Recap guide
Recap the IBM ThinkPad 700 series
Only three electrolytics to deal with on the DC/DC board, and one had leaked in the one repair we found.
Open the interactive checklist Tick off each capacitor as you replace it. It saves in your browser.
Check first. A recap is not always the answer here, so look at the guides before you order parts.
Which board do I have?
Boards changed during production. These notes come from the linked sources, and many are only partly documented, so check the board in front of you.
- ThinkPad 700C (Low confidence). How to tell: Labelled 700C; the series also includes the mono 700, 720 and 710T. Capacitors: On one 700C the only electrolytics on the main system were three on the DC/DC board; a leaking one was a surface mount 47uF. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
Where to start
Clues from write-ups and forum threads, not a diagnosis. Low confidence means one thread or one repair; high means several write-ups agree.
- DC/DC board (Low confidence). One write-up notes just three electrolytics on the DC/DC board, including a leaking 47 uF SMD cap. Source
Tips, tales and maybes
Found in write-ups and forum threads. These are other people's reports, not tested by us. Check part references and values against your own board.
- Tip: Where the 700 series caps are (Medium confidence). A thread on 700, 700C, 720 and 720C machines lists leaking electrolytics on three boards: the display inverter (3 caps), the contrast/VCOM board (5 caps, often unmarked) and the main DC/DC board (3 caps). Members used 22uF 35V, 47uF 25V and 100uF 10V. A screaming noise from the base is a reported symptom. Source
- Watch out: Hinge mounts crack in storage (Low confidence). The same thread says the brittle plastic hinge mounts fail when the lid stays attached to the base in storage, and suggests separating them. The 700 series also uses proprietary ESDI drives, so a drive error may not be a capacitor issue. Source
- Story: 750c backlight and LCD died, leaking SMD caps (Low confidence). A 750c owner found leaking SMD caps on two power boards feeding the CCFL, and the LCD later died too. A reply said failed backlights on 750s are usually leaking caps on the LCD and inverter boards and a recap probably fixes them. Source
- Tip: 701c memory errors: try the CMOS battery first (Medium confidence). A thread on error codes 201, 161 and 163 on a 701c says nearly all such memory errors were a weak CMOS battery. The author measured a depleted cell causing error 201 and a reversed cell giving beeps, so replace the coin cell before blaming RAM or caps. Source
Before you start
- Boards changed during production. Check your board number against the guides before you order parts.
Guides we used
This page and the interactive bench are built from these. They have the photos and the full detail, so please read them and support their authors.
- IBM ThinkPad 700C (Write-up) by ret.rocks. Notes just three electrolytics to deal with
The capacitor list
We have not checked a capacitor list for this machine yet, so none is shown. Follow the guide above for your board, then add the capacitors in the interactive checklist and it builds a shopping list for you.
Skip the sourcing
While you are in there
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Steps, tools and safety
The steps, the tools in top, middle and budget picks, and the safety list are the same for every machine, so they live on one page: How to recap, step by step.
Values are shown as published in the guides above, and boards changed during production. Check the board in front of you. A recap involves hot tools and, on some machines, dangerous voltages. You do it at your own risk.