I have a Thinkpad 560 that won't power up.
The internal switcher chips are in shutdown mode.
The signal from the power switch ain't getting to the
power supply. The signal comes from a maze of unmarked
smt chips. I gave up tracing it to the connector and
went looking for visual clues.

The vias are not solder masked and don't appear to be plated.
There are several with some corrosion. I put wires thru the worst
ones. Now, the power supply will come up if I bend on the
main board just right.

I have no idea how to find open circuits on inner layers without
a schematic for reference.
The service manuals I downloaded from IBM are useless in this regard.

Is there a way to obtain the schematics for at least the power control
part of a Thinkpad 560? Even the pinout for the connector between the
main board and the power converter board would greatly simplify
the search.

Gotta be free cause this thing is gonna be
pretty much worthless even if I get it working. I just hate to see
it go to the landfill.

Thanks, mike
--
Return address is VALID but some sites block emails
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In article , mike wrote:
I have a Thinkpad 560 that won't power up.
The internal switcher chips are in shutdown mode.
The signal from the power switch ain't getting to the
power supply. The signal comes from a maze of unmarked
smt chips. I gave up tracing it to the connector and
went looking for visual clues.

The vias are not solder masked and don't appear to be plated.
There are several with some corrosion. I put wires thru the worst
ones. Now, the power supply will come up if I bend on the
main board just right.

I have no idea how to find open circuits on inner layers without
a schematic for reference.
The service manuals I downloaded from IBM are useless in this regard.

Is there a way to obtain the schematics for at least the power control
part of a Thinkpad 560? Even the pinout for the connector between the
main board and the power converter board would greatly simplify
the search.

I have run into this problem before. I had to replace the power control
board (I believe) with a unit I bought on Ebay. I tried for a while to
fix it, and believe it was an intermittant mechanical failure (maybe
via/internal trace), since it would work if I flexed it right.

These are nice machines, but had some problems. I think this is a common
problem. And yes, none of the vias are plated on the several TP560 models
I have owned.

Gotta be free cause this thing is gonna be
pretty much worthless even if I get it working. I just hate to see
it go to the landfill.

Yes, it's sad. I have a box full of old thinkpads and hate to throw
them away. When I have some time I want to see if I can get at least
one to work well from all of the broken ones.

Later, -ingo



Thanks, mike
--
Return address is VALID but some sites block emails
with links. Delete this sig when replying.
.
Wanted, PCMCIA SCSI Card for HP m820 CDRW.
FS 500MHz Tek DSOscilloscope TDS540 Make Offer
Wanted 12" LCD for Compaq Armada 7770MT.
Bunch of stuff For Sale and Wanted at the link below.
MAKE THE OBVIOUS CHANGES TO THE LINK
htremovethistp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/4710/



--
/* Ingo Cyliax, , Tel: 812-391-0895 */

Ingo Cyliax wrote:
In article , mike wrote:

I have a Thinkpad 560 that won't power up.
The internal switcher chips are in shutdown mode.
The signal from the power switch ain't getting to the
power supply. The signal comes from a maze of unmarked
smt chips. I gave up tracing it to the connector and
went looking for visual clues.

The vias are not solder masked and don't appear to be plated.
There are several with some corrosion. I put wires thru the worst
ones. Now, the power supply will come up if I bend on the
main board just right.

I have no idea how to find open circuits on inner layers without
a schematic for reference.
The service manuals I downloaded from IBM are useless in this regard.

Is there a way to obtain the schematics for at least the power control
part of a Thinkpad 560? Even the pinout for the connector between the
main board and the power converter board would greatly simplify
the search.


I have run into this problem before. I had to replace the power control
board (I believe) with a unit I bought on Ebay. I tried for a while to
fix it, and believe it was an intermittant mechanical failure (maybe
via/internal trace), since it would work if I flexed it right.

Thanks for the tip.
I found several unsoldered connections on the power interface.
Machine worked perfectly, put it back together, ten minutes later
it just quit...never to return. I'm very sad ;-)
Ok IBM, round two!!!
mike


These are nice machines, but had some problems. I think this is a common
problem. And yes, none of the vias are plated on the several TP560 models
I have owned.


Gotta be free cause this thing is gonna be
pretty much worthless even if I get it working. I just hate to see
it go to the landfill.


Yes, it's sad. I have a box full of old thinkpads and hate to throw
them away. When I have some time I want to see if I can get at least
one to work well from all of the broken ones.

Later, -ingo

In article ,
Ingo Cyliax wrote:
...
These are nice machines, but had some problems. I think this is a common
problem. And yes, none of the vias are plated on the several TP560 models
I have owned.

My 560 failed in the same way, about a year and a half after I bought it
(new, years ago). It was a wonderful little machine while it lasted.

I seem to remember that the hinge for the display basically sat on the
motherboard, using it something like a washer between the case and the
hinge bracket. I don't know if that was really a problem, but it always
seemed like the motherboard (near the power supply section, in particular)
would get flexed every time the display was moved.

-Mike
--
http://www.mschaef.com

MSCHAEF.COM wrote:
In article ,
Ingo Cyliax wrote:
...
These are nice machines, but had some problems. I think this is a
common problem. And yes, none of the vias are plated on the several
TP560 models I have owned.

My 560 failed in the same way, about a year and a half after I bought
it (new, years ago). It was a wonderful little machine while it
lasted.

I seem to remember that the hinge for the display basically sat on the
motherboard, using it something like a washer between the case and the
hinge bracket. I don't know if that was really a problem, but it
always seemed like the motherboard (near the power supply section, in
particular) would get flexed every time the display was moved.

-Mike

I have a 560e which also failed in the same manner. I bought a junker to
use for parts, which got it going for a few more years. I, too, tried all
sorts of fixes before using the 'nukular' option. I had the machine apart
multiple times, flexing, tweaking, shimming...minutely examining every
joint. When I got the parts machine, I was sure that replacing the DC
converter board would fix it...no soap. Even after I got it going, it never
again charged the battery despite the fact that I swapped DC boards. I had
to use it on AC for the rest of it's life.

Once it started acting up again, I gave up on it.

jak