I have 3 IBM ThinkPad T30 notebooks; they all have a common LCD related issue
I have 3 IBM ThinkPad T30 notebooks; they all have a common LCD related issue. Their LCD backlight is flashing in a random manner. It doesn’t turn itself off, just gets a little bit dimmer. It’s barely visible when something is moving on the screen (like movies and games), but its very annoying viewing the desktop. First I thought that it’s
synchronized with HDD activity, but it turned out, that it isn’t. I disassembled all of them (removing the motherboard too) and put them back together (there were no noticeable damages), but the symptom stayed. I figure it has something to do either with the backlight bulb, or the inverter, or a general power problem.Any suggestions or help is much appreciated.
When I have to fix a laptop backlight problem, I always start with reseating connectors on the FL inverter board and then replacing the inverter with a test one. Very often just reseating itself helps a lot.
Try to reseat connectors on the inverter board. You can use ProGold connector enhancer to improve connector conductivity. IBM ThinkPad T30 service manual has instructions for taking apart LCD screen assembly. If it doesn’t help, I would check what version of BIOS you have installed and search on IBM website for the latest version (actually I would try it before opening up the laptop display assembly). It’s possible that newer BIOS version has a fix for the backlight problem. If it still doesn’t help, I would try replacing the inverter board. You have good chances that it will fix the backlight problem. Fortunately, new inverters for IBM ThinkPad T30 notebooks are cheap.
BTW, I assume that you have tried reinstalling the video driver already. Just in case.
UPDATE: Here’s an update for you guys. I’ve created a disassembly guide on how to replace the screen inverter on an IBM notebook.
January 28th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
I have a IBM T40 laptop that has worked fine for a long time until recently. Now the video screen goes black and its not the screen saver time out. I connected an external monitor and the external monitor displays everything just fine when the laptop screen goes blank. When I take a toothpick and quickly stick it in the little “closed laptop” peg hole, both screens flicker and video returns to both screens. The laptop screen however goes black again a few minutes later. Why is this happening? over heating? is the fix expensive?
January 16th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
J,
It could be a loose video cable. Lift up the keyboard and reseat the video cable. Test the laptop again.
When you have a problem with the backlight, the screen will not light up. The image on the screen will be very very dark and usually you can see it only if you look very closely.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Hi, I have an IBM thinkpad A31p. I bought this March 2003. It is not under warranty anymore. My LCD is unreadable. It has small horizontal lines/rectangles all over. I experienced this 2 Sundays ago. I re-booted my laptap and i tried using an external monitor and the external monitor worked perfectly. Surprisingly, the laptop LCD worked properly as well. SO, i started using my laptop but the problem resurfaced again. Then, i decided to shut it down. The next day, I booted my laptop and the LCD screen worked fine. Its been week and my laptop LCD worked fine. However, yesterday, 15 January 2007, i encountered the same problem. I decided to shut it down and reboot. Then my screen worked fine. However, today, the problem occurred again, What are the possible problem. I hope its not the LCD screen.
Another thing, how do i know if its a backlight problem. What would happen to my LCD if the backlight is the problem?
I read through various posts here and i surmised that there are three possible problems: 1)Loose cable, 2) inverter, 3)video card and 4)LCD.
I’ve eliminated the video card problem since my laptop works well with an external monitor. What do you think is the problem?
By the way, i tried moving the LCD back and forth but no change.
I hope you can help m e identify the problem.
thanks.
January 3rd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Hi, Laptop Freak,
Thank you very much for your help and your guidance.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Katherine,
FRU is short for field replaceable unit. When you are looking for a spare part for an IBM laptop, you should search by the FRU number, not P/N. I’m not sure if the inverter board with FRU 26P8412 is interchangeable with FRU 26P8419. I would definitely go with the original FRU number. You can find a new inverter on ebay if you search by the FRU number. Maybe your new inverter is not a right one for your screen and that’s why it’s getting hot?
January 2nd, 2007 at 8:49 am
I had the same problem on my IBM T20.
