T42 Screen Blackout

[EGilger]

The screen on my  T42 recently started flickering and then went black, I can still see the desktop but it is VERY dark. I tried adusting the brightness and the screen settings, no luck. I've heard that sometime the LCD cable goes out or the screen. Is there a way to tell if the problem is hardware or software and if it's the cable or the screen. Thanks for the Help.

[ajkula66 Guru]

Welcome to the forum!

Before this episode, has your LCD been reddish/pinkish on the initial boot?

Good luck and let us know.

[pkohli]

I'm having the same issue and did get the reddish/pinkish color upon boot before the screen went black.  How do we resolve this?  Are there any service centers that can have this repaired?

Thanks for your help in advance.

[ajkula66 Guru]

Welcome to the forum, pkohli!

The backlight in your LCD has died. You can either replace the CCFL itself (very tricky, not for beginners), or the whole LCD. When these machines were in warranty, IBM used to swap complete LCDs.

Hope this helps.

[EGilger]

Thanks for the Help, I checked my screen and it was all black on the startup, no pink/red hue.... Does that mean a screen problem?

[ajkula66 Guru]

@EGilger:

Have you tested your machine with an external monitor?

[EGilger]

Yes, When I hook it up to an external screen it works (the external) the laptop screen stays black. Thanks for the Help.

[ajkula66 Guru]

I'm going to say bad inverter or backlight. Inverters are cheap and easy to replace. All the instructions as well as part numbers needed for an eBay (or Google) search can be found in the HMM that can be downloaded from here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-46464

Good luck.

[EGilger]

Great, I'll try that, thanks

[EGilger]

Alright, I got a new LCD inverter and Switched them out, the screen worked fine for about an hour then the screen started fading in and out and went dark again. I have since tried another new LCD and it doesn't work. Ideas? Thanks for the help.