You are not logged in.

#1 2012-02-16 19:28:41

namelessone
Member
Registered: 2009-12-17
Posts: 39

[SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

I have a Thinkpad L412 running Arch 64-bit, and it has a recurring problem. Sometimes the special function keys (lock, battery, sleep, wireless) stop working. Whenever this happens, the cpu fan stops spinning, forcing me to cool my computer with an external fan. This problem comes and goes--but most of the time the buttons and fan are not working.

Usually these buttons come across as ACPI events and I handle them with acpid. However, when the buttons stop working, I no longer see their presses logged by acpid.

I dual boot, but I use Linux 99% of the time--the few times I do use Windows, the keys and fan don't work there either.

I've argued with the Lenovo tech support guys for some time, and they're all convinced I have some sort of software running that is causing this trouble. I did convince them to replace my motherboard, but it only temporarily fixed the problem.

So my question is: is it somehow possible there is some software bug in Linux that messes with my hardware, causing it to break? to me this doesn't seem possible, but I am no expert. I need to figure out the root of my problem so I can fix it and have a working laptop again.

Last edited by namelessone (2012-02-17 20:06:14)

Offline

#2 2012-02-16 19:55:37

lagagnon
Member
From: an Island in the Pacific...
Registered: 2009-12-10
Posts: 1,087
Website

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

Linux does not break hardware and being as you get the same affects in Windows it cannot be OS related. You have a hardware fault unfortunately.


Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

Offline

#3 2012-02-16 20:31:21

Roken
Member
From: South Wales, UK
Registered: 2012-01-16
Posts: 1,251

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

If you have the means to do so (external drive, another computer with spare drive space etc) you could backup your partitions from the Thinkpad and then restore the OS to factory condition using whatever recovery tools the supplier provided. Once done, and having confirmed that the fault continues you'll be in a position to return it to them "unmodified" for full repair or replacment (I assume it's still under warranty since they replaced the MB). When you get it back fully working, restore your backups.


Ryzen 5900X 12 core/24 thread - RTX 3090 FE 24 Gb, Asus Prime B450 Plus, 32Gb Corsair DDR4, Cooler Master N300 chassis, 5 HD (1 NvME PCI, 4SSD) + 1 x optical.
Linux user #545703

Offline

#4 2012-02-17 18:55:58

namelessone
Member
Registered: 2009-12-17
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

Thanks, lagagnon, for confirming my suspicions smile

I am under warranty, so I'll just have more stuff replaced. Either my particular model has serious design flaws, or I am just really unlucky and got two bad system boards in a row.

If anyone else happens to have a Lenovo l412 I would be interested to know  what kind of problems (if any) you have had with the machine.

Offline

#5 2012-02-17 20:04:43

namelessone
Member
Registered: 2009-12-17
Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

Sorry for the double post...I just got off the phone with an english-speaking tech support guy from Lenovo, and he helped me discover the problem (PEBKAK):

I regularly leave my computer plugged in when the battery is fully charged. This means that the system board's capacitors became fully charged, resulting in complete board malfunction. I was able to discharge the caps by removing the battery, unplugging the AC adapter, and pressing the power button 10 times, and then holding it for 10 seconds.

Now my lappy works as expected, and I have no more excuses for not getting work done.

Offline

#6 2012-02-17 21:38:54

purzel
Member
Registered: 2012-01-05
Posts: 54

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

Curiously enough this happened to me too today, and I was very close to sending the laptop back... fortunately I found this post before. (Thinkpad E320) Though since my laptop is only a few days old I'm a bit disappointed...

cheers!

P.s.
And I can't even believe that it actually worked... fan is now working again, but I have still half a mind to send this laptop back.. of all the stupid weird possible issues one can have with a laptop "overcharged capacitors"... And on a side note, the problem with the wlan being soft-blocked on boot is back again -.-

Last edited by purzel (2012-02-17 21:49:21)

Offline

#7 2012-02-18 00:34:48

Roken
Member
From: South Wales, UK
Registered: 2012-01-16
Posts: 1,251

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

If I'm honest, it still sounds like a design fault and the laptop is not "fit for purpose". No-one should be expected to sit by a charging unit waiting for the precise moment that's charged to unplug it.


Ryzen 5900X 12 core/24 thread - RTX 3090 FE 24 Gb, Asus Prime B450 Plus, 32Gb Corsair DDR4, Cooler Master N300 chassis, 5 HD (1 NvME PCI, 4SSD) + 1 x optical.
Linux user #545703

Offline

#8 2012-02-18 01:05:45

cfr
Member
From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

I regularly leave my laptop plugged in when the battery is fully charged and I have not (yet?!) seen this issue. My current machine is from Lenovo and I've had it a couple of months. My previous non-Lenovo, my earlier non-Lenovo, and my first non-Lenovo I used similarly and have never seen this. Nor have I ever heard of it happening to anybody else. As others have said, surely that's a design flaw?


CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L

Offline

#9 2012-02-18 03:35:58

Maki
Member
From: Skopje, Macedonia
Registered: 2007-10-16
Posts: 353
Website

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

That is some idiotic user support there, How are you expected to use the laptop now, on battery till its drained ?.


If it ain't broke, broke it then fix it.

Offline

#10 2012-02-18 04:26:05

David Batson
Member
Registered: 2011-10-13
Posts: 640

Re: [SOLVED]Is my problem Hardware or Software?

namelessone wrote:

I regularly leave my computer plugged in when the battery is fully charged. This means that the system board's capacitors became fully charged, resulting in complete board malfunction. I was able to discharge the caps by removing the battery, unplugging the AC adapter, and pressing the power button 10 times, and then holding it for 10 seconds.

Now my lappy works as expected, and I have no more excuses for not getting work done.

This is an old "IBM" trick for ThinkPads.  I had a ThinkPad T42 (build circa 2005) that froze while on battery and I was able to do a hard shutdown using the power button, but I was unable to get it to power back up.  Performed the above trick and the T42 started right up.  This only happened to me one time.  The T42 still works till this day.  I've since upgraded to a ThinkPad X220 within the last year.

I've known about this trick for several years and know some ThinkPad gurus from the ThinkPad forum (forum.thinkpads.com) that suggest trying it when a ThinkPad will not start up.  Of course it certainly doesn't work on every dead ThinkPad...

Last edited by David Batson (2012-02-18 04:26:34)

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB