430 I bought second-hand refurb a couple of years back, upgraded the ram, replaced the hdd with an ssd, and it works great.
Yeah, the first Centrino's were Pentium M and the last ones seem to have been Haswell based (Intel Core i 4th gen). But I don't remember seeing Centrino stickers on anything newer than Core2
I once found two of the same laptops in an electronics recycling bin and one of them was dead and would make the led on the charger blink and the other one turned on once, then started turning on and off really fast by itself while making a screeching sound and then it died too! I tried different chargers and they all had the same outcome, the led on the charger would just blink and the laptops would be completely dead! Yes I made sure to use the right voltage chargers! Still don't know why that happened but it's something to expect when picking up old laptops from e-waste bins.
You are terrific. This has got to be one of the poorest and sad Thinkpads you’ve ever done. My T430S is mint compared to your poor Thinkpad. Best wishes.❤
You would think this laptop stands out from the rest of their electronics. But little did you know, all of their electronics are like this. This guy lives in a swamp.
I usually give boards like this a good bath in cleaning vinegar, leave to soak for a an hour and scrub with a soft brush, then wash it all off with clean water and dish soap and a good long dry, that way I have brought back to life soundcards, videocards, ram sticks and other water damaged parts
I had a Sony Vaio brought into my shop in 2014 that had sat in a box with water leaking into it for 2 weeks. The board was covered in corrosion. Toothbrush and alcohol brought it back to life. It did need a replacement hard drive and LCD as they were banjaxed from being submerged. The battery was also banjaxed but the customer didn't care. I was shocked that it came back to life with no loss of functionality except for the battery.
*TIP* Steel and in particular hardened steel heats up quite quickly ruining drill bit and or cutting edge, ergo it's near impossible to drill it at fast speeds, to negate this the drill speed needs to be quite slow, and what also helps is a dab of cutting fluid..
The thing with Lenovo Thinkpad is that some are actually Mobile Workstations and, as this one here, are the ones that usually have Docking Station ports or higher end CPUs for that time. Like the P52s, I have one that I been refurbishing, that has a CPU which was not standard for that time, will take up to a 1TB M.2 and no more than a 2TB 2.5" SSD. It also has a hidden sim card reader where the external battery is. I say external battery as this also has an internal battery for mobile charging/UPs type system. The CPU is NOT the same for that time as the one for the workstations have a built in GPU too which is not a standard for laptops. I use laptop and workstation for the very reason that a laptop is the general user and a workstation has limited storage compared but could have higher RAM I believe with extra functionality. Workstations should not be confused with gaming laptops either as they are not capable of that and are designed for 3D rendering/design, Data Science, can be sued for Photo editing (potentially video) and even some forms of programming and web design for instance. They are specific laptops designed to be taken home, worked on while commuting etc. and are business oriented. I advise anyone thinking of buying a Lenovo Thinkpad to check as not all are workstations, the P series certainly are workstations. Do your investigations as if you buy the wrong one and want to do gaming, generally you will be in for a surprise as they just do not do that. Mobile workstations are NOT actually laptops. Laptop the word came about with being able to work on the device on your laptop, mobile workstations are not really design to be used on the laptop which is why some had/have the docking station port on the bottom. Mobile workstation are generally pricey, obviously with refurbished still going for around £500, some more depending on year and CPU. Instead of the square CPU in the P52s, as mentioned it has a built in GPU so the CPU/GPU chip is rectangular, soldered onto the board and will not generally be available to consumers due to their purpose and design. IF you are a someone studying and will be working with 3d rendering, data Science etc. as mentioned then yes, these can/are be/very good work horses, but, for the general public and gamers at large? DO NOT BUY is my advice. There are clear differences between the two.
The T400 is great! I've had one for years, it was very reliable (and my version with the switchable ATI 3470m was actually capable of playing many games including Crysis)
These poor things were tanks. Still remember my t410, served me well through more than hell and still running, just not with me but a kid that needed it for school.
A few issues: The flashing yellow LED means that the battery is no longer functioning. Removing the palm rest also reveals the biometric fingerprint reader. Lenovo had nothing to do with 'designing' this model. Lenovo only manufactured it after acquiring IBM's personal computing division. IBM ThinkPad's have always been well known for using steel hinges. Using a nylon brush probably knocked some components loose. Chances are that the CPU is overheated. There's not much thermal paste on there.
