12
Got a stubborn Lenovo laptop to boot again with a 30 cent part
I had an old ThinkPad T450 sitting on my bench for weeks. Would power on but show a black screen with just the caps lock light blinking. I tried reseating RAM and checking the CMOS battery. Out of ideas I put 15 bucks into a cheap BIOS chip from eBay and reflowed it with my hot air station. Booted right up on the first try after that. Has anyone else had luck fixing these blinking light codes with a chip replacement?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
the_jana6d ago
That blinking caps lock light is basically the laptop's way of crying out for help with a hardware failure. Lenovo uses it as a diagnostic code for motherboard issues like dead BIOS or corrupt firmware. I've had similar luck with older T series machines where the solder joints on the BIOS chip just crack over time from heat cycles. A hot air reflow can fix it temporarily, but swapping the chip with a programmed one is more permanent. Only tricky part is making sure you get a chip that's already flashed with the right firmware for your exact model, otherwise you'll still get that same blink pattern.
3
laura_schmidt825d ago
Man that's rough but glad you got it sorted with a cheap fix. Those blinking light codes are such a pain to trace down without a schematic or diagnostic tool handy. I've had a similar runaround with an old X240 that just would not cooperate until I swapped the chip.
2