this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2026
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I am looking to build myself a cheap theater PC by using the motherboard of an older laptop. I found a good deal on the motherboard from an X1 Carbon 9th gen, and I'd buy the heatsink and fans separately. Does anyone know how the power button is connected to the motherboard? Is it just some 2 pin connector or something more sophisticated because of the fingerprint reader?

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[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Is it just some 2 pin connector or something more sophisticated because of the fingerprint reader?

Its been a while since I've tried it, and never tried it on a more modern machine. But the connector is more than just 2 pins. But the actual power button should just be shorting two pins. Since you won't have the keyboard you won't have a way to probe for which pins do the power. But if I remember right the power/fingerprint button gets merged with the flex cable for the touch pad so there's a lot of pins to probe. Looking at photos online of the palm rest I'm not seeing a dedicated power button connection so that appears to be the case for that one too.

Good news is that google says if you remove all power and plug it in the machine should turn on. So just make sure you configure power on when plugged in and you should be good.

But a bonus issue is you may get the "system configuration invalid" error my T14 gets every time it reboots. I get the error because I swapped the main board from a T16 into my T14. IDK if not having a chassis will trigger that alarm. But it's incredibly obnoxious and I never got around to trying to fix that.

[–] yuman@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

swapped the main board from a T16 into my T14

you did what?! how come? which CPU and gen into which gen? what's the display situation? what's the upside? any difficulites?

@OP thinkpads usually have a setup setting that turns them on when they detect power, that's easier than fishing for power-on pads

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

12th Gen. U tier CPU to 12th Gen. P. I got two more performance cores. Ultimately not worth it since Lenovo power throttles the machines to a mere 21 watts.

T14 and T16s use the exact same motherboard. The heatsink was slightly different, but just slightly. I wanted to upgrade to the dGPU heatsink anyways.

[–] yuman@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

beyond awesome, thanks!

I was savvy to the X390/X13G1/T49x/T14G1 motherboard interchangeability, but this is new info. just checked, no busted T16s in my neck of the woods, will keep a lookout.

[–] meekah@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

looking at pictures from lenovo's repair guide, it seems like the power button is separate from the keyboard, but still not just 2 pins because of the fingerprint reader. figuring out the pins to start it should be doable. That setting sounds like a good option, I'll just have to hope it is already enabled hahah, otherwise I guess I'll have to figure out the correct pins to boot it a first time.

[–] yuman@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

DIY perks has a new video out addressing this exact scenario and there are links to determine how to power on the things https://youtu.be/7FStfdGjAwc

[–] meekah@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

Oh wow that's perfect

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

I used the carbon for work for a while; just office stuff, nothing demanding.

You're gonna hear a LOT about fans in the coming months; mostly from the machine at the slightest bit of work as the tiny fan array spins into a frenzy best reminiscent of your last dentist nightmare.