No pink screen, but the screen would get very very dim and then come back on if I did FN-F7 a couple of times. Very frustrating.
I had never opened a laptop up before and was a little intimidated at the thought. But I found the T20 manual and it was actually very easy for open up following the directions.
I found that the inverter card was fine, just the connections had come loose. I plugged them back in more tightly, closed it up and everything is fine.
Whole thing took not more than 2 hours.
December 31st, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Hi, laptopfreak,
Thank you very much for the information.
I have a T30 and the LCD went dark. I replaced the inverter card. However, sometimes the inverter card got very hot and I have to stop it. I checked the new inverter card, it is the “P/N 26P8410 FRU 26P8412″ (my T30 is 2366-81H.) I found that the old one marked as “P/N 26P8408 FRU 26P8419″. I do not know what all of those means. I wonder if that cause the burning problem?
Thank you again.
December 16th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Havranek,
In the comment 20 you said that the screen flickers ONLY when you move the lid and never turns off by itself. When you move the lid, you flex the cable and it’s possible that you have a faulty video cable. I would try replacing the video cable before anything else. The cable is not very expensive and you can find it on ebay for about $20-25.
December 15th, 2006 at 2:31 am
I reseated the cables and applied contact spray at connectors, it helped a little but the problem’s still there. Also I noticed that when the lid is straight up (90 degrees angle) moving it further back won’t turn off the backlight, it only gets a little dimmer and brighter. It’s only moving it towards me (like I want to close it) that turns backlight off. I made a little image to show what I mean:
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/2076/screenyo5.gif
I can turn backlight on by tapping the little button that indicates that lid is closed, but not always. Sometimes I have to move the lid first. Maybe the cables going to inverter are damaged?
December 14th, 2006 at 1:09 am
Havranek,
First of all I would try reseating the cables connected to the inverter board, I think they might be loose.
December 12th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Hello!
I have a bit other problem than described here.
My IBM T20 has flickering screen too (backlight turning on and off), but ONLY when I move the lid. It never turns off by itself, although it was getting worse lately (smaller movements needed for backlight to go off) and I noticed that sometime, but rarely, it gets a little bit dimmer for a second or so.
I wonder if it’s just inverter? Maybe it’s video cable or some connections are faulty?
December 12th, 2006 at 1:06 am
Allie,
If you can find the same screen for $300-400 instead of $900, go for it. You might also check out these guys, I bought 2-3 screens from them and didn’t have any problem. Just make sure to contact a seller before you order a new screen and confirm that’s the right one.
The price might vary and from my point of view cheaper-better.
December 12th, 2006 at 12:56 am
Dan,
Sounds like a bad FL inverter board. I would try replacing the inverter board first, it’s not very difficult and it’s cheap. You can find a new inverter board for $10-15 on ebay.
December 11th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Update on Thinkpad T41p screen problem from early post (no. 15): the screen is now going dark frequently when connected to the AC source too. Shutting the display off and on helps for a short time but I must keep the display brightness turned down completely. Lastly, an external monitor works just fine and is unaffected by this problem.
December 9th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Hey! So recently, i dropped my laptop and the lcd screen is cracked with black ink spots all over the screen. I need to get it either replaced, or repaired (if it can be). I’m very confused on the price that this will cost b/c IBM tech support told me it is $895 to get a new LCD, however, websites such as laptoprepair.com and screentekinc.com says that a Thinkpad T60 14.1 inch screen is only around $300-$400 brand new. Which one is true??
December 8th, 2006 at 7:13 am
I have T41p Thinkpad with odd LCD behavior similar to above, but a different twist. The screen goes black after a few second when using battery (windows is faintly visible on black screen if you look real hard). If I hit Fn+F3 to shut off display and then Fn to turn it back on, it will show lightup normally for a few seconds then goes black again. This will not happen when on AC power if I dim the LCD a little. If I am on AC and turn the AC brightness up all the way I get the exact same behavior as on the battery — the screen goes blank….. All drivers and BIOS are current and updated. No hardware has ever been changed or added to the factory configuration. Thanks!
