
Hopefully you’re not having this problem yourself but here’s the information about the issue.
Lenovo says the reason the Thinkpads power off is due to an electrostatic discharge between the system and the docking station or port replicator. Their solution is a field kit consisting of rubber caps. These caps are applied to metal prongs on the dock or replicator and protect the Thinkpad from electrostatic discharge. It’s that easy, just apply the rubber caps and no more problem.
Contact the Lenovo Support Center. The FRU for the caps is 42W3219.
From the Lenovo support site discussing MIGR-67382:
The following shows how these rubber caps are installed:
Notes:
*There are four EMI fingers. Place the caps on the outer two fingers,
leaving the inner two uncovered.
*The rubber caps needs to be pushed to the right after they are put on the EMI fingers to avoid friction between the rubber cap and the plastic top cover of the dock or replicator.–
I just have this issue with my docking. Where do I get these rubber caps?
This happens sometimes to my Thinkpad T500 when docking to Advanced Mini-Dock – it just powers off! It comes with the rubber caps already installed on the "outer fingers". I guess I will try the solution mentioned here (http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prior-T-series-ThinkPad/Docking-open-T61p-on-the-Advanced-dock-powers-off-the-laptop/td-p/14342) and remove/insert the docking stations power briefly before I dock each time …