IBM Thinkpad won't POST.

Hello,

I just dug up my old IBM Thinkpad R31, only to discover that when I turn it on, the following happens:

I hear all of the fans spin up, the HD green light stays lit, and the power light lights up green. Besides that, nothing. No BIOS, no nothing. I think I heard some slight HD noise from seeking, but laptop hard drives are so quiet it's sometimes difficult to tell when you have all the fans blowing in the same 'top.

Any ideas as to what I should do? I'm a huge laptop n00b, never taken one apart before ... (desktop PCs are another story). I'd appreciate any help you guys could offer.

Thanks!
-JP

1. see if there is a bios battery (other than the main battery)
2. see if there is a un-documented reset button (aka paper clip hole)
3. pull out the battery, AC, and hold the power switch down for 10-30sec

try re-seating the memory, connecting an external monitor

Check the cmos/ bios battery.Ibm are known for there bios/ cmos batteries. If there is no cmos/bios the laptop will go nuts- reason is that without that battery the laptop does not know who or what it is. If there is one than it might be dead and will need to be replaced

I replaced the battery about ~1 year ago... I removed it and found no CMOS reset. Tried hooking it up to a monitor, no luck.

Reseated the memory, turned it on and it's doing the same thing again. I haven't found any "paperclip" reset holes anywhere yet, and I don't have the original documentation for this particular model.

Any other suggestions?

Have you visited the forums at www.thinkpads.com? They may have more specific info on this problem.

Have you tried connecting an external moniter? If your unit turns on and you are hearing no beep codes (memory is not bad) then chances are your LCD backlight or inverter might not be working. This way you can narrow it down.

I've tried hooking up to an external monitor, yes, with no success.

I'll try the Thinkpad forums ... thanks guys, I appreciate the help.