Hey, you got the fan to spin. I think it's a win. I once got a liquid damaged vaccuum cleaner working again. It sounded like a jet engine, and the brushes looked like someone was welding when I turned it on. Some things should stay in the trash.
I've always recommended used Thinkpads to friends who ask what to buy, based on their toughness and repair-ability. This era were some of the best for longevity & repairability (I still use a T410 for sofa browsing) The modern ones are not so tough or fixable. They've succumbed to the lightweight & disposable fad. Such a shame.
Centrinos were everywhere back then, especially in work and school laptops. I'm surprised you hadn't heard of it!. As for this thing, what a beast. Some of the best laptops ever made, IMO. You just couldn't kill them. I mean, unless you dunk them in the acid pools from Half Life or something, like this one, LOL.
The M.SATA slots were for caching solid state drives since back then ssd were kinda small to be used as boot drives so they were small fast caching drives to mitigate slow mechanical drives. Nowadays if you manage to find big enough drive you can use it as boot drive for operating system. My Thinkpad Edge E431 had one M.2 Sata slot for same exact purpose but I put there 128GB m.2 ssd to use as boot drive few years back keeping the mechanical drive as slow storage for media. Shame this one couldn't be rescued. Thinkpads are built like a tanks but even they have their limits.
There's a limit to what we can reuse...which is why things need to still be made to be recycled :) Fun video though! I wonder why it looked like there were two "Wifi" cards?
Oh man, too bad its in really bad condition. This thing is built like a tank. I still use the same Thinkpad T400 from 2008 with intel core 2 duo. My aunt got it from her old office and she gave it to me. back in 2012. It still works until now with 8GB RAM and SSD. Good enough for daily usage like office and casual browsing for my mom
On Ebay those go for 50-100$ depending on their specs. I don't think it is worth repairing that much damage for that little money but as a thinkpad enthusiast I disagree with the statement that it's worth "almost nothing".
My old vape did the same thing, the dides healed themselves, but the timing burnt them up spontaniously, the colors kept flickering until the screen went blank and only the backlight illuminated, not to worry, the new one was discounted to 17 dollars and the old tanks are cleaner than I've ever seen them in seconds. At least one part was well made.
Hello Hugh, I have recently made a TH-cam video on a Dell laptop that seemed to have weather damage causing it not to work ( switched On then Off again. It turns out that all it needed was maintenance and a good clean up , to make it work again. So lesson learnt don't leave your Laptop in a unstable temperature area and have you Laptop check more regular. It could save you (£) pounds. I will continue watching your video , hope it works out. Jeff (The WMS Shedder)
There is a youtube video you should check out of a commodore 64 left out in the mud for a decade. The guy washed it in water. He had nothing to lose. But then afterwards, he soaked the entire motherboard in isopropyl alcohol to displace all the water. The computer powered up without any problem.
Try putting the board in an oven in hopes of a temporary reflow. When you put the cooler on, it probably flexed the board, unbridging some already far gone soldier points that need reflowing in turn causing it to not turn on anymore. Although what I say could be wrong. what I say is just an assumption. I am no professional.
Man I have a 495T Thinkpad. Thinkpad such a iconic line of PC's. Originally the IBM Thinkpad, yes that IBM before IBM sold it's computer line to Moto. Yes that Motorola. Then Lenovo purchased Moto, cellphone and all and made Lenovo a more common name. I'm glad to see the ThinkPad still kicking still and still going quire well the X1 Carbon is incredible and the first folding laptop I believe is a Lenovo Thinkpad variant.
Nah, definitely not enough screws Hugh! 🤣 That was one filthy laptop, both outside and in! Just seeing the state of it would have deterred me from thinking anything else other than it being e-waste, but at least you gave it a shot! Cheers Mate 😎
I found it outside and the back of Mc computers and there’s more laptops and pcs that are like that there I just picked up another one and it works running windows 11 😂😂🎉🎉
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
a possibility of why it worked before you put the heatsink back on was loose corrosion. when you put the heatsink on, loose corrosion could have shorted some pins together. this still may be salvageable simply for the challenge of it. either way it's nice to see you attempt to repair different types of electronics.
this reminds me of when rip felix had that ylod PS3 that kept dying and coming back alive (he was tricked), before he broke the motherboard by trying to rip off a CPU because he didnt want to overheat it
It's microscopic error if that was really the case. Not worth it since you can buy cheaper laptop at the same price of fixing this one. If the data on HDD still intact, simply put it into the new one and you're good to go
I thought that ipa had coated some garbage near some pins making it non conductive. And after it dried out, that garbage was conducting once again
Not all devices are repairable and if the problem is the motherboard it's even more difficult, you still made a good video of it, nice work.
