Thinkpads Forum

My T22 develope white spot on screen when booting up...(while in the IBM Thinkpad logo process with black background). I see several white spot....it doesn't affect the performance or whatsoever...just kinda'fussy over it.

The white spots are caused by pressure on the sceen. I think it only happens when it's on. In any case, medium gray makes it show up the worst, and they are permanent... unless you cause more spots to cover the rest of the screen!

Well....I don't have a hard disk to test the T22....I boot it up without a hard disk. Well...you mean that it only shows up the white spot while start up?
It can't be fixed....only chaging the LCD will do?

The white spots will always be present. They will be most visible when showing solid medium colors.

I've never heard of a way to remove the spots. Just don't cause more.

If your machine is still under warranty you can have IBM replace the LCD.

i do also have a spot on my screen. it's ne completely white. but you can see a difference between the rest of the screen.

will the ibm service change it, or isn't that a within warranty? did anyone make experiences with that?

White spots are only caused by pressure on the screen. Damage like that is not covered by warranty. It may be covered by an accidental damage insurance policy... or IBM could be nice and give you a screen anyway. It won't hurt to ask.

whizkid wrote:White spots are only caused by pressure on the screen. Damage like that is not covered by warranty. It may be covered by an accidental damage insurance policy... or IBM could be nice and give you a screen anyway. It won't hurt to ask.

Thats not necessarily true.
My T40 deleveloped white spots and it was not due to pressure on the screen. As there never was any pressure on the screen. Also IBM replaced it under it's 3yr warranty.

I had six white spots on my screen at the time of purchase, they seemed to be in a step-pyramid kind of pattern. I remember seeing several similar complaints about T-20's on different boards at the time. IBM replaced the screen under warranty. The spots have slowly started to re-appear on the new screen in the three years since, though they are still very ghostly and I have to be looking for them.

OK, I have a T23 and it has developed a white spot in the middle of the screen. However, if I squeeze the sides for the screen panel toward the middle the spot goes away...until I let go. I've heard this is caused by pressure being put on the screen where the white spot is. Has anyone had any success with disassembling the screen and getting the white spots out?

celloerTB wrote:OK, I have a T23 and it has developed a white spot in the middle of the screen. However, if I squeeze the sides for the screen panel toward the middle the spot goes away...until I let go. I've heard this is caused by pressure being put on the screen where the white spot is. Has anyone had any success with disassembling the screen and getting the white spots out?

Ohh, it is very easy to remove the white spots. I came across a solution when I changed the old fluorescent light on a yellowish LCD of my 570E.
Out of curiousity I disassembled the LCD (takes 5 minutes) and found all the various diffusor layers (5 sheets of transparent foils). When I put together the display with the new CCFL I had hundreds of white spots and dark spots. It turned out that the dark spots were just tiny dirt particels (hair, dust, etc.) and white spots came from sticking foils.
Actually, the trackpoint produces a white spot when you press the screen too many times.
If you release the polarizer foils, de-dust them and clean them, assemble them together, all spots were gone.
I have a kind of new display now, although it was old, spotty and yellowish before. Total cost: $5 and 15 minutes work.
Beware: use a clean-room or a room with no dust. Each tiny dust particle will annoy by spots on the screen. I used a fibre cloth to clean, very efficient... !

Have fun!

Beeblebrox!

You're tempting me to open my display. I don't suppose you took pictures and made a web site that shows the whole procedure, no?

Maybe you should write a little article for www.thinkwiki.org.

whizkid wrote:Beeblebrox!

You're tempting me to open my display. I don't suppose you took pictures and made a web site that shows the whole procedure, no?

Maybe you should write a little article for www.thinkwiki.org.

Beeblebrox is right - it's not to hard to clean the display once you get it apart - you have to actually take the LCD panel apart. Just make sure you have a VERY clean rag to do it with, and keep the screen sheets in order. One word of caution - BE VERY CAREFUL of the flourescent tube along the bottom of the LCD panel. It is small, fragile, and easy to miss. Not that it needs to be handled with tweezers or anything - just be careful not to bend/crush the area it's in.

To be honest, it is extremely difficult to clean the spots!
The cleaning took me 20 minutes and a lot of grey hair.

I found out that the cloth that I used, produced more dust than it removed. I finally bought a new, sealed microfiber cloth just to wipe the dust away.
And: never breath, never sneeze when the display is open.
There will be invisible dust particles that become fantasticly annoying spots, when, and only when, you have fully re-assembled and re-screwed the display, of course...
Murphy's law at work...

