No screen at Power-on

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BobA · #1 Post by **BobA** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:51 am

I purchased a 'working' laptop on eBay. When I received it, it powers on - but I get no screen and hear nothing in the background that indicates it's going beyond the initial turning on the power.

Any ideas on what the problem might be? I've tried batt only, ac only, ac/batt, no ac - no batt (oh - that didn't even turn on -- ;0))

I tried the 10 times + 10 seconds mentioned in another post.

Is this a problem with the CPU? video? memory? motherboard? me??? BTW, I do get the standard beeping complaint without memory in the system .. just never get any screen. I actually have two systems like that. One I bought for parts knowing the condition - but this one is a surprise.

Thanks.

Bob

PS: Another member suggested I pull all the hardware and see if it will boot up that way. Sooo .. I pulled the HD, optical, WiFi, modem, PCMCIA cage, memory (did I forget anything?) - all I got were the memory beeps. Putting the memory in only caused the beeps to go away - yet no screen. I'm down to CPU, GPU, and MBD I think ...

EOMtp · #2 Post by **EOMtp** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:09 am

Connect an external monitor and tell us if you see anything on it. For example, it could be that the power-on password is set and the LCD backlight is dead ... in which case you would see nothing on the built-in screen and the unit would not advance past the initial password prompt.

BobA · #3 Post by **BobA** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:31 am

EOMtp wrote:Connect an external monitor and tell us if you see anything on it. For example, it could be that the power-on password is set and the LCD backlight is dead ... in which case you would see nothing on the built-in screen and the unit would not advance past the initial password prompt.

Thanks for the suggestion ..

No - nothing on the external monitor. As I said, the only thing I get past the power on lights is the 'no memory' warning beeps if I don't have memory in the system. Beyond that, it's blank.

MobileGuru · #4 Post by **MobileGuru** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:37 am

Planar failure due to solder fractures would be my guesstimate. I'd send that puppy back to the Ebay seller.

MG.

BobA · #5 Post by **BobA** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:14 pm

Thanks for all the suggestions. It turns out it's still under warranty.

I called IBM support and they will be picking it up to fix in Atlanta (or wherever).

What is interesting is that I did get a screen .. once. Right after I put all the stuff back into it. But then it went away the next time I tried .. all with the IBM tech guy online.

raceannouncer · #6 Post by **raceannouncer** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 1:30 pm

BobA wrote:Thanks for all the suggestions. It turns out it's still under warranty.

I called IBM support and they will be picking it up to fix in Atlanta (or wherever).

What is interesting is that I did get a screen .. once. Right after I put all the stuff back into it. But then it went away the next time I tried .. all with the IBM tech guy online.

Your problem is similar to what I experienced with my T42 a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes it would boot up and then freeze on the WIN XP opening splash screen...other times, it wouldn't boot up at all and gave one long beep followed by 2 short ones. IBM Tech support suspected either planar board (motherboard) failure or LCD screen cable failure. IBM serviced the unit quickly and replaced the planar board.

Anyone know if planar board failures are common? If they are, an extended warranty is my next purchase (my regular warranty ends June 2007).

Mike

No screen at Power-on

No screen at Power-on

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