T43 Pink tint LCD

[jsailorca]

I have T43 (2668) and usually I close the LCD lid and put it in sleep mode after daily usage.
I notice there is a pinkish tint around the LCD (especially around the outer edge) in the last couple days when I open the lid and turn on the computer. And a few secs or so, the pinkish tint completely disappears. Any initial diagnosis would be helpful. Thanks.

[lead_org]

this means your LCD is slowly on the way out, it won't die just yet.

My T43 LCD has started this behaviour too but that is after 6 years of solid use.

[Johan]

This means your LCD is slowly on the way out, it won't die just yet.

The above "explanation" is rather imprecise and does also not provide any solution(s)... and there are (several) solutions to the problem you are describing.

First, the symptom you are describing is commonly experienced when the CCFL in a LCD is becoming old; the first moments or minutes after startup (from cold) the LCD may have a reddish or pink color, and then gradually after the LCD has been on for a while, the reddish/pink tint will disappear. While the CCFL can be exchanged (and while a replacement CCFL itself is quite cheap), and while the LCD with a new CCFL will look just as bright and clear as new-born ThinkPad (except, of course, if you have scratches etc on your LCD), the CCFL-replacement operation is considered to be very delicate and is not recommended unless you are technically very experienced - and fearless! What some people therefore do, rather than replacing the CCFL, is to replace the entire LCD (with the worn CCFL) by a new LCD with a new or like-new CCFL. If swapping the LCD also sounds a bit difficult, then you can swap the entire lid-with-hinges-and-latches-and-LCD by a more or less identical unit... these can often be found quite cheap on either eBay of on the forum.thinkpads.com Marketplace.. all you need to know is what resolution (XGA, SXGA+ or UXGA) and what LCD size (14.1" or 15") you need. By the way, if you have today, say, an XGA resolution LCD then you can upgrade to e.g. SXGA+ resolution and become much more happy than you have ever been before! Yet alternatively, you can simply grab a complete "new" (more or less lightly used) T43 and swap your HDD from the old to the new (less old!) T43... I am certain that this may be the simplest solution which is probably relatively cheap as well, given the low prices today.

Before making your decision, I suggest you review e.g. the following threads - all found when Googling after e.g. "CCFL replacement site:forum.thinkpads.com" T43 backlit/inverter/? problem and WAAAH! My T41p starts up salmon pink! and Replacement for T42 SXGA+ LCD panel and Guide: How to Replace the backlight in a T4x LCD (soon) and LCD CCFL Backlight Repair/GPU Rework - I'll fix it for you! and How to change CCFL in an LCD? and many more...

Good luck with breathing new life into your trusty old T43!

Johan

[jsailorca]

Thank you both. It's time to open the laptop for some "surgery"....will be an interesting project.

[DannyE]

The same has started happening to my T42p maybe the last week or so... Once this starts happening, how long before the backlight is likely to go completely? I use the laptop for a minimum of 12-14hrs everyday for work so if it suddenly goes completely I'll be up a creek

Also if it does go, would I be able to swap the HDD and RAM into my T42 with little fuss software/driver/BIOS wise?

Many thanks,

Dan

[RealBlackStuff]

The pink hue can last for days, weeks, months or in extreme cases, even years.
OTOH, you should be prepared for the CCFL playing 'sudden death' on you.
Either replace the CCFL, the LCD or the whole lid.
You can swap parts between your T42p and T42 no problem.
If the T42 has Intel graphics, all you need to do is install Intel drivers, if ATI you're grand.
One small snag could be a different wifi card, but using the T42 original wifi card you would be fine.

[DannyE]

Hi, thanks for the reply

They are different chassis... the T42p being a 15" and the T42 being 14.1" screen... UXGA and SXGA+ respectively. Both are ATI, the T42p being Fire GL2 128Mb and the T42 being the 9600 64Mb, same engine just different amount of memory. The difference is in the WiFi, I think the T42p is slightly older and has an older a/b spec card where as the T42 has a a/b/g spec card, but that is a minor thing for me as i usually use wired in any case I think I am going to grab a new HDD, use Acronis to clone the T42p main partition and then pop it into the T42 and see what happens, as you say there isn't much difference so I'm pretty confident it should work. When i first got the T42p a couple of years ago it ran like a dog despite having better graphics and double the ram of the T42 so I used a recovery DVD from the T42, and it ran much better

Even if things don't go smoothly I should still be able to use an external screen though so all won't be lost, will just miss all my lovely pixels

BTW I'm in the UK and looking for a replacement CCFL looks tricky though I'm fine with electronics and soldering, I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for... For example, one site I have found that does supple them, but I'm not sure what I am looking for:

http://search.digikey.com/uk/en/cat/opt ... 570?k=CCFL

The size I think from looking around is 2mm x 305mm, but I have no idea about the other stuff... Is there a service handbook or something I can look for that might help?

Many thanks again,

Dan

[RealBlackStuff]

This is a thread HOW TO replace a CCFL/Backlight in your LCD I wrote specifically for a 15" UXGA.

[DannyE]

hi,

I already looked at your instructions earlier when I first picked up the thread, with patience and your steps I think I'll be able to do the replacement but really not sure on the tube spec. Looking on Ebay, I can't find any resellers from UK, all seem to be US, China, Hong Kong and given the delicate nature of the tube I wasn't sure how well they would travel, and of course could take a couple of weeks to arrive so was looking to source one from the UK, that said though you know your stuff, so you know the tube I would need and maybe the kit which I see on your site and can ship it in my direction, that would give me peace of mind too

Many thanks,

Dan

[rumbero]

Looking on Ebay, I can't find any resellers from UK, ...

Two or three years ago, i bought a replacement tube for my T23 screen from british seller myworld.ebay.co.uk/micro-lite who provided excellent service and communication. Unfortunately, looking at his eBay pages, he seems to have ceased all activity since last April. His contact details (mail and phone) are listed at members.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=micro-lite. Maybe you could directly get in touch with him?

[RealBlackStuff]

15" 4:3 Standard LCDs as in T42/T42p are 2mm dia. and 305mm length.
http://www.ccflwarehouse.com/20x305mmccfl.html
http://www.lcdparts.net/ccflDetail.aspx?ProductID=1699

[DannyE]

Many thanks for the info again RBS and rumbero, all very much appreciated

Sorry for the delay in replying, I've just been weighing up options as I can't realy afford downtime at the moment due to being ridiculously busy with work, so was considering the option of cloning/imaging a drive to put in the T42, for now and then looking at replacing the tube when i get the opportunity.

Something else I looked at was simply plugging in an external monitor, but for some reason if I do that, the laptop just freezes on the IBM start-up screen and never progresses to booting Windows. I'm plugging in via an IBM port replicator II (I think, only has 1 USB port and not 4 on the later version and uses the same power adapter as the laptop, not the 4 pin one), not the full blown docking station. For the monitor to work I have to undock while its booting and then re-dock but because I'm using ps/2 keyboard and mouse/trackball, more often than not the trackball never gets recognised. I am using a Belkin 2-port KVM, could that be the issue perhaps, or has anyone else had any issues with freezing with an external monitor through the port replicator?

Many thanks again,

Dan

[RealBlackStuff]

At bootup press F1 to go into BIOS, select Config/Display
Change the LCD settings to display 'VGA+LCD' or 'Both' or something like that (don't know what exact wording your BIOS uses).

[DannyE]

Perfect, found the options and for the moment have set the screen up as extended desktop, but if all goes wrong I can make it primary I believe until I get time to replace the tube

Many thanks again!

Dan