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General discussion

Power On switch not working, what can i do?

by Hobs Crk Mar 13, 2010 3:53PM PST

A few days ago,the power on switch on my Lenovo 3000h 3cq model desktop went borkers,and has refused to work ever since then.

So far,i've managed to use my pc by connecting the two pins on the motherboard,but i'm not very confident about letting someone else at home do that when i'm not around,so i really wanted to get something done about it.

So i tried,and i found that the restart button is working perfectly,its just the on/off button that won't work.So is there a way i can rewire it so that the restart button turns the pc on?(hoping against hope here)

Failing that,how difficult is it to replace the switch? the switch is on the top,and its not a very common looking one,so would i have trouble finding a replacement?Here's an image- http://www-07.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/3000/desktop/includes/i/hseries_tower.jpg

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4 Posts
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That's a fine workaround.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 13, 2010 4:03PM PST

Just follow the reset wires to the motherboard and plug that set into the power own jumper.

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some glue and your done
by sensibility Mar 13, 2010 4:23PM PST

replacing the switch is quite easy here is what you will need. glue and new switch. remove front panel remove old switch take it to store or order new one from manufacturer. your local radioshack may have the switch. if there are no leads on the switch you may have to do some soldering. glue the new switch in place reconnect to board replace front panel; and your done.polarity of switch does not matter you are only completing/closing an open circuit. meanwhile you can rewire the reset switch to function as on/off switch.

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I tried..
by Hobs Crk Mar 13, 2010 7:37PM PST

well,thanks,gentlemen,that should have done nicely...unfortunately,with lenovo,nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

About the switch,the problem is,as you can see in the image,its on the top of the case,not on the front.I've tried everything short of taking a hammer to it,but i just cant get that one open.So no luck removing the switch,or even getting close to it.

What it also means is that the hard drive,optical drive and what not are blocking the region just below the switch,so i just can make out which wire is connected where.There's 3 wires coming from the general area of the switch

1.Black wire,7 holes looking like this- |||, (thats two rows,with one solid on the top right)
2.Black wire,9 Holes,looking like this- ,|||| (one solid,top left)
3.Bunch of thin black,red wires,13 holes- ||||||'


I'm guessing i have to interchange the first two,but as you can see from above,the wires arent meant to fit in each other's pins,so no luck there too.

Any ideas?

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Simple sw.
by Willy Mar 14, 2010 10:10AM PDT

The jerry-rigged way is to route a 2-wire connection to the power-ON at mtrbd. then route to a micro. sw. of a "monetary contact/NO=normally open)". Thus, when you hit the sw. it will act as the regular power-ON sw..

As for disassembly, I'm sure it can be done. However, some system tend to be more difficult than others in doing that. In tech terms, you want to remove the cover(skin) and expose that area. There maybe a hidden screw(lockdown) plus tongue&groove setup or a hard Velcro setup mesh or slots of sorts. Didn't the Lenevo support website offer any details of system break down like for replacement of parts, ie: hard drive? To expand upon that and offer a clue to full disassembly?

tada -----Willy Happy

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