November 27th, 2006 at 1:12 am
Thank you for your response. I will post back based after trying these. I am worried that this may be a case of Motherboard failure because the laptop AC adapater had failed in the previous month and the laptop went from power to battery every 2 mins and I think that might have damaged the motherboard.
Thank you again.
November 26th, 2006 at 12:05 am
Nav,
I would check if the memory modules are seated properly and reseat them just in case. Try moving the memory from one slot from another, just in case you have a faulty RAM slot on the motherboard. One memory slot is located on the bottom of the laptop and you can access it if you remove the cover (in might be empty). The second memory slot is located under the keyboard. Check out the hardware maintenance manual for help with disassembly. Check all cables under the keyboard, make sure they all seated properly. If reseating the memory modules and cables will not help, then I would suspect a motherboard failure. Not sure though. It’s hard to troubleshoot these kinds of failures over the Internet.
November 25th, 2006 at 5:30 am
Hello,
Thanks for your great website, it is a treasure trove of information. I seem to have a rather odd problem. I have a IBM Thinkpad T40p bought 2 years ago. Recently it has started showing some problems. Whenever the laptop is started and I move it the LCD goes blank. It happens even when I have connected an external monitor. The only way for me to recover is to restart the laptop. Now this is happening with the slightest movements. Your help is much appreciated.
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:18 am
hello,
I have a dell CPx today when i just plugged in my power adaptor to the monitor a green vertical line appeared on the lcd screen .if after switching off the adaptor and repeated rebooting the green line wont go fron the screen . pls help. thank you.
November 15th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
hello laptopfreak,
thanks for the reply!
I had opened up the screen this morning once again and just pressed the video cable on its connector, also made sure the dent was totally gone. Also pressed down the screen slightly, so far, I must say the screen stayed normal. I flapped it up and down the whole day long like a maniac, applied pressure on it etc.. and not one single time it went bright. Also what I noticed yesterday night, I heard a weak buzzing from the screen, sounding like electricity in the open. That noise has also disappeared since this morning. I wonder if the screen will stay like this now and I would be more then happy to have fixed it myself, rather then spending a lot of repairs. On Friday, my laptop will be collected by some tech guys who work for the shop were I had bought the laptop from, since its only 2 months old. I just hope I have fixed it now as I believe they will return it to me un-repaired anyways, since they probably can tell that it had been hit/dropped and this isnt covered by the warranty.
If the problem resists, I will follow your advice about the FL Inverter.
Thanks again,
Markus
November 15th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Justin,
First of all I would check if the video cable is seated properly on both ends. One side connects to the system board and the connector is located under the keyboard. The second side connects to the back of the LCD screen. If you decide to check the cable yourself read through the hardware maintenance manual first, it has instructions for disassembly.
If you reseated the video cable but still have the same video issue, then most likely the LCD itself has been damaged and must be replaced (very expensive).
November 15th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Hello Laptopfreak,
I have a IBM ThinkPad T30. I dropped my laptop, and all i have now is a blank screen… You can see the light on it so if i adjust the brightness it can go brighter or dimmer, but no picture on it. It’s just total black. Right now the only way for it to work is if i plug in another monitor into. Is there any way to fix the LCD screen on the laptop?
November 15th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Markus,
I’ve never seen a problem like this before. I have some thoughts but it would be only a guess.
The LCD screen lights up because the backlight bulb gets power from the FL inverter board. In most laptops the FL inverter board is located under the LCD screen (under the task bar). You said that screen turns normal when you apply pressure on the case just below the taskbar. It’s not very clear. Do you apply pressure on the screen case or on the laptop case? If you press on the laptop screen, isn’t it a spot where the FL inverter is located? I think may be the inverter has been damaged and outputs wrong voltage, but it works fine intermittently when you press on it?
You can open up the display assembly again and check if you get normal video by applying some pressure directly to the inverter board. If you see any relationship between the video and the inverter board, probably you can fix it by replacing the inverter. It’s just a guess, but something to try.
