T61 Display crash

[dp2010]

I am having a problem with the screen on my T61. When I put the laptop on standby (i.e. Click Start, Shut Down, Standby), the system goes on sleep mode (the little moon icon stays lit) and I close the lid. But after a while, the system come off of sleep mode even with the lid still closed and when I open the lid, the screen is black and it does not come back on no matter what I do. I tried moving the mouse, pressing all the buttons, putting it back on sleep (pressing the function key and F4), and even closing and opening the lid again. Nothing works and I have to force the computer to shutdown by pressing and holding the power button. This is extremely annoying, not to mention the fact that I loose all the windows I had open and anything that I was working on. \

I do not understand why this is happening, but if someone else out there is having the same problem and either found a fix or already contacted tech support, please let me know what you found.

Thanks,

D

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

run memtest+ and see whether you can detect any error with your ram.

[orangebuddha]

I have this same problem, and i do not have a solution. However, instead of powering off, try putting it to hibernate instead (Fn + F12). This way you don't lose any work.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

@orangebuddha, do you have the same problem with your T61?

[orangebuddha]

Yes i do have the same problem with my T61. It occurs when i close the lid and it goes to Standby. The laptop does come back, (from the disk activity etc, its seems to be responding) however the screen does not come  back. I then put it to Hibernate, and power back up, and it all comes back, and it means i don't lose any work. I have noticed that if the lid is open and it goes into standby (when its on battery power), that the screen does come back when it comes out of standby. I'm not sure what the difference between these 2 standby modes are, if any. When on battery, I do set the screen to reduce in brightness and lower the refresh rate after a few minutes. Not sure if this has something to do with it, as when it comes back after the open lid standby, the screen does seem to go through different modes (and i guess refresh rates) before it settles on the brighter one.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

what OS are you using? also what GPU does your T61 have?

[orangebuddha]

Windows XP Pro SP3

Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M, Driver Ver 6.14.11.7618

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

have you tried to reinstall the OS recently?

[orangebuddha]

No i haven't reinstalled the OS. Its a company laptop, so i can't do that. Even if it was my own laptop, i'm not sure i would - the uncertainty of the outcome is not worth the time to do it. I have set it so on lid close it hibernates rather than going into standby, so its not an issue now.

This is my third T61 (Thinkpads are not indestructible , and when i've changed laptops, i've just kept the hard disk and swapped it to the new laptop. My previous T61s did not have this issue. So I'm not convinced its an OS or software issue.

[bdy0003b]

Had this problem too. I just learned to never put the laptop to sleep, instead to put it on hibernate. I also kind of just figured hibernate was better than sleep anyways. I think there might be something wrong with the BIOS.