Effort is key 👍
I'm guessing this is repairable, but... there's literally no point in putting in the effort to repair this laptop.
bro is that Salvini on your pfp?
The battery indicator is blinking in orange colour which means the battery has insufficient charge and will refuse to power on just like my t420.
All devices are repairable if you are willing to put more money than the value of device you want to fix.
2:28 a lot of screws are better than a lot of glue 😉
Lenovo provides a "Hardware Maintanance Manual" for every ThinkPad Modell, it is a full manual with pictures how to completely dissasemble the device. It is also helpful to assemble it again, since they tell you where which kind of screw must be used
if you are doing it for the first time, it takes a bit longer, but if you are used to these models, you can swap a motherboard in 30 minutes 😉
That is surprisingly not very repair friendly for a thinkpad. I've taken the motherboard out of an EliteBook 8440p, a Lifebook T731, some Acer Aspires and a Dell Latitude D630 and none of them were as involved as this. Usually it's just the display assembly, the keyboard, the top case, the bottom case, and the motherboard housed between the top and bottom cases.
The tech equivalent of a barn find "will it run?" episode. You don't always win, but I agree with making the effort!
He tried but he failed !!!
This video hit personal for me as I work for a company that provides technology for disabled students and we use laptops similar to this one, albeit slightly newer (T440s from around 2014 I believe.) The ones that are in decent condition still work and run fine and are pleasant to use most of the time. Great video as always.
T440 is a great device but the fan sometimes break out of nowhere but thanks to Lenovo approach to right to repair the parts is easyly available
@oliver_lauritsen_oa luckily we have a drawer full of broken ones (without screens, keyboards etc) and it's fairly easy to take a fan from one of those and swap it out!
@@JeffHundo thank you 🤠
I own my own IT Security business and i donate these older thinkpad laptops(after i refurbish them) to good charities that need a reliable laptop for whatever their mission statement. Nice to see others doing the same thing.
yeah thinkpads made in the last 10-15 years are honestly great.
The T400 was impossible to kill so this one must have really been put through the mill. Surprisingly these laptops still make sense today with Linux installed. And you can still get a T400 bios with the whitelist removed allowing you to swap out the WiFi card for a more modern one. Used to have two of these, a mate is still using one with believe it or not Windows 10! The other one dedicated it's screen to said mate when he managed to break the screen on the one I gave him. He also managed to destroy the motherboard by plugging a USB drive in upside down while pissed. Bought a motherboard off Ebay and it was up and running again within an hour. Agree with you about the screws though. Only way to take these apart was to use sheets of card with the outline of the laptop drawn on them and punch each screw through the card in the appropriate place.
Yeah, they're fine for Linux today, unless you care about noise, energy efficiency, battery life, performance, size or any combination of these.
I still have two previous generation laptops (T61 and T61p) running the Middleton bios (as you mentioned) and Linux. They still work and are useful at times.
lenovo and their whitelists lol
i remember when they blacklisted my RX480 GPU to not run without bios mod
The USB issue was very common for the T40x/T50x series, the plastic in the ports is rather brittle and shorting the USB will hinder the BIOS from booting up. By bending back the remaining contacts, you can make the laptop boot again (however don't use that port again)
Just seeing how they spelled Jeffrey as "Jeffery" really triggers me 😂 since most people spell my name like that (my name is Jeffrey too)
People that do that to a laptop aren't usually clever... LoL
Hello jeff I call my wild cockatoos jeff heaps of them
Me three! Except I misspelled my own name as Jeffery, until my teacher publicly embarrassed me in front of the class 😐
Not as bad as getting Geoffrey though 😂
@@NotDrJeff nah Geoffrey hits different 😂
Should have put the name Hugh Janus.
That would be funny !!!
Thanks Hugh, it's great to see repairs that don't go to plan as well as the successful ones! The trouble with many repair channels is that they only show heavily edited repair videos where everything magically goes right and artificially perfect! Thanks for staying real! 😊👍
@HughJeffreys - ^Scammer?
There is a small caveat tho, which is trying to power on a potentially liquid damaged device is a BAD idea. Mainly because there might be a nasty short caused by the corrosion, which upon powering up sends the 19v directly into the cpu or another important component, killing it instantly. Its crucial to disassemble the device and check for shorts and fix them up (yea, board repair), PRIOR to powering it up.
