BLACK SCREEN startup with 3 beeps, FREEZES when unplugged, Splash screen freeze, HEAT-UP TO BOOT

Question

BLACK SCREEN startup with 3 beeps, FREEZES when power unplugged, IF IT BOOTS splash screen freezes, OVERHEATING REQUIRED TO BOOT - 0x7B, Event 41 kernel-powe
Issue: One day I unplug the power, the screen freezes and I get frozen music sound. I shut down, start up, I get 3 beeps (1 short 2 long), which indicates a Video failure according to the Thinkpad Laptop beep code list.
How I solve the issue day-to-day: I turn the heat up - I disconnect the battery and hard drive and plug in the power then turn it on. I will wait until the underneath is searing hot with a blanket blocking the fan's flow of air, I mean way hot because any cooler and it won't start. Plug stuff back in, Hard drive first, Battery second, turn off with power button hold, unplug power, replug power.
I turn it on, no beeps, it goes past the first Lenovo screen, then gives me a prompt because it "didn't shut down properly" and continue regular startup. What happens next is the Windows logo appears, and just as the animated windows logo starts to move (you see 2 small colored dots on the screen), it freezes. I see this every time, I know naturally that it means that the laptop is still too hot to go past that point, so I shut it down and try again. After about 5 - 10 tries it will go past the splash screen and into the login area, then it's all fine.
Sometimes when I unplug the power from the back by accident it will freeze. By accident I mean that the connector wiggles it's self out easily. This unplug freezing thing started happening about 1 week before the 3 beep black screen problem started rolling, so I'm putting 2 together.
Errors:
I got a Blue Screen of Death the first time I started it up with the overheating ritual, but I never got it since. It was 0X7B. I ended up changing a setting in BIOS from AHCI to Compatibility Mode, and I passed everything without the BSOD again. I have always had it on AHCI.
I got another Blue Screen of Death about a week ago, but came as it was on already and I had been using it, and said something about disabling Cache or Shadowing in BIOS. I never got it since.
BIOS:
Also, the time was set to 1988 or something in the BIOS.
Event Viewer events found:
1. Kernel-Power, Summary page.
There are critical events for a few things like Kernel-Power, Event ID 41, Task Category (63). There are 19 of them, each day 1 or 2 of them but mostly 1, so this maybe corresponds to my daily ritual.
"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."
2. Kernel-Processor-Power - Event ID 37, task category (7)
"The speed of processor 1 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 71 seconds since the last report."
3. LMS - HCMI - Event ID 2, Task Category: none
"LMS Service cannot connect to HECI driver".
I came across a very sluggish performing control panel for Nvidia before and after this problem, and I tried installing a newer version, which I had to jump through a few hoops to do, like uninstalling first, not just updating. At first it said that the driver wasnt made for the system, or that it wasnt compatible or something, which was wrong. I made it work somehow, but it was still sluggish after install. I rolled it back to an earlier driver, and now it works fine oddly. No sluggish performance / slight freeze window thing going on. No problem at all.
     MSCONFIG.exe, Boot Advanced Options: I have tried twice to change this 1 setting, check box "Number of processors" and change to 2 processors, because I do have 2 processors. I have been able to change this in the past, but it does not save the setting now, and I believe this option was selected before I started having problems, and settings did not disappear then.
What could this be. The small round BIOS battery? The video card like everyone presumes? (I.E. the entire motherboard replacement), Software? The wiggly power input area? (Not enough power getting in?), Firmware of some sort? The BIOS software being wrong?
SYSTEM INFO:
Thinkpad T61p 6457-A24, Intel core 2 duo (T7700) 2.4GHz, Intel 120GB SSD 6Gb/s, NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (256 MB),
Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium (6.1, Build 7601), BIOS Ver 1.00PARTTBLx
Display: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit 60 Hz), Integrated RAMDAC, Main driver: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2,
Version 8.17.12.9688, Date 5/31/2012, DDI version 10, Driver model WDDM 1.1

Answer 1

T61-Elwood wrote:
Laptops of all Brands using Nvidia GPUsmade  from 2007-2008  are faulty.
You wont get good Nvidia ones on Ebay/forumes anywhere.
I'd beg to differ on both accounts.
*61 series nVidia-based ThinkPads from late January through July of 2008 are a 50/50 shot, since the old chips were mixed with the new ones. Any machine built in August and later can be deemed "safe".
As for the forums (I don't do feebay) there are people who sell genuine, properly-tested planars. However, these do not come at bargain basement prices, and with a good reason if I may add.
Good luck.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.