nonfunctional T30 display - ideas?

[momcat1]

I have a T30 that runs just fine, as long as it's connected to an external monitor. Don't the history of how the display broke. After booting, LCD will display a faint grey across the whole screen, so there's obviously power getting to it. Adjusting the brightness will show a slight change in the brightness or darkness of the grey. Device Manager says there's nothing wrong with the display, and nothing wrong with the video card. I can't see any signs of breakage on the display itself. If it's a matter of changing out 1 or 2 parts to fix it, this might be worth doing. It's not a bad machine otherwise. Have any of you run into this and what part did you replace?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Possible sources of the problem you have described:

1) Broken/loose ribbon cable from motherboard to LCD
2) Defective LCD panel
3) Broken/loose connection of graphics chip on the motherboard

The faint grey you see is the backlight turning on but with no pixel activity. That's confirmed by your description of the change in the brightness of the display when you adjust it.

The ribbon cable is fairly easy to replace. It's a matter of removing the keyboard and disassembling the lid. At least that's what is required on my T23s. The T30 should be very similar. The cables are available from eBay in the range of $15-$25. Just be sure to get the one that matches the display resolution (XGA or SXGA+).

You didn't say how much the T30 cost you, but if the ribbon cable is not the answer to your problem, then you are looking at a hundred to two hundred dollar investment. Replacing the LCD will be more expensive than the motherboard.