Thinkpad is beeping an unknown error code and won't even boot to bios

[concorde77]

Hi guys,

 

My brother is having a no-start issue with his Thinkpad X1 Carbon laptop. When I pressed the power button the screen did not turn on, but the LEDs and fans did. It also gave me a bios beep code that I read with the diagnostic app. But when it tried to look it up, I couldn't find anything at all about it on google or Lenovo's tech support site. I even tried calling their customer support number to see if they knew the code, but all they told me was to try removing and reinserting the battery... again.

 

The bios beep code was: 010288

 

Does anyone know what this code means? And if so, is there anything that I can still do to fix it; or at least how I can recover the data from the computer?

 

Thank you very much!

 

Laptop Specs:

Model: Thinkpad X1 Carbon (6th gen) [it's 2 years old]

Machine type: 20KH

OS: Windows 10 (OEM version)

BIOS: I do not know the exact version, but it is the original BIOS that came with the laptop

 

 

 

 

 

[kelvinhall05]

Can you get a full video of what happens from when you press the power button to when it stops booting or whatever? Did it just...stop working? Or did someone break something in it (water damage or whatever)?

 

 

You can likely just put the SSD into another computer if you are unable to fix the machine. iirc these had removeable drives.

[Guest]

Beep symptoms
Table 3. Beep symptoms
Symptom or error FRU or action, in sequence
One short beep, pause, three short beeps, pause, three
more short beeps, pause, and one short beep (1-3-3-1
beeps)
System board
One long and two short beeps System board

 

Cant upload the pdf file is 50mb. Site allows on 20mb. Sry fer that.

[concorde77]

On 5/11/2020 at 2:54 PM, kelvinhall05 said:

Can you get a full video of what happens from when you press the power button to when it stops booting or whatever? Did it just...stop working? Or did someone break something in it (water damage or whatever)?

 

 

You can likely just put the SSD into another computer if you are unable to fix the machine. iirc these had removeable drives.

Here's a video of the laptop when I start it up. Beyond the beeping and the LEDs, it doesn't really do much else. I don't know what my brother did to it while he was in school, but I suspect he may have damaged the hardware somehow.

 

Laptop keeps beeping and won't start https://imgur.com/a/6BVeQJk

Edited May 13, 2020 by concorde77
Had to fix link

[kelvinhall05]

2 minutes ago, concorde77 said:

Here's a video of the laptop when I start it up. Beyond the beeping and the LEDs, it doesn't really do much else. I don't know what my brother did to it while he was in school, but I suspect he may have damaged the hardware somehow.

 

Laptop keeps beeping https://imgur.com/a/Z5cdOku

Link is broken.

[concorde77]

2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Link is broken.

Sorry about that, imgur uploaded it without sound by accident 

[kelvinhall05]

14 minutes ago, concorde77 said:

Sorry about that, imgur uploaded it without sound by accident 

No, like, the link doesn't lead to any video. Says it doesn't exist or whatever.

 

Just put it on YouTube and have it unlisted.

[concorde77]

19 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

No, like, the link doesn't lead to any video. Says it doesn't exist or whatever.

 

Just put it on YouTube and have it unlisted.

I re-uploaded it and changed the link out in the original post. The new one is working fine on my end.

 

https://imgur.com/a/6BVeQJk

[kelvinhall05]

5 minutes ago, concorde77 said:

I re-uploaded it and changed the link out in the original post. The new one is working fine on my end.

 

https://imgur.com/a/6BVeQJk

Yeah, this one works.

 

 

Man, it's so hard to tell what the beep code is, and I can't slow down Imgur's video. Can you make out short/long beeps?

 

https://support.lenovo.com/ca/en/solutions/ht062270

[concorde77]

On 5/11/2020 at 3:46 PM, ShrimpBrime said:

Beep symptoms
Table 3. Beep symptoms
Symptom or error FRU or action, in sequence
One short beep, pause, three short beeps, pause, three
more short beeps, pause, and one short beep (1-3-3-1
beeps)
System board
One long and two short beeps System board

 

Cant upload the pdf file is 50mb. Site allows on 20mb. Sry fer that.

