5 ms·

Amazing that in the comments (last one dated 2015) that this was still the case up to (and perhaps exceeding?) the t410s. That's a fairly recent device and woul

Amazing that in the comments (last one dated 2015) that this was still the case up to (and perhaps exceeding?) the t410s. That's a fairly recent device and wouldn't surprise me if this secret discharge incantation was still on the books in later models as well. Is this specific order a thinkpad related order, or is this just a generalized discharge reset? I realize that its fairly common to need to discharge, but is the order (10 presses here, hold for X amount of seconds there) important?

extrapickles 5y ago
I doubt its anything thinkpad specific, unless someone can find a datasheet for the parts involved. This sounds like a sequence designed to get people to wait long enough until the computer is fully drained of power, causing any latch-ups to clear. Sometimes a tech (or their troubleshooting tree) will have you unplug/debattery the computer, then read out serial numbers or something to accomplish this task without you noticing. I bet if you just removed the power sources, then waited a minute timed by a stopwatch it would work just as well. There is a art to making troubleshooting steps resolve a problem without the customer needing to tell the technician they made a bone headed mistake. Really well written steps like these ones make it so the customer is completely unaware that the actual problem was that they did not wait long enough.
- accrual 5y ago
  (Rewritten from memory) The apprentice noticed his machine was malfunctioning. He consulted his sensei who suggested to simply turn the machine off and back on. The apprentice tried this many times yet the machine still did not work correctly. Then the sensei turned the machine off and back on. It worked.
  - LukeShu 5y ago
    > A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on. > Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: “You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong.” > Knight turned the machine off and on. > The machine worked. http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/koans.html http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/koans.html
- rozab 5y ago
  This is also the reasoning for blowing on a cartridge/connector
ranma42 5y ago
On newer Thinkpads with a built-in battery that you can't take out, you also normally have a hidden reset button behind a small hole on the bottom, which you can push with a paper clip. This "reset" button will soft-disconnect the battery (which might then require you to plug in the AC-adapter to bring it back to life).
- bramblerose 5y ago
  It's unfortunate this isn't mentioned in the repair manual -- that simply mentions 'go into the bios and use that to soft-disconnect the battery'. Which is awfully difficult if you're disassembling the computer to repair the screen :-( But at least I now know this trick for the next time I need to do something like that. Thanks!

extrapickles 5y ago

I doubt its anything thinkpad specific, unless someone can find a datasheet for the parts involved. This sounds like a sequence designed to get people to wait long enough until the computer is fully drained of power, causing any latch-ups to clear. Sometimes a tech (or their troubleshooting tree) will have you unplug/debattery the computer, then read out serial numbers or something to accomplish this task without you noticing. I bet if you just removed the power sources, then waited a minute timed by a stopwatch it would work just as well. There is a art to making troubleshooting steps resolve a problem without the customer needing to tell the technician they made a bone headed mistake. Really well written steps like these ones make it so the customer is completely unaware that the actual problem was that they did not wait long enough.

accrual 5y ago
(Rewritten from memory) The apprentice noticed his machine was malfunctioning. He consulted his sensei who suggested to simply turn the machine off and back on. The apprentice tried this many times yet the machine still did not work correctly. Then the sensei turned the machine off and back on. It worked.
- LukeShu 5y ago
  > A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on. > Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: “You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong.” > Knight turned the machine off and on. > The machine worked. http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/koans.html http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/koans.html
rozab 5y ago
This is also the reasoning for blowing on a cartridge/connector

ranma42 5y ago

On newer Thinkpads with a built-in battery that you can't take out, you also normally have a hidden reset button behind a small hole on the bottom, which you can push with a paper clip. This "reset" button will soft-disconnect the battery (which might then require you to plug in the AC-adapter to bring it back to life).

bramblerose 5y ago
It's unfortunate this isn't mentioned in the repair manual -- that simply mentions 'go into the bios and use that to soft-disconnect the battery'. Which is awfully difficult if you're disassembling the computer to repair the screen :-( But at least I now know this trick for the next time I need to do something like that. Thanks!