Laptop Screen Blacks Out. Help.

[smockers83]

Here's a question for you guys. Every once in awhile my Thinkpad T42 (4 years old) screen goes really dark. It doesn't turn off, under certain lighting conditions you can barely see it. If I manually turn the screen off and back on again, sometimes it will stay on, sometimes I'll spend 5 minutes turning it off/on until I give up. So here's the question. Is it my back light or video card? How much could it cost to repair?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Probably just something wrong with power to the backlight. I don't think the videocard has anything to do with the backlight...if it did, I'd think you'd loose power to the whole monitor, not just the backlight.

Usually laptop monitor cases are easy to get into. Screws are usually hidden behind the rubber stoppers and other obvious covers. Pop the cover open and have a look at the ribbon connectors and make sure everything's snug.

It could even be the backlight itself, which is kind of a worse-case scenario. To my knowledge, you can't replace it without replacing the entire LCD unit. Might be able to find one cheap used, though...check with local used laptop dealers in that case. I got a replacement keyboard and good battery for $40 because the shop just happened to have a burnt-out laptop of the same model in the back one day.

You can always try and figure out which wire is power for the backlight and see if it's getting power. If it is, and the backlight's out, you know it's the light itself. If it's NOT, you need to figure out why not.

[240Knightrider]

Def Blacklight...warning signs for sure.

Go on ebay IBM lcds go for $40-$80 and ill gladly help you through the process or replacing it.

Then get a warranty through squaretrade for the LCD...you get a two full replacement guarantee if it ever fails.
Modified by 240Knightrider at 1:18 PM 6/22/2008

[smockers83]

I checked eBay and I found one LCD for ~$80, the rest of them were ~$150+, maybe the SXGA+ instead of XGA has something to do with that, I don't know. Anywho, If I buy just the LCD unit, all the wireless stuff is mounted inside the plastic I take it (not with the LCD)?

Thanks guys.

[240Knightrider]

I checked eBay and I found one LCD for ~$80, the rest of them were ~$150+, maybe the SXGA+ instead of XGA has something to do with that, I don't know. Anywho, If I buy just the LCD unit, all the wireless stuff is mounted inside the plastic I take it (not with the LCD)?

Thanks guys.

There is one important part I forgot, find the part number for yours. Dont just search for IBM Thinkpad lcd...find the part number and search for that, all the companies use the same people, so you should find a lot more that way. Some are imation, some are logitech, etc