What pdf are you referencing? Is it a user manual for the laptop? 

If you're having trouble getting over the file limit, you could upload it to google drive and paste the link as a reply.

[kelvinhall05]

NEVER MIND, FOUND THE PROBLEM

 

 

Display is fucked. Try power it on with an external display.

 

[kelvinhall05]

Haha, seems you have to download an app to read the code.

 

https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/x1_carbon_6thgen_hmm_en.pdf

 

But yes, it is a problem with the display or its cable. Try opening up the machine and reconnecting the display cable.

[concorde77]

1 minute ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Yeah, this one works.

 

 

Man, it's so hard to tell what the beep code is, and I can't slow down Imgur's video. Can you make out short/long beeps?

 

https://support.lenovo.com/ca/en/solutions/ht062270

 

1 minute ago, kelvinhall05 said:

NEVER MIND, FOUND THE PROBLEM

 

 

Display is fucked. Try power it on with an external display.

 

Oof, that sounds expensive. I'll give it a shot

[Guest]

1 minute ago, concorde77 said:

What pdf are you referencing? Is it a user manual for the laptop? 

If you're having trouble getting over the file limit, you could upload it to google drive and paste the link as a reply.

I looked that up on my Phone which I do not have google drive installed on....

Yes, pretty sure that was the manual.

However, I copy pasted the needed information. 

 

 

[kelvinhall05]

1 minute ago, concorde77 said:

 

Oof, that sounds expensive. I'll give it a shot

See my other reply. Could be fixed by just replugging the display.

[concorde77]

55 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

See my other reply. Could be fixed by just replugging the display.

Good news, it was a display issue! I hooked it up to one of my monitors and it connected just fine.

 

I don't have a lot of experience working on laptop hardware though. Do you have a link to a tutorial I could use for replugging the screen?

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, concorde77 said:

Good news, it was a display issue! I hooked it up to one of my monitors and it connected just fine.

 

I don't have a lot of experience working on laptop hardware though. Do you have a link to a tutorial I could use for replugging the screen?

It's a Thinkpad, so thankfully it will be super easy to open up. Display connector should be immediatly visible. I don't have any guides but you can probably do it without one.

[concorde77]

2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

It's a Thinkpad, so thankfully it will be super easy to open up. Display connector should be immediatly visible. I don't have any guides but you can probably do it without one.

Ok, I'll open it up later this afternoon.

 

Thanks for all the help man, couldn't have done it without you!!

[kelvinhall05]

1 minute ago, concorde77 said:

Ok, I'll open it up later this afternoon.

 

Thanks for all the help man, couldn't have done it without you!!

Yeah np, let me know if you need any help with replacing the display (not much I can do over the internet but I can try, lol)

[concorde77]

On 5/14/2020 at 11:41 AM, kelvinhall05 said:

Yeah np, let me know if you need any help with replacing the display (not much I can do over the internet but I can try, lol)

So I've got good news and bad news. I reconnected the display connector, and I was able to see the Lenovo logo pop up! The screen is working great!

 

... And then the computer hit me with a BSOD.

 

It said that auto repair couldn't fix it, even after about 3 full restarts. Any ideas on what to do next?

 

[kelvinhall05]

9 minutes ago, concorde77 said:

So I've got good news and bad news. I reconnected the display connector, and I was able to see the Lenovo logo pop up! The screen is working great!

 

... And then the computer hit me with a BSOD.

 

It said that auto repair couldn't fix it, even after about 3 full restarts. Any ideas on what to do next?

 

 

Is reinstalling Windows an option?

 

 

I don't run Windows and my advice for solving problems are:

1. Restart

2. If that doesn't work, reinstall