t41p Problem

If you suspect faulty RAM, you can try running Memtest86
http://www.memtest86.com/

let it run overnight.

Not at all. My T41p has been the most reliable laptop I've ever used. I don't think I've ever seen the BSOD on any IBM I've owned. I'd call support ASAP and report the problem. There should be a copy of PC Doctor installed that you should probably run before calling support because they will tell you to run it when you call.

I'll be interested to hear what the problem is so please post the results of your findings.

Try doing a restore to factory contents and see if you are still getting the BSOD.. that would be something I would try.. maybe take out the mini pci card.. all but one stick of ram.. any pc cards....and do the restore.. if youa re still having tha tproblem it's time to call ibm.. after you restore o factory settings, I think you should probably go ahead and leave it that way.

Is there anything specific about what you are doing when the bson appears, it a repeatable action.. try avoiding that programif you can narrow it down, but the restore would swuash that too.

Whoa nelly. Before you go back to system settings, try running system restore back to a day when you know you didn't get any BSOD. It's saved me more than a couple of times. The trick is to remember when that magic day was that you didn't get a BSOD. Let me know if you need any help running system restore. It's pretty simple.

the xp system restore is junk, it may fix the problem you are having right now for a day or 2, but it will cause 3 more. I woulnd't waste my time with it.

You're mistaken.

The system restore puts the laptop back to the way it was when everything worked. All sorts of problems could have arisen from bad installs or just a file going bad, or any number of other things happening over time.

All this can be undone and fixed by a system restore.

I know alot of people that have been helped by doing a system restore and none that have gotten these 3 additional problems you're refering to.

XP isn't like previous operating systems (Windows ME, etc) that gradually seemed to go bad over time for some people. With XP something has to happen. You have to install a bad program or (rarely) a file will have a problem that Windows-File-Protection fails to catch.

In my opinoin with Windows ME (or 95, 98, etc) you had to either be lucky or good (technical) to avoid problems. With Windows XP this is reversed; now you have to by very unlucky or bad (make a mistake) to have problems. And XP has a very useful built in tool to help undo things if you or a naughty program messes something up. Your complaint reminds me of someone saying... Oh I don't use the brake. I used it once and sure the car stopped had the car problems with things rattling around inside it for days afterwards. Possibly getting a few minor nuasance problems when you are trying to stop blue screens is letting trival stand in the way of a fix.

Damn...I haven't had the BSOD issue (have you tried the BIOS update out there?) But I have noticed that my T41p will simply lock up while playing games. No matter what game - no matter how intensive (even 3d screen savers) - after about 45 minutes of game time - I'll get a lock up. No errors are written to the event log - nothing.

I've restored the system - no luck - I've updated the video drivers - no luck.

Kinda irritating. Anyone else notice this?

Are you playing games with the FireGL 2 drivers? I am going to create a second boot of XP Pro on my T41p's 2nd HD for my games, and install the Radeon 9600 drivers.

the stock 512 stick and a second stick of aftermarket 512 from CompUSA - can't remember who made it though.

I saw something about that 99% CPU from rundll on ThinkPads.com forum. Have you installed the updated power management software? Some folks have claimed that probloem went away (as well as other issues of unresponsive Control Panel windows) once they'd updated.

That's a darn good idea. I've been backing all my important stuff up to my work laptop and think I'll be ready to flatten the disk out and start over on my 41p this weekend....tonight even....

I've been wanting to reclaim the 6-7 gigabytes of restore partition as well - so might as well do that too....(more room for music...)

Once I get the factory stuff restored I'll start patching slowly and setup a 3d test and let it run. I just had to reboot from the system freezing up while playing through a final fantasy crystal chronicles screen saver. One thing I notice is that when it decides to tank - the fan kicks on and won't kick off.

Let me know how your test goes.

Just a note. Played about 2 hours of multiplayer WarCraft III with my son tonight with no problems at all. He just kicked me off the IBM and has been playing Dungeon Seige (Legends) for about 30 minutes at full eye-candy. The perfomance is nice and smooth and no freezeups. Haven't flattened the drive out yet....maybe tomorrow.