Thinkpad X40 freezing- is it dying?
Jun 28, 2007, 2:28 pm
#1
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Thinkpad X40 freezing- is it dying?
I have a three year old Thinkpad X40; it's been a workhorse, but it's been through a lot. (over 20 TATL r/t's). In the past week it's started freezing up. Either it won't wake up from sleep mode and I have to force a reboot, or it freezes, generally while moving the mouse. Sometimes it freezes in the middle of a reboot.
I've done full virus and spyware scans, defragged, installed all the update patches, and run all the diagnostics available when rebooting to the "access IBM" blue button. I've updated the bios, added all the latest patches (running XP), run chkdsk (showed nothing wrong). I have about 12 or 13% free space on the HD, I can clear up to 15% if I eliminate hybernation.
The only error messages I saw in the diagnostics had to do with the parallel port; I've never used that port.
The only recent errors in the eventvwr are:
There've also been some eventvwr errors about corrupt content in the index metadata (catalog.wci)
Any suggestions, or am I SOL?
I've done full virus and spyware scans, defragged, installed all the update patches, and run all the diagnostics available when rebooting to the "access IBM" blue button. I've updated the bios, added all the latest patches (running XP), run chkdsk (showed nothing wrong). I have about 12 or 13% free space on the HD, I can clear up to 15% if I eliminate hybernation.
The only error messages I saw in the diagnostics had to do with the parallel port; I've never used that port.
The only recent errors in the eventvwr are:
The IP address lease 192.xxx.xxx.xxx (my wifi network) for the Network Card with network address 000CF1265D59 has been denied by the DHCP server 0.0.0.0 (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).
Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for a transaction response from the WZCSVC service.
Your computer has lost the lease to its IP address 10.0.0.22 on the Network Card with network address 000CF1265D59.
Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 000CF1265D59. The following error occurred: The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.
Note that the freezes also occur when I am no where near my wifi network.Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for a transaction response from the WZCSVC service.
Your computer has lost the lease to its IP address 10.0.0.22 on the Network Card with network address 000CF1265D59.
Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 000CF1265D59. The following error occurred: The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.
There've also been some eventvwr errors about corrupt content in the index metadata (catalog.wci)
Any suggestions, or am I SOL?
Jun 28, 2007, 2:55 pm
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I update my antivirus (AVG) every few days. Updated my Skyteam travel timetable app, and ran the regular XP updates. Nothing else.
Jun 28, 2007, 3:01 pm
#5
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Are you running off AC, battery, or both when this happens? My X41 started doing this, and it soon became apparent that the AC adapter was going bad (it evetually died.... on a trip!). When I replaced the adapter, the freezes resolved.
Jun 28, 2007, 3:18 pm
#6
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Can you still do a control alt delete to see what services are running, or is that out too? Something may be taking 100% of the services.
Any hard drive activity?
Any hard drive activity?
Jun 28, 2007, 3:47 pm
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Mostly running off the battery, but it's happened both ways.
I prefer ctrl shift escape, it's a faster way to get to the taskmgr. Nope, neither that nor the three finger salute works, and no HD activity when it freezes.
I prefer ctrl shift escape, it's a faster way to get to the taskmgr. Nope, neither that nor the three finger salute works, and no HD activity when it freezes.
Jun 28, 2007, 5:52 pm
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I'd have to say, it is starting to smell a lot like a hardware problem. 
As a last resort, I'd dismantle the whole thing (pretty easy if you have even basic mechanical aptitude... I've field-stripped a T-41 with a swiss-army knife
). Then blow everything clear of any "gunk", put it back together and say a small prayer. You'll already be at the nothing-left-to-lose point, so what they heck?
As a last resort, I'd dismantle the whole thing (pretty easy if you have even basic mechanical aptitude... I've field-stripped a T-41 with a swiss-army knife
). Then blow everything clear of any "gunk", put it back together and say a small prayer. You'll already be at the nothing-left-to-lose point, so what they heck?
Jun 28, 2007, 9:37 pm
#10
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It's all backed up, I'm opening it and cleaning out the dust.
I just checked; when I got it, it came with 3 years parts and labor warrantee. I took delivery on June 23 '04. That's 3 years and 5 days ago. Do they engineer it that way?
I just checked; when I got it, it came with 3 years parts and labor warrantee. I took delivery on June 23 '04. That's 3 years and 5 days ago. Do they engineer it that way?
Jul 1, 2007, 1:02 pm
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Jul 1, 2007, 2:42 pm
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MisterNice
Sep 1, 2007, 3:23 pm
#15
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Followup just to update and give more info. I finally had time to do a full windows reinstall. It's now been running 4 days without glitch (knock wood, I hope this post doesn't jinx me).
Prior to that I couldn't run an hour without a full lockup requiring reboot. Interestingly, the last few days I tried it, every time I tried to access the wifi in any manner (including enable, disable, and even uninstall) prior to reinstalling windows it would immediately lock up. Upon reinstall (xp, including sp2) I can't see the built in wifi adapter at all. I had a belkin pcmcia wireless G adapter, installed that, it works fine. So perhaps it was the internal wifi that was going bad...
Anyway, at the moment the X40 is back working fine, except the spacebar. I removed some keys to blow out dust, must not have that one back correctly- I really have to slapithard to type a space.
Prior to that I couldn't run an hour without a full lockup requiring reboot. Interestingly, the last few days I tried it, every time I tried to access the wifi in any manner (including enable, disable, and even uninstall) prior to reinstalling windows it would immediately lock up. Upon reinstall (xp, including sp2) I can't see the built in wifi adapter at all. I had a belkin pcmcia wireless G adapter, installed that, it works fine. So perhaps it was the internal wifi that was going bad...
Anyway, at the moment the X40 is back working fine, except the spacebar. I removed some keys to blow out dust, must not have that one back correctly- I really have to slapithard to type a space.