That’s probably what killed the laptop in the end
Yeah I was kinda shocked he was powering it on but I think he just did not care about actually saving it
No way the previous owner didn’t try powering it on with that much corrosion… so imo it didn’t make the situation any worse
I have to say it's really a shame to see that thinkpad in such poor condition. For the record, The laptop I'm still using to this day is a ThinkPad R60. It has been upgraded with a Core 2 Duo T9300, 6GB RAM, a 500GB SSD, newer WiFi card and Windows 11. And it still runs reasonably well (at least for basic use). I absolutely love old ThinkPads. RIP T400
You are my idiot sir!!😉😉😉😉
I'd still be using my old thinkpads if it weren't for the terrible battery life, now i use an x270
If this was eBay…
Seller: In very good condition. 10/10 😂😂😂
"Powered on when last used"
DK Oldies: Refurbished
Facebook Marketplace: "no lowballs I know what I got. $6000"
Lenovo ≠ IBM
IBM Thinkpads were absolutely legendary. They even had an ad campaign for a while where people told stories of how they'd survived floods and fires.
Electronics aren't indestructible. This laptop has been purposefully submerged by the previous owner.
Curious how people touting how great the IBM-made Thinkpads were seem to always sweep the whole T4x series that ALL died from flexing under the rug. Or the 770 with the dying IDE controllers. Or the 600 series that pretty much had battery charging logic issues from day 1. Or the T2x pentium 3s with randomly dying motherboards that would stop POSTing out of the blue. But yeah... _sooo great and perfect_ /s
In my opinion the best ThinkPad was the T60 made by Lenovo
Transition models (Before T430) were also pretty good
Well maybe it could have survived a flood if it would have been disassembled and cleaned up right after it got wet. This laptop probably sat like this for more than 5 years. The corrosion was way too bad and it ruined the motherboard
I've fixed dozens of these, often for liquid damage, and it's really not that bad to keep track of the case screws. You can use a screw mat until you get used to it, but after a while it's pretty obvious which screw length made the most sense to use where, and lenovo were consistent throughout generations, so the T410 and 20 weren't too far off. Having the most commonly broken items very easy to replace was considerably better than other manufacturers. A screw removal tool is crucial for corroded fasteners. Great video, I think with the screen damage it's not repairable, and there's very little value in the parts.
The most damaged laptop I saw in my time was one which had been dropped in a bucket of paint. Every single item in it was damaged, with the exception of one flatflex cable. It was replaced under warranty.
Right idea with drilling out the head of that screw! What you have to do, is then step up to the next size drillbit so that you can actually get into the shaft/threaded portion of the screw to weaken its hold onto the case. Going up to the next size drill, bit drilling into the screw and then tugging to see if it loosens if it pops off great if not, go up to the next size drill bit and repeat. Did this before with a Sony VAIO that had a rounded off screw.
From an era where proper service manuals existed. Still using and supporting the very similar T201 laptops around the family over a decade later. Compered to Dells from20 years ago they are a dream to work on.
As far as Lenovo is concerned, on their website they provide pretty good service manuals for most of their laptops including consumer models.
From what I understand Thinkpads can be super durable devices. At the end of the day they(Thinkpads) are susceptible to simple and quirky faults like any other laptop or phone. What I am trying to say is that this device may decide to work if you don't attach the cracked screen or replace it. If you really wanted to you could possible scavenge a new vga port from an old/dead part and use an external display. Let me know if you do this and it decides to work!
Yep mines space bar is stuck down and ctrl backspace works for a while then it comes back on.
The reason it has so much screws is because of magnesium roll cage, which helps in providing rigidity and act as a passage for keybaord drainage holes.
Incredible that they've recovered this ThinkPad from the Somme
I would have really been amazed at the success of this repair.
However it is always a pleasure to see you at work, you always learn something😊👋
I have profound respect for the Lenovo Thinkpad. Be that as it may, this particular example has fought the good fight. *salutes*
I can't say I enjoyed this one since I have a T400 and it's a nice computer, which makes this video the stuff of nightmares. BTW, Lenovo gives you a hardware service manual for each model that has diagrams and charts clearly showing the diameter and length of every single screw.
2:25 Fun fact: Some Thinkpads (like T42) had a label showing screw lenghts and their numbers. Every screw hole at the bottom of the laptop also had na number so you know where the screws should go. Unfortunately T400 doesn't seem to have this feature.
I think the other expansion slot is for a WWAN-chip. That's why there are cables running to it with some heat-shrink protecting the connectors.
