vertical line through display...

[Paul Unger]

I have a T42 (2373-4TU; 14.1" ATI Radeon 7500) with a white vertical line from top to bottom on the right side of the screen. The same line does not show up on an external monitor. Am I right in thinking this is a screen/lcd problem rather than a GPU problem? Thanks for any advice,

Paul

[RealBlackStuff]

Correct, that's a column driver problem.
Try this:
remove the LCD bezel, then with the laptop on, try to gently massage the screen at the top where the line is.
Failing any improvement, gently put some pressure on the same spot.
With a bit of luck it might go away.
You may need to take the LCD out to get better access to that 'hot spot'.
Good luck.

[Paul Unger]

Thanks. I'll try giving it a little massage. Can't hurt--it's already unhappy...

[Later... ] Well, no dice. I massaged gently, and then poked and prodded, but there was no change in the line. Actually, it looks to be about 3 pixels wide, all the way from top to bottom.

Any suggestions where to get a replacement screen? 14.1" XGA

[Neil]

Replacement screens are plentiful and rather cheap. Try putting a wanted to buy ad in the forum market place. You could also replace the entire lid from any 14.1" T4x. An especially good way to upgrade to SXGA+ resolution, if you are so interested.

[Paul Unger]

You could also replace the entire lid from any 14.1" T4x. An especially good way to upgrade to SXGA+ resolution, if you are so interested.

Would the Radeon 7500 really drive an SXGA+ panel? Because I have one on another dead/dying machine. Maybe I should try a swap... Can you just swap the whole lid/panel assembly (with ribbon, inverter, etc.), or do you have to mix and match stuff?

[Neil]

Yes, ThinkPads with Radeon 7500 were shipped with SXGA+ panels, so no problem driving that rez. And, yes, you will need to swap the entire lid, as panel and cable must match, i.e. SXGA+ panel with SXGA+ ribbon cable, XGA panel with XGA cable.

[Paul Unger]

Thanks for the good info. I think it's time to try to build one good machine out of my two tired ones...

[later... ] Well, I'm happy to report that the ATI 7500 runs the SXGA+ display just fine! I am ALL smiles! Well, except for that fact that I only have one working T42 now... But I'm going to focus on the positive and move on. Yep, focusing on the positive (focus, focus, movin' on, uh huh).

On that note, what's a guy to do with a dead T42? Put it on the marketplace for parts?

[ajkula66]

On that note, what's a guy to do with a dead T42? Put it on the marketplace for parts?

Either that, or buy a replacement board if the rest of the machine warrants it...

[RealBlackStuff]

If it has XGA, I have R52 motherboards that are a drop-in replacement
They have Intel graphics (run cool, longer battery life, no GPU problems), but require different CPU and RAM.
I also have 1.86 CPUs for them, but no extra RAM (DDR2 PC2-5300) at the moment.
These mobos can also be SATA-modded!
And if that T42 is 15", you could even use the mobo's Firewire port!
In other words: a very versatile board, that could keep your laptop going for a few more years!