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Repair shop recommendation?

Forum Laptops & Notebooks : General Laptops & Notebooks - Repair shop recommendation?

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I have an IBM Thinkpad A-30 that is out of warranty, and needs repair.
Does anyone have a recommendation of a good shop? Is it better to send
it back to IBM, or seek an independent shop?

FWIW, the problem seems to be in the power circuitry that controlls
charging. The "brick" charger is OK, verified by using it with an old
Thinkpad, but the computer doesn't recognize that it's connected up to
a charger, and doesn't recognize that the battery is connected either.
That is, not "always". I did manage to get it to start up once, and
ran it long enough to transfer any needed data files onto my desktop.
However, while it was running (connected to the line power), the
display indicated that it thought it was running on battery power....
indicating 98 % charged.

I have no way to charge the battery on another machine, so I'm not
really certain that the battery is fully charged. Is there any
measurement that I can take across the contacts to verify the charge?

Appreciate any suggestions.

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

> FWIW, the problem seems to be in the power circuitry that controlls
> charging. The "brick" charger is OK, verified by using it with an old

Unfortunately this problem is going to be a motherboard replacement.
It's possible that it's just a mechanical failure of a solder joint,
but the service procedure only covers replacement at a subassembly
level, not repair of subassemblies. You might be better off just
buying another ThinkPad with a cracked screen, no hard drive, etc. and
swap over the motherboards yourself.

> really certain that the battery is fully charged. Is there any
> measurement that I can take across the contacts to verify the charge?

No. All you can measure is if the battery voltage is in nominal range.
This has no direct relationship to the charge state; a 2% charged
battery will still show much the same open-circuit voltage as a 99%
charged battery. Capacity information is stored in an on-board EEPROM
or RAM and accessed over a serial bus. But in any case, it's
best-guess information based on historical measurements of energy
in/energy out data and has no direct physical relationship to the
state of the cells, particularly since your machine has presumably
been shelved for a while and the battery has had an opportunity to
self-discharge.

The only way to find out how much capacity is remaining in a battery
is to discharge it completely and measure how much you got out of it.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

In article <vl8l70lq77g3u5i3db1c1o6uaicdk26d3k@4ax.com>, Charlie <invalid@invalid.com> wrote:
--> I have an IBM Thinkpad A-30 that is out of warranty, and needs repair.
--> Does anyone have a recommendation of a good shop? Is it better to send
--> it back to IBM, or seek an independent shop?

Well, it will be cheaper to deal with the independent.

I had need earlier this year to have a pro look at my T20; there was a problem
that I wasn't able to diagnose myself, even with the maintenance manual and
the help of folks in the ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad forum. I was contacted by a
repair facility who apparently keeps a presence in that forum, and ended up
shipping the laptop to their Ohio address. Repairs were performed capably,
parts costs were reasonable considering we're talking IBM here, and the unit
was safely packed for return. I'd certainly not have any reluctance to deal
with them again if it weren't an issue I could handle myself.

The facility, whose precise name I don't have here at the office, can be
reached at THINKPAD-DEAL <descos@earthlink.net>, and the gentleman at the
other end is named George.

Art

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Charlie, checkout:

http://www.tpads-plus.com/

John

Reply to john

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