It indeed is. And looking up the T400 on ThinkWiki, the third slot is either for Intel Turbo Memory HDD cache, or UWB (wireless USB).
Hello from Cuba 🇨🇺
That's what people lement about these old Thinkpads. If you want to spend the money, you CAN fix it. It can be revived with enough time and money. Modern laptops you can't do that no matter how much you spend because they werent designed to be upgraded. They are mostly hermetically sealed and you break everything trying to repair them. I have a pristine T400 in my Thinkpad collection and it's one of my favorite vintage laptops. I'm going to polish it again right after this comment. 🥰🥰🥰
It worth some component level repair. Those are quality machines, many thinkpad enthusiasts will pay for it.
Great effort! Times when IBM had quality keyboards and the whole units were so well built that I would have had the same curiosity to go this deep. To this day I wish IBM would have kept their laptop range.
They would have went the same route as the rest of the market with slimmer laptops.
Thinkpad like this one are still a thing you know
@@Kelrohir you won't find a thick and heavy Thinkpad.
@@traviswalker8933 There is no point to make them thick and heavy as they were before since the component are just smaller and more efficient
@@Kelrohir the customer demand is also a factor. No one wants to carry around a 2.5-3 kg laptop.
This laptop's design is closer to IBM than lenovo. Lenovo could never make a so well built laptop. And even if it is old, newer ones have a lot to learn from this one. Great video as always!! Keep up the good work!
Jeeeezuz, did they keep it on the deck of a boat or drop it in a chlorinated pool ??
I'm a Repair Tech too and I've never seen anything like this 😲
At least you can salvage the webcam from it for home security 👍
Always love your videos. Even a failure provides a lot of good information. Good video work, good commentary, good subjects. A very professional individual.
I still have a IBM Lenovo t61p made in 2008 with Centerino chip (Aka Caleron with Wifi). The Fan corrsion is not probably due to liquid damage but more due to dampness where the unit might have been stored(probably a damp shed) and these beautiful machines had magnesium cage alloy for the mother board that could corrode as magnesium oxidizes into a white powder. These machines were truly upgradable because Thinpad used to come with manuals instructing how to take them apart and you could buy the individual assemblies from thinkpad, batteries, wifi card, keyboards, display cables, assembly, power jack you name it and you could buy it. These machines were so realiable that the ISS space station had these machines. Given the current scenario Lenovos have become trend followers following aple, you cant even but batteries for new machines 2-3 years down the line.
From what i know, The Centrino is The Core 2 Duo, Because ThinkPads are High End machines.
Just got a broken laptop soaked in floodwater and mud. They both have dead HDD and LCD but only one survived because the power brick was swept away while the other had it intact and the owner tried to turn it on after being cleaned on the exterior and thinks it is completely dried.
Your great running commentary is what makes your videos so engaging, and it's why I subscribed.
Oh I found the screw that represents me
I'm glad Lenovo was inclusive in their screws picking all shapes sizes and attitudes "I'm not leaving you're gonna have to break me"
Really forward thinking of them
I have this exact laptop sitting in my closet. It’s flashed many Xbox 360 drives. Great piece of equipment.
When a laptop met a large cappuccino.
I recall those laptops with Windows Vista, how many of them I had to downgrade to XP in order to make them functional.
Vista was the beginning of the end; nowadays a laptop with windows make no sense.
Thank you Mr. Jeffreys!
Greetings,
Anthony
When I had my Centrino Duo laptop, I actually ignored the "Windows Vista" sticker and had Windows XP installed instead.
finally a ThinkPad Video 🥰🥰🥰
feel free to do more 😇 but with a little less destruction 😉😇
I admire your persistence! If I were you I would have given up long ago!!!
Coincidentally i still use this exact same laptop in my office for backups 😂
Did you check the USB ports on the side for bent pins creating a short? I've had this problem before on a ThinkPad T61 where the board showed power but the power button did nothing. Great video!
The old reliable IBM Thinkpad on this Lenovo flavor. I’ve been around thinkpads for almost 6 years so far at my workplace and I can say they are very well made…the latest gen, well they already start going south with quality. Those early 2008 until 2017 are built to last. I’m still using a t530 (2013) as my daily. Greetings to Hugh for having this awesome channel.😊
My old work used to use the T430 models. If taken care of and not abused they were solid laptops. Though by about 2020 or so they really showed their age even with maxed out RAM and SSDs the poor dual core CPUs really didn't agree with the heavy W10 installs.