November 14th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Hello Laptopfreak,
I have a Phillips X53 laptop, 2 months old. It got hit yesterday on the screen/case by a blunt object. First the display was black and after rebooting XP it showed some signs of life again. The screen was first really bright, had a 2inch yellow-ish circle at the bottom where It had been hit. As I applied a bit of pressure on the case with my thumbs the screen suddenly turned normal, like it used to be.
From that point on it stayed like this for a while until I flapped the screen down as I turned off the laptop and went to bed. This morning when I flapped it open, it was a bit bright again and applying pressure with both thumbs on THE CASE (just below the taskbar), the screen turns back to normal.
I opened up the screen and saw there was a dent on the metal frame that was surrounding the LCD screen. The dent pushed inside, lifting the screen up a few millimeter. I was able to flatten out the dent so the screen went down again. This seemed to fix it at first but now I see the problem is coming back after flapping the screen up and down a few times. What I noticed is that, when I put put pressure on the case and it went back to normal, the same effect it had when the screen was normal and I applied pressure, it simply went really bright again. It is as if I put the Gamma/Brightness up and down just by pressing on the case. But since flattening out the dent, I’m not able so easily to make the screen go bright by pressing the case, but the other way still works (if its too bright, pressing it will make it go normal again). So it seemed like it helped by fixing the metal frame.
Now I was wondering what could be another reason that this screen still goes too bright at times (when flapping up or down the screen)?
October 20th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Hi Mr Laptop Freak,
This is the closest post I can find, but my problem is different. So here it goes:
I dropped my Toshiba Satellite M30 this morning while it was turned off. The only exterior physical damage I observed was at the right corner of the laptop (where the AC power plug is) which showed strained plastic marks. When I turned on my laptop, everything ran fine EXCEPT for the LCD screen. The colours are all inverted …
I published this comment as the following post: I dropped my Toshiba Satellite M30 notebook. Everything works fine except for the LCD screen.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Shannon,
Take a look at this generic notebook display assembly diagram. It will help you to understand what parts you have inside the laptop display.
If the screen on your laptop goes dark but you still can see a barely visible image on it then most likely your problem is related to a failed FL inverter board or a failed backlight bulb. The inverter board provides power for the backlight bulb and the backlight bulb lights up. If the inverter is bad, the bulb will not light up. FL inverter failures are more common then backlight bulb failures and in your case I would go with the inverter board first. It’s not expensive and relatively easy to replace. Before you buy and replace the inverter board, try reseating inverter connectors first.
The backlight replacement is much more complicated because the bulb is a part of the screen and it’s very fragile.
The backlight problem also could be related to a bunch of other things, like a stuck lid close switch, bad video cable, bad connector or even a failed motherboard, etc…, but it’s not very common. Go with reseating cables and replacing the FL inverter board first.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 1100 and was poised to purchase a new LCD panel until I came across this site. Very helpful. My screen goes dark with only a “ghost” image barely visible. I think it’s a problem with the backlight. I can replace the inverter board with no problem but I’ve heard mention (in other sites) of replacing the bulb. Is this a reference to replacing the board or can one really replace just the bulb. If so, how?
September 26th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Janan,
The video card driver and monitor driver wouldn’t cause this problem. You should get the backlight before any driver got loaded, it’s not a software problem.
I think your new LCD screen has a bad backlight.
September 26th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
I have a T40 that has a cracked LCD in the corner. The LCD and back light still work well where not cracked. I bought a brand new sealed IBM replacement on e-bay. I installed it easily. When booting I noticed the image appears but the backlight is off. I pulled it apart and checked conections several times. I even checked the backlight wire coming directly out of the LCD to the conector resulting in no connection problems. I reinstalled the old cracked LCD and it worked with the backlight also working, therefore the inverter is fine. I have a hard time believing a new sealed LCD would have the backlight broken! The LCD manufacturers are different but both part numbers show up on IBM’s web sight as replacements for my model and both use the same inverter part number. Would the drivers be different? If so how do I completely remove monetor drivers? and/or do I have to remove display drivers also?
Thanks,
Jon