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Old September 21st 18, 11:27 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
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Default Lenove T500 beep code 1-3-3-1

On Fri, 21 Sep 2018 17:07:43 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
Hello ; I've received the 1-3-3-1 beep code on boot-up failure.
DIMM / main board
After several on-off tries - it did boot up OK.
I searched and downloaded the Hardware Maintenance Manual.
I have very limited experience with laptop repairs ; more comfortable
with old tower computers.
Any experience or thoughts on this ?
I was contemplating remove & re-install DIMM card(s) ..
- seems like a fairly easy process as per the manual ?
Any thoughts on causes - heat/fan issues ?
problem occurred on first boot after being off all night
The laptop was $ 140. + a battery 2 1/2 years ago
so I won't be spending much money to fix it.
P8400 @ 2.26 3 gigs RAM
Thanks ; John T.


It sounds like a motherboard problem, like maybe a problem
like a Vdimm power converter or similar.

Maybe something is marginal there.

You can test the DIMMs one at a time, and see if things
are any better.

Disconnect the AC adapter and remove the main battery pack,
before changing the memory configuration around. This is to avoid
any standby voltage being present while inserting a DIMM.

What should happen, is the intermittent behavior should
even exist with one DIMM - if it's a power problem on the
motherboard.

If you do get a change in behavior at T=0, I would be
surprised. Removing a DIMM reduces the load on the power
converter, which might help for a while. No guarantee it'll
hold up forever.

I tried a quick search on "T500 leaking caps" and didn't get
any responses, so that probably isn't it.

*******

While you can download a memory tester from here (half way down
the page), it sounds like the machine works once it's started,
so this probably won't tell you a lot.

http://www.memtest.org/

You could also use the Prime95 (torture test option) from
mersenne.org/downloads and apply it for a while. That would
probably increase the RAM power consumption during large
footprint test cases. Prime95 runs from Windows or Linux,
and doesn't test the memory the OS uses. But it does highlight
marginality in the CPU-NB-Memory triangle.

Paul



Thanks for the detailed reply Paul.
This old ThinkPad is now just a retired-guy's web-surfer -
so it isn't really worth much - but it's a nice old work-horse
for my uses.
I pulled & re-inserted the 2 memory cards today - lets see
what happens .. a guy in Kitchener has 2 x 4 gig ram for sale
for $ 40. if I have more failures - I might go that route.
Otherwise I'll probably scrap it and buy another one.
John T.