T42 Flickering in Windows 7 - workaround that is livable

[tbThink]

System Config: 14" T42 SXGA+ 1400x1050. ATI Mobility Radeon 9600. Windows 7 Pro.

For those of you suffering screen flicker in windows 7 (I have two T42's that have the problem and one T42 that does not). My T42p is also flicker free.

Solution: You can program power manager fn+F3 to put the display to sleep. This is in power manager, advanced, options, "when I press fn+F3", choose 'Power off display'. Then use fn+f3 to initiate display sleep and press escape to exit sleep. Repeat until screen flicker is gone.

Generally, if i use this fn+F3 a few times, and press a key to wake up the display, the screen will come back in a non flickering state. And it stays fine until another auto sleep or the system reboots.

Sometimes it boots up in Windows 7 without a flicker. From all my research (hours and hours), this problem is related to the LCD panel that happens to be installed on a particular system and the windows 7 ATI drivers. I had the issue with microsoft stock windows 7 or the modded ATI drivers. Both XP and linux was fine. Again, this happens on 2 systems and one that does not (moving and the same hard drive between all 3).

fyi, I hope this helps people in a similar situation. Win 7 works great with a 2GB configuration complete with Aero.

[GomJabbar]

I have a T42, SXGA+ 1400x1050, ATI Mobility Radeon 9600, and am using Windows 7 Professional. Haven't noticed any flickering here.

You say you changed settings in Power Manager. I assume you are talking about Lenovo's Power Manager from Lenovo's site? I don't see any way to use Fn+F3 on my system (I don't have Lenovo's Power Manager installed). I wonder if Power Manager could be causing the flickering?

FWIW, I use Monoff4 to turn the display off manually. I found this at Softpedia. I would prefer to use Fn+F3 though.

[tbThink]

Yes, I'm using Lenovo's power manager which I think provides a better power management interface ( for thinkpads anyway ).

A stock install / fresh boot of windows 7 does the flickering right away. This was part of my multi-week debugging research into this issue.

On 1 other (seemingly) identical T42, no issue at all, nor on my T42p. I believe it boils down to the LCD panel involved from my own experience and a few other posts on the web. Would like to know if there is a way to interrogate the LCD panel MFG somehow to confirm though!