T42 blank screen problem

[feynmix]

Hi everyone,
First post here, and I am looking for some help. My T42 has been having some problems recently. If I lift the laptop and place it back on the table, or accidentally move it, the screen goes blank. Sometimes, only the screen goes blank but the computer is still very much running. Other times, it restarts by itself. I read over the STICKY that implies that this might be a bad solder joint problem, but I wasn't sure.

What do you think? Is it a bad solder joint problem? I have already opened up the LCD and reconnected the ribbon cable from the back of the LCD going to the motherboard, and this seems to have improved the situation slightly. Now, if I move the laptop screen, its fine. When I am lifting it or placing it, the same issue still exists. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

I suggest that you re-read the sticky "my T42 shuts down when I move it" at the top of this thread...

If that's how your machine is behaving, you're in for GPU re-balling or motherboard replacement, no question.

Good luck.

[Johan]

Welcome to the forum!

...although "the circumstances" why you are here might not be the most happy...

As George says above, and as you have also already researched yourself, things seems to point towards that the (in!)famous "loose GPU problem" has also stuck you.. Then, what to do? First, don't panic - there are absolutely help to get, and your T42 may still have many good years ahead. If I were you, I would first go to the IBM Warranty Lookup page and check if your T42 is still under warranty - if so, you'll know what to do!

If however out of warranty, and unless you are not yet quite set for taking the "final" step towards a motherboard repair, but wants to check all other possibilities (other weakly potential causes), then go to the thread T42p won't come out of standby or won't boot after shutdown and see the post of Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:16 pm - and follow those steps. If none of this shows any errors, I guess you're out of luck... and your motherboard has to be repaired. But: Where to do this, if you don't want to try your own luck, attempting a "home-repair"? In relation to having some experienced repair-shop helping you, you may want to have a look in the threads GPU Problem Fix pointing to the company Superior Reball - their own homepage is here. Also, see the thread T42 shuts down when I move it and especially see the post by "bblesser" of Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:31 pm and the post by "dieselman8" of Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:42 pm and finally see the same thread, the post by "dozer" of Thu Nov 29, 2007 2:01 am pointing to First Phase Technologies.

Best of luck with getting your T42 back on its feet!

Johan

[feynmix]

Hi Johan & George,
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I love my T42 (and I bought it used too!), so I am going to put in the effort and patience required to get it back to running properly. I have been reading through the sticky thread as pointed above, and I will definitely look into the easier fixes first. I will have an update once I get settled into my new apartment and get my life back together. Thanks again, and I will keep the thread updated.