T61 BLack Screen @ Startup

[rebel222]

Hello,

I have a quick question about my T61.  I was running some secure Exam software that my University requires and my computer locked up.  I had to perform a hard reset.  Now the screen is completely black.  The backlight comes on, but nothing is displayed.  When I hook up an external monitor, it displays on the external normally; however, it appears that the hard reset destroyed some vital Windows files.  I need to reinstall Windows, but I, first, need to get the display working again.  The initial Lenovo splash screen does not even show up.

Thanks for the help

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you say it displays correctly on your external monitor? Go into bios select display out to LCD only. 

[rebel222]

I will try this in the morning (gotta move the monitor); however, I don't think that will work.  I currently have to switch to the external to make it work (Fn key switch), so I think it is booting to the system screen.  I am still going to try your suggestion, because I will try all suggestions until I actually fix the problem.  If anyone has any comments on this or any solution, I appreciate it.

[rebel222]

Here's an update of the problem.  I can connect the external monitor to the laptop and see some graphics.  There are dotted lines that run vertically on the screen.  The external monitor will only display low-graphics images but nothing above VGA.  The external will go blank when windows moves past the initial splash screen.

Is there any kind of flash memory on the graphics card that could have been erased?  If so, how would I restore it?

Thanks for the help.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

It is more like a hardware problem, do you have warranty still?

[rebel222]

No. It's not under warranty. If it was, I wouldn't be messing with it.   I got it to boot using an external monitor.  When I got to windows I then got to switch to both displays, and the laptop's screen is working.  When I disconnected  the external monitor, the LCD continued to work.  It worked for a day or two.  Now when I turned it back on, the LCD is black again.  The screen defintely works becuase I used it for a couple of days.

Any ideas?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

definitely a hardware problem,  you would need to replace the motherboard. 

[MegaManiii]

Hello World,

I have a fresh new issue with my Lenovo T61.   The battery has been dead for some time but I have neglected to replace it, running exclusively off AC power. (go ahead and tell me how dumb that was).  This morning I packed it up and unplugged it while it was on standby, plug it in an hour later and it's broken:

The laptop starts up fine and displays the Lenovo Thinkpad logo properly, then the screen goes blank, the backlight is on but the screen remains black and there is no hard drive activity.

If I start pressing buttons will give the system beep noise.

If I press the power button it will turn off immediately and make an unusual high pitched beep.

I'm going to try and boot it from a disk but it's been so long since I've done that I wouldn't even know what to do next.

Any ideas on what could be wrong?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

if you connect your laptop to an external monitor, do you see anything displayed?

Also, can you boot into your recover console by pressing the blue thinkvantage button during the initial startup of the laptop (i.e. when the Thinkpad logo comes on).

[tgs]

Hello,

I have the black screen problem on a ThinkPad T61, and I can successfully use an external monitor.

Everything works fine, including the graphics, only that the lcd is unresponsive.

Please help with any suggestions!