Hugh Jeffreys has such a relaxing voice, I wish he was the voice on my Google Maps directions.
I used my t400 for 5 years back in school. These things are absolute bricks save for one weakness: the backlight. I once stuffed the laptop into my bag with too much stuff, and pulled it out to find I had no backlight. No worries- I had a spare bad condition but working t400😂. Ensue a full exterior swap from my pristine one including top lid, screen bezel, palm rest, keyboard. I feel your pain 😅
You were hella impatient on the disassembly and cleaning, which were the most important, but also annoying and infuriating parts! 😆 It's a good laptop that -isn't- wasn't far from being fixed, just not your thing, but that's ok. Thanks for the attempt. 👍
When you get a stubborn screw get a flathead of the size and put some rubber band on the tip between... I was amazed.
I also repaired this model many times, but assembling and disassembly is very frustrating thing with this model.
Years ago I bought a used ThinkPad on eBay and at one pointing I also bought a docking station for it.
Unfortunately, even though it physically plugged in fine, it turned out to not be compatible with my model, and it wouldn't turn on after that. I found a guy online that repaired them, and he was right in my city.
I went to him and, long story short, he just gave me a new (used) motherboard for my model (he had piles of them laying around) and said good luck.
Something I found out is that, at the time (early 2000s), IBM had fantastic online support for all their laptops. I didn't need to talk to anyone, but they had complete, exploded-view diagrams of how to take them apart.
I worked in IT third shift so I took the whole thing apart one night on a conference room table and installed the new motherboard. And to my amazement it worked!
Only thing that was still wrong was the screen wouldn't display correctly. But I figured that was just a software issue. Installed new firmware and it was as good as new!
And I had never taken any laptop apart before this..
I use a service vac from my days as a copier tech to clean up messes like that. Good work in spite of mediocre results.
Hugh, that is one tough laptop! Great effort! Thank you 🤓
I have T400 which I still use as a backup laptop. Not bad machine with 8GB of ram, SSD drive and light weight linux distro. My main machine is T420 with 16 GB ram. These old Thinkpads are still well worth keeping in running condition.
Those old Thinkpads were a tank! My dad has this exact model, the speakers are broken, the CPU fan too (now it's running off an external fan), the screen has a horizontal lines running across, and it's still running fine! The hard drive has been interrupted countless times, yet I wonder how it still hasn't corrupted. I was particularly surprised when it still turns on after the fan breaks, because all it took is a press of the escape button to bypass the warning! But my dad isn't willing to fix it, because he said it's better to buy a used laptop with the money the charge him to repair it. I would definitely preserve it once it breaks. Thanks for the video!
The ThinkPad Is The People's Laptop, They are REALLY Good, Not gonna lie.
that wasn't a repair, that was a straight up autopsy. i commend you for even trying to bring that thing back to life.
The Centrino platform on laptops used Pentium M processors. In general, it hasn't been a particular success. My daily driver is a T430 I bought second-hand refurb a couple of years back, upgraded the ram, replaced the hdd with an ssd, and it works great.
Yeah, the first Centrino's were Pentium M and the last ones seem to have been Haswell based (Intel Core i 4th gen). But I don't remember seeing Centrino stickers on anything newer than Core2
I once found two of the same laptops in an electronics recycling bin and one of them was dead and would make the led on the charger blink and the other one turned on once, then started turning on and off really fast by itself while making a screeching sound and then it died too! I tried different chargers and they all had the same outcome, the led on the charger would just blink and the laptops would be completely dead! Yes I made sure to use the right voltage chargers! Still don't know why that happened but it's something to expect when picking up old laptops from e-waste bins.
You are terrific. This has got to be one of the poorest and sad Thinkpads you’ve ever done. My T430S is mint compared to your poor Thinkpad. Best wishes.❤
You would think this laptop stands out from the rest of their electronics. But little did you know, all of their electronics are like this. This guy lives in a swamp.
I had the same thought what if all thr electronics looked like that
A larger Screw driver & a Rubber band can be helpful with rounded/stripped screws.
Those two slots are mini pci-express slots. One for a 4G SIM module and one for an Intel Turbo Flash Memory Module.
In truth liquid always will ALWAYS ALMOST LEAD TO THE FAILURE OF ELECTRONICS BOTH EARLY AND MODERN DAY TOO
I have a 2010 Toshiba Laptop with the Centrino chip. It actually still works!! Slow as a snail but still boots and my files are still there!!
