Hi

I have installed SUSE 10.1 on my IBM T42 laptop (as a dual booter, winXP/Linux). Everything worked great. To my surprise even the function-controlled suspend and monitor sut-off seemed to work. But.....when I pressed Fn-F4 (suspend) the computer went in suspend but never recovered. I had to shut it off as it was since I couldn't get it to come back. The worst part, IT WILL NOT START-UP AGAIN!! It is just sitting there and I don't think it even spins the harddisk when I press the power button. I cannot use my recovery disks since it simply will not boot!! What has happened?? How can I get my machine (that was working perfectly so far) back to work!!

Thanks fo any clues!

Hello,
I am also a IBM ThinkPad user. I wonder if your T series
laptop was Windows XP preloaded or what. I am pretty sure
when u purchased the laptop, Windows XP was there. And if
this is the case, then as you already installed Linux on
it, all default IBM rescure and recovery is been
vanished. And you can not recover it. So now onwards even if you press Blue IBM Access button it wont go to
rescue mode. I dont think IBM service center can help
you for free but call them and see what they say's.

Don't format hard disk drive otherwise preloaded Windows
XP which is stored in a hidden partition inside your hard disk will gone for ever and you'll need to purchase
license copy of Windows again. If you just want to run
Linux on your laptop then no problem... But beware if
you also want to use Windows on your T series laptop.
For further help check out http://forum.thinkpads.com . It's an non official
ThinkPad forum. All ThinkPad fans are out there, and
there is support for Linux as well as for Windows.
Alright then,

Best of luck,
Regard's,

Thanks for your comment. You are right that Windows came pre-loaded, but recovery is not a problem even if you have linux on there. Here's what I did:

1) use partition magic to make the windows partition smaller; there are two partitions, one is the regular windows partition, the other the rescue & recovery partition (which is not really hidden, partition magic will show it). Just don't touch the latter and you're fine.

2) Install linux on the free space you created and voila.

I have used rescue & recovery on this machine after doing this and it worked fine, no problem. I don't think my present problem is related to this. Remember, my computer will not go into bios anymore and there is no HDD activity so it goes way deeper than just a recovery or even MBR problem I would think.

Let me know what you think. Btw, talked to IBM and they will fix it for me. I think they should, this is an all hardware problem, don't think that software can screw things up so badly (not even linux) that it will not start anymore (including reading BIOS).

Like I said, I am still clueless what DID make this happen. Longer I think about it I cannot believe it to be related to the suspend button with linux.

Cheers, Tim

When you attach power cord in to the yellow jack and switch ON
power supply, battery indicator glows or not?

If it glows means power supply is ok. I guess the problem is
with the power button. Your laptop boots or it not even shows
"Z" letter which indicates system is OK in indicator lines ?
Does your laptop shows IBM ThinkPad logo when you press power
button? I know PowerQuest Partition Magic and it shows all drives
no doubt. But as you installed Linux, your existing bootloader
which was set by IBM is longer there. Hmm..Well weird problem.
Only IBM® people will tell you after they open your laptop.

Power goes on and also the Z indicator. But that's it.

On the linux install. Sure you replace the MBR, but that was never problematic. Simply used GRUB to handle the boot options. Anyway, think you're right. Let's see what the IBM fella's come up with. If you're interested I will let you know how this all ends. I just shipped my laptop out and the DHL guy said IBM is pretty good on the returns. Will see.

I guess the problem is either with hard disk drive or BIOS.
When your laptop boots it shows IBM ThinkPad
logo on screen or not? Just shows Power "Z" indicator?

Sure. When you receive your laptop back with report, tell me what
was the problem. It'll be helpful if such case comes in near future
at http://forum.thinkpads.com URL. I provide support
there for IBM R series and for
Windows and Linux OS's too sometimes. You can check out cool pics
of various ThinkPad models under "Your ThinkPad pics" catagory.
X series laptop pics are lovely.

Alright. By the way your from which country? What is your opinion
about IBM laptop's? I am a ThinkPad user and
i would never buy any other brand in the future ..IBM ThinkPad simply rocks. They provide good
service support during warranty period.

There is no screen output whatsoever. The big black.

I am from the Netherlands though currently live in the US. I like the IBM thinkpad sofar. Whether their warranty is ay good I am about to found out. Will postpone my definite view on IBM thinkpad's when I do. BTW I am not particularly happy with this happening in the first place regardless of warranty. Before the IBM I have had an ACER laptop running Linux exclusively and it has served me for over 6 years being always the most reliable machine I had (including the desktops).

Anyway, will let you know how it ends out.

I had a similar problem with a desktop system.
I suspended instead of shuting down then the computer would not boot.
It remained stuck on the BIOS screen. I could not even enter the BIOS setup.

After looking aroung a little bit I found out that the way certain jumpers on the motherboard were configured the CPU would not wake up from the S3 and S4 sleep modes. Changing the jumper settings solved the problem.

I don't think that opening the T42 and looking around for jumpers on the motherboard is a good idea though but I be the problem is some kind of hardware configuraion problem.

Thanks you guys for the discussion and input. I got my laptop back from IBM. The good thing: they're fast. Two days, in and out and laptop worked (they were very unclear about what they did to it). Then the bad stuff. They managed to forget reconnecting the touchpad (well, it didn't worked; at the time I was unaware that it needed reconnection); when I called them they decided it would be best to send me a new armrest (including touchpad) which I were to install myself. They have these really neat video's on their website that assist you with that so it is simple. When I removed the keyboard it turned out that the permanently damaged the thread on one of the screws. After looking inside I found that the armrest they send me was the wrong model. At the point of calling them up I saw that the connector of the touchpad was simply loose so the problem was fixed. I called them about the keyboard and they send me a new one, with attaching screws. I have yet to install it since I needed my laptop for work desperately but will do so this week. So after that, the computer is back running. No idea what caused it to blank out and I guess I better not touch the sleep button when under Linux.

The warranty is thus good although their repair crew appears to consist of morons. The overall picture with respect to service is thus not completely hopeless but be sure to check your machine after they send it back! Even if it works!