Proof that I’m not the only one with problems with the Lenovo T-61 laptop


I had virtually no problems with my IBM T60 laptop, but my T61 has had several problems.

The most recent problem that I’ve had is that I went into hibernate mode last night, and this morning, my PC would not turn on:

  1. I dock my PC, the dock indicator light comes on, but the battery and AC power indicators on the laptop do not. The power button does not respond.
  2. I remove my PC from the dock and plug in the AC directly, still the battery and AC power indicators on the laptop do not come on.
  3. I remove the battery and plug in the AC directly. Still nothing.
  4. I finally panic enough to call our internal help desk (early call might get turnaround by lunch time) and the tech offers one last suggestion… pull the battery out (AC too) and let power state drain, then re-insert battery. Crisis averted.

Lenovo support thread for T61 power on problem

I’ve also had problems with the LCD screen being locked in an “off” state on [Max Battery] mode (Presentation mode works well, though).

When I had the PC in [Max Battery] performance, the machine would not come out of hibernate at least 50% of the time.

I had a DAILY blue screen on Windows XP when I was docked (wired connection to LAN) and wireless was turned on. This was remedied by having my laptop upgraded to a newer version of Symantec Security software than was widely deployed in the organization.

Added 2008.12.05:
If my laptop was in its docking station when I tried to hibernate, it would restart immediately. I have now gotten into the habit of undocking first, then hibernating. According to another blog, this is due to a Wake On LAN setting in Windows Device manager and BIOS.

cnet user review: Blue Screen of Death w/ Bad Customer Service

Added 2008.12.09:
T61 Problems?

Added 2008.12.12:
I ended up in the weird power state again today, but this time I was prepared to pull my battery, wait 10 seconds, and replace. Voilà! It works!


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