I usually give boards like this a good bath in cleaning vinegar, leave to soak for a an hour and scrub with a soft brush, then wash it all off with clean water and dish soap and a good long dry, that way I have brought back to life soundcards, videocards, ram sticks and other water damaged parts
I had a Sony Vaio brought into my shop in 2014 that had sat in a box with water leaking into it for 2 weeks. The board was covered in corrosion. Toothbrush and alcohol brought it back to life. It did need a replacement hard drive and LCD as they were banjaxed from being submerged. The battery was also banjaxed but the customer didn't care. I was shocked that it came back to life with no loss of functionality except for the battery.
I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T440 and holy crap they are upgradable to the fact that you get tired taking them appart
*TIP*
Steel and in particular hardened steel heats up quite quickly ruining drill bit and or cutting edge,
ergo it's near impossible to drill it at fast speeds, to negate this the drill speed needs to be quite slow,
and what also helps is a dab of cutting fluid..
The thing with Lenovo Thinkpad is that some are actually Mobile Workstations and, as this one here, are the ones that usually have Docking Station ports or higher end CPUs for that time. Like the P52s, I have one that I been refurbishing, that has a CPU which was not standard for that time, will take up to a 1TB M.2 and no more than a 2TB 2.5" SSD. It also has a hidden sim card reader where the external battery is. I say external battery as this also has an internal battery for mobile charging/UPs type system. The CPU is NOT the same for that time as the one for the workstations have a built in GPU too which is not a standard for laptops. I use laptop and workstation for the very reason that a laptop is the general user and a workstation has limited storage compared but could have higher RAM I believe with extra functionality.
Workstations should not be confused with gaming laptops either as they are not capable of that and are designed for 3D rendering/design, Data Science, can be sued for Photo editing (potentially video) and even some forms of programming and web design for instance. They are specific laptops designed to be taken home, worked on while commuting etc. and are business oriented.
I advise anyone thinking of buying a Lenovo Thinkpad to check as not all are workstations, the P series certainly are workstations. Do your investigations as if you buy the wrong one and want to do gaming, generally you will be in for a surprise as they just do not do that.
Mobile workstations are NOT actually laptops. Laptop the word came about with being able to work on the device on your laptop, mobile workstations are not really design to be used on the laptop which is why some had/have the docking station port on the bottom. Mobile workstation are generally pricey, obviously with refurbished still going for around £500, some more depending on year and CPU. Instead of the square CPU in the P52s, as mentioned it has a built in GPU so the CPU/GPU chip is rectangular, soldered onto the board and will not generally be available to consumers due to their purpose and design.
IF you are a someone studying and will be working with 3d rendering, data Science etc. as mentioned then yes, these can/are be/very good work horses, but, for the general public and gamers at large? DO NOT BUY is my advice. There are clear differences between the two.
The T400 is great! I've had one for years, it was very reliable (and my version with the switchable ATI 3470m was actually capable of playing many games including Crysis)
It has signs of life even in this state... yep, that's a ThinkPad all right.
Still an extremely interesting / inspiring and useful video as always, thanks Hugh!
Some of that is the rubberized coating coming off, it starts breaking down over time. You can see it in some of the early shots.
These poor things were tanks. Still remember my t410, served me well through more than hell and still running, just not with me but a kid that needed it for school.
A few issues: The flashing yellow LED means that the battery is no longer functioning. Removing the palm rest also reveals the biometric fingerprint reader. Lenovo had nothing to do with 'designing' this model. Lenovo only manufactured it after acquiring IBM's personal computing division. IBM ThinkPad's have always been well known for using steel hinges. Using a nylon brush probably knocked some components loose. Chances are that the CPU is overheated. There's not much thermal paste on there.
T400s were tanks. You could pour water in the KB and they had special channels for it to pour out.
Hey, you got the fan to spin. I think it's a win. I once got a liquid damaged vaccuum cleaner working again. It sounded like a jet engine, and the brushes looked like someone was welding when I turned it on. Some things should stay in the trash.
Do a part 2 and try disconnecting things and see what's causing the problem
Centrino was Intel's Evo program before Evo
The cleanest Linux user’s ThinkPad:
The dirtier it is, the more incelish the owner
Well, you Could have fixed it by buying another similar thnkpad that was working for parts, then fixing it by swapping the dirty birds stickers.
