[Itay zfira]

Hello
I moved to a new city in a new country, had no computer.
So a friend gave me this IBM thinkpad R50e and said "if you can get it fixed it's yours".
First try it didn't show any signs of life, so I replaced the AC socket and I got it working.
It had no hard drive so I used Xubuntu bootable cd to see if it can run an OS. It did. also the battery got charged.
the morning after I wanted to go on the net and start learning about Ubuntu(never used it befor) but after pushing the On button all the green lights blinked once, the power light stayed on but the screen stayed black, the cd rom wasn't getting power and only the fan kept on working.
No beeps.
Since then I tryed removing different components to check if one of them is making the problem. Tryed to boot without one, got it back in, tryed again to boot and moved to the next component. Nothing changed.
Befor I start a complete disassembling and reassembling it(I have debuts it will help but I will try it just to cover this strategic idea), I want some experts input on it.
Already tryed disconnecting the power cable and the battery and pushing ON many times.
Help please.

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Also I think once it was dropped (it has a small crack on the bottom but could be caused by someone trying to own it carelessly), my wild guess is there's a loose connection somewhere.

[Itay zfira]

Also I think once it was dropped (it has a small crack on the bottom but could be caused by someone trying to own it carelessly), my wild guess is there's a loose connection somewhere.

[phillpower2]

Itay zfira

Couple of questions for you;

Have you tried pressing the Fn key in case the notebook is in hibernation/power saving mode.
Have you tried connecting the notebook to an external screen using the VGA port, the display ribbon, backlight or inverter may be bad. (Shine a flashlight into the screen and then look closely, can you see anything in the background)..
Does the CD drive have a small hole in the front where you can put a straightened paper clip in to manually open the drive, just in case it is jammed.

User manual http://tim.id.au/lap...0r51e%20r52.pdf

[Itay zfira]

Thanks for the warm welcoming
I tried the Fn key, the external screen too, took apart the screen and all seems to be in place, the flashlight wouldn't be effective since I'm sure power doesn't go to the screen(the led above the screen doesn't respond), also no need to open the cd rom(it has the little hole and I can open it) but no power goes the.
It looks like one contact is bad and it shuts the whole system down except for the fan(not sure but it's the only thing that makes noise . )
As I said it used to turn on from time to time as I tried many times, when it does all systems are operational.

[Itay zfira]

Before I just gave it another try, I plugged a new hard drive in it.
Tightened all screws and pushed the on key.
It started, the green light said he reads the hard drive.
The screen is on, and boot starts from the cd rom with Xubuntu.
Then it just restarts itself 2 times(crashed) and 1 time just turns off.
I tried again and it didn't crashed (or restarted) and Xubuntu kept on loading itself.
Couple of minuts later when I was asked if I want to try Xubuntu from the cd or install it I chose install.
The next page tells me I don't have the GB needed for installation. (the hard drive is more then needed for it).
I thought I should try again, choose try from cd this time and see if Xubuntu recognizes the hard drive.
But this time I'm back to step one: no screen, cd rom doesn't get power and the only thing I get is the green lights indicates the power is on and the new hard drive.

[phillpower2]

This is odd behavior!

When you tried the external screen did you press the Fn + the F7 keys to toggle between displays.

Please try the following, remove the battery and the AC adapter, remove the Ram, hold down the power on button for around 30 seconds and this will dispel any static charge that may have built up in the computer, if you have more than one stick of Ram try fitting one stick only and see how that goes, repeat the process with slot 2 and then the same procedure again if you have a second memory stick.