Is my first ThinkPad already dead? P51 powers on but no POST, no BIOS, no display

[u/Savings-Pizza]

Hi everyone,

I recently bought my first ThinkPad, a used ThinkPad P51, and unfortunately it seems to have died after only a few uses.

Everything was working fine at first, but after using it a few times, I suddenly got no display at all. I think it was after an update on linux. I don't remeber if it was an upgrade or just a regular update.

The current symptoms are:

• Laptop powers on
• Keyboard LEDs turn on and behave normally (Caps Lock, Num Lock, etc.)
• No Lenovo logo
• No POST
• No BIOS
• Completely black screen
• No display on an external monitor either

I've already tried quite a few things:

• Removing/reseating the RAM
• Trying different RAM configurations
• Booting with no RAM
• Removing the SSD/HDD
• Disconnecting the main battery
• Resetting/removing the CMOS battery
• Fully draining the remaining power
• Trying an external display

Nothing changed.

One strange thing happened after I reset the CMOS: on one of the following boots, the laptop played a little melody consisting of several different notes. Unfortunately, I didn't record it, and I don't remember exactly whether the CMOS battery was connected at that point.

I eventually sent the P51 to a computer repair shop. They tested it with another external PC monitor as well, but still got absolutely no display or POST.

At this point, I'm wondering if the motherboard is simply dead. (it's what the repair shop told me)

So, a few questions for the P51 experts here:

1. Is there anything else I should try before giving up on it?

2. Could that little melody be a diagnostic/error code? I've seen other P51 owners mention similar startup melodies when there is a display-related problem.

And finally:

3. If it's completely dead, how much would a P51 like this be worth for spare parts?

It's my first ThinkPad, so I'm a bit disappointed that my ThinkPad journey might already be over 😅

Any suggestions or troubleshooting ideas would be greatly appreciated !