With all that corrosion on that board I wouldn’t brush that hard on that board 😂
I've always recommended used Thinkpads to friends who ask what to buy, based on their toughness and repair-ability. This era were some of the best for longevity & repairability (I still use a T410 for sofa browsing) The modern ones are not so tough or fixable. They've succumbed to the lightweight & disposable fad. Such a shame.
You already did the best 💯 keep it up with these great videos 💯
Centrinos were everywhere back then, especially in work and school laptops. I'm surprised you hadn't heard of it!. As for this thing, what a beast. Some of the best laptops ever made, IMO. You just couldn't kill them. I mean, unless you dunk them in the acid pools from Half Life or something, like this one, LOL.
The M.SATA slots were for caching solid state drives since back then ssd were kinda small to be used as boot drives so they were small fast caching drives to mitigate slow mechanical drives.
Nowadays if you manage to find big enough drive you can use it as boot drive for operating system. My Thinkpad Edge E431 had one M.2 Sata slot for same exact purpose but I put there 128GB m.2 ssd to use as boot drive few years back keeping the mechanical drive as slow storage for media.
Shame this one couldn't be rescued. Thinkpads are built like a tanks but even they have their limits.
I would love to see a board repair on this one. Some injecting voltage... it will be a fun video.
There's a limit to what we can reuse...which is why things need to still be made to be recycled :) Fun video though! I wonder why it looked like there were two "Wifi" cards?
Searching the part number, 43Y6463, it's a 56K modem. Btw that's a nice Collei profile picture you have lol
@@Pasi123 Ooo interesting! And thanks :)
Oh man, too bad its in really bad condition. This thing is built like a tank. I still use the same Thinkpad T400 from 2008 with intel core 2 duo. My aunt got it from her old office and she gave it to me. back in 2012. It still works until now with 8GB RAM and SSD. Good enough for daily usage like office and casual browsing for my mom
That is a very good laptop. Im still using a similar model a Thinkpad r400 as a second device.
On Ebay those go for 50-100$ depending on their specs. I don't think it is worth repairing that much damage for that little money but as a thinkpad enthusiast I disagree with the statement that it's worth "almost nothing".
My old vape did the same thing, the dides healed themselves, but the timing burnt them up spontaniously, the colors kept flickering until the screen went blank and only the backlight illuminated, not to worry, the new one was discounted to 17 dollars and the old tanks are cleaner than I've ever seen them in seconds. At least one part was well made.
It would be fun to buy an identical one and swap the components to see where exactly the damage happened
It is mainboard that failed in this one ...
Intel Centrino is basically core 2 duo
Hello Hugh, I have recently made a TH-cam video on a Dell laptop that seemed to have weather damage causing it not to work ( switched On then Off again. It turns out that all it needed was maintenance and a good clean up , to make it work again. So lesson learnt don't leave your Laptop in a unstable temperature area and have you Laptop check more regular. It could save you (£) pounds. I will continue watching your video , hope it works out.
Jeff (The WMS Shedder)
You were ripping a corpse apart. It is understandable, and also very interesting. Thank you. R.I.P.
I like how Hugh just roasts the notebook right from the start
There is a youtube video you should check out of a commodore 64 left out in the mud for a decade. The guy washed it in water. He had nothing to lose. But then afterwards, he soaked the entire motherboard in isopropyl alcohol to displace all the water. The computer powered up without any problem.
Try putting the board in an oven in hopes of a temporary reflow. When you put the cooler on, it probably flexed the board, unbridging some already far gone soldier points that need reflowing in turn causing it to not turn on anymore.
Although what I say could be wrong. what I say is just an assumption. I am no professional.
did you try replacing the CMOS battery? Older Thinkpads tend to not startup if the CMOS battery is dead
Great video!!! What I need at 01:36 👍🏻
Man I have a 495T Thinkpad. Thinkpad such a iconic line of PC's. Originally the IBM Thinkpad, yes that IBM before IBM sold it's computer line to Moto. Yes that Motorola. Then Lenovo purchased Moto, cellphone and all and made Lenovo a more common name. I'm glad to see the ThinkPad still kicking still and still going quire well the X1 Carbon is incredible and the first folding laptop I believe is a Lenovo Thinkpad variant.
Nah, definitely not enough screws Hugh! 🤣 That was one filthy laptop, both outside and in! Just seeing the state of it would have deterred me from thinking anything else other than it being e-waste, but at least you gave it a shot! Cheers Mate 😎
I found it outside and the back of Mc computers and there’s more laptops and pcs that are like that there I just picked up another one and it works running windows 11 😂😂🎉🎉