Does sound a bit scary, guess I'll live with the spots !

celloerTB Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:08 pm Post subject:

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OK, I have a T23 and it has developed a white spot in the middle of the screen. However, if I squeeze the sides for the screen panel toward the middle the spot goes away...until I let go. I've heard this is caused by pressure being put on the screen where the white spot is. Has anyone had any success with disassembling the screen and getting the white spots out?

If the white spot that you are describing is about the size of your thumb, and is in the top/middle of the display, it was caused by repeatedly picking up the T23 with one hand. Lifting the closed laptop with your thumb on the lid and four fingers beneath the case will cause pressure damage to the LCD, THROUGH THE LID. The top center of the open LCD display corresponds to the front center of the closed lid, which corresponds the spot where one's thumb is placed in lifting the laptop.

I spoke to Roy S. at the IBM repair center in Memphis today. He has refused to honor IBM warranty, because the damage to my display "...cannot be repaired. We would have to buy a new LCD for your machine, and we can't do that." IBM's criteria for LCD damage exceeding warranty coverage happens to coincide with the need for replacement vs. repair.

Roy S. admitted that if the LCD can be repaired, it is generally covered under warranty, if it needs replacement, it is generally not covered. Quite a coincidence.

sorry for bumping up a topic so old, but i plan on calling in trying to get my x40 repaired for pressure spots on screen. What was your experience like on the phone, for those who have the screen replaced under warranty?

A quick search of the archives using "warranty pressure spots" and clicking the "Search for all terms" options, returns these (among others):

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=51723
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=41237

which seems to say that stuck/dead pixels are covered but not pressure marks.

AvalonXIII wrote:sorry for bumping up a topic so old, but i plan on calling in trying to get my x40 repaired for pressure spots on screen. What was your experience like on the phone, for those who have the screen replaced under warranty?

I never did get the T23 sxga panel replaced under warranty. Toward the end of my dealings with "Remote Technical Support in Atlanta, Georga," I spoke with the person responsible for making the decision to repair, or not, under warranty. She described a process where a technician does an analysis of the display and sends the data to her office. She and others meet to review the data then decide which displays to cover. I asked for a copy of the data, but was never given one. At my request, the T23 was returned to me, unrepaired. I still have it and have since bought a T43p and a T60p. Support is still less than satisfactory.

My advice is to calmly address your display problem with the repair people. Don't get upset when they act like they don't know what you are talking about, accuse you of abusing your laptop, insult you, and generally give you the run-around. Get all of the names, titles, and phone numbers. Ask for documentation in writing. Participate in the "escalation" process, where you will be made to feel like you are some kind of sociopath.

If nothing gets them to replace your display, have them send the laptop back to you, unrepaired, with a written report of their findings. You won't get one. Get a new display at: http://www.itxchange.com/ITXchange/IBM.asp

Funny. Some years ago, my old 15" Powerbook had some white spots appear on my LCD. Called Apple and they said it was a defect and offered to replace it. Done within a week.

Now, why can't IBM/Lenovo do the same or have the times changed?

CJ

Just an FYI, I have a z61t with the WXGA+ LCD (1440x900) and it acquired a couple of dark spots that started to annoy the heck out of me when I did some heavy duty PS work. I have an onsite warranty and after contacting IBM in Atlanta, they sent a repair person to my work and promptly replaced the LCD (same exact part as my prior LCD). No complaints from me here; great service from IBM/Lenovo!

CJ

cj3209 wrote:Just an FYI, I have a z61t with the WXGA+ LCD (1440x900) and it acquired a couple of dark spots that started to annoy the heck out of me when I did some heavy duty PS work. I have an onsite warranty and after contacting IBM in Atlanta, they sent a repair person to my work and promptly replaced the LCD (same exact part as my prior LCD). No complaints from me here; great service from IBM/Lenovo!

CJ

Yeah, same here with my first T20 about 8 years ago. 10 days before the end of warranty it finally was on its last breath. However, the keybord did not really work anymore, the hard disk sounded like a chain saw, the display cable had intermittent contact and the spotty display had a yellowish teint like white walls in a cigar lounge. Finally the notebook smelled like a high powered ozonic electric arc, when it was turned on. Nevertheless it still was working (barely). Fortunately the casing of the notebook looked like brand new, just all electronics were totally exhausted. It started with a list of mainboard errors every once in a while. And the DVD laser was dead.
It took IBM 7 weeks to source the parts globally, but I got an almost brand new Thinkpad back. And, they did not complain about the white spots!
I guess they were embarassed that their product turned into a wreck.