odd thinkpad slight damage: screen switch

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

There is a hole, above the keyboard, near the hinges on my thinkpad A31.
There's a matching stud in the lid, which appears to mesh with a switch
which was recessed in this hole when the lid was closed.

The problem is that the switch has fallen lose, and the hole is now empty,
so I'm assuming the thinkpad can no longer tell when I close the lid.

Since I never made use of any automatic functionality when the lid closed (I
didn't have it suspend for instance), I was wondering if I can just ignore
this.

Thanks.

Chip

(I seldom leave it running for long periods of time with the lid closed, but
there are occasional very long downloads that I let run overnight this way).

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

<William P.N. Smith> wrote in message
news:2ideu09frt5nai4b3s993ffi8aped5ku63@4ax.com...
> "Chip Orange" <acorange@comcast.net> wrote:
>>The problem is that the switch has fallen lose, and the hole is now empty,
>>so I'm assuming the thinkpad can no longer tell when I close the lid.
>
> Unless there's a piece of metal (the switch) floating around loose
> inside your computer, you are OK in the short term. In the long term,
> you might use the backlight lifetime up faster than otherwise, your
> battery will have a shorter life, and the machine will run warmer with
> the lid closed than it would otherwise, but none of those are fatal.
>

Thanks for the ideas. I had the same ones, so I made sure that the power
settings would turn off the screen after 10 minutes of inactivity. With
this feature, it seems to me that there won't be much difference in screen
life, but I wasn't sure what else that switch might control besides screen
on/off and going into suspend or hibernate modes.

Thanks.

Chip

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

"Chip Orange" <acorange@comcast.net> wrote:

(snip)

>life, but I wasn't sure what else that switch might control besides screen
>on/off and going into suspend or hibernate modes.

I have an A20p and the switch is defective (or dirty). It is still in the hole.

The system seems to check the position of the switch at power-up time.

When I boot the machine, I have to pull the switch tab forward (toward
keys) for the backlight to come on.

If the tab is not pulled forward, the machine continues to boot without
backlight.

This seems to be a momentary check, early in the power-up cycle. If
switch is pulled forward after only a few seconds in the power-up, the
screen stays dark.

The switch on your machine has failed in a position where the
backlight still comes on. As you point out, you lose the
functionality to initiate hibernation or stand-by (depending on
configuration) when closing the lid. Personally, I never used the lid
to initiate this. I rather initiate it manually and see how it
proceeds and when it's done.

On the A20p it's fairly straightforward to remove the keyboard and
bezel to access they switch area. I assume it might be similar on the
A31. But then, the loose part might also have migrated further into
the machine.

Good luck

Roger