T30 LED Dead

Message

CareyB · #1 Post by **CareyB** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:23 pm

Recently bought a T30 on ebay http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0109475024 and it works great with one exception. The power light does not work at all.

Is there an easy fix for this?

#2 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:54 am

Welcome to Thinkpad.com

You got yourself a nice-looking deal there for a sweet price (CAN$ 350.- BIN). Could not check the web page itself, link not working or eBay-maintenance.

These LEDs are located either on the LCD-cable (those that show next to the On/Off switch), OR on the inverter board (those that show the charging lights).
You can replace each item (cable ca. 10-25, inverter ca. 6-20 US$ on eBay) but you'll need to remove the laptop LCD-bezel for the inverter, and the whole lid + keyboard + keyboard bezel for the LCD-cable.

Download the Hardware Maintenance Manual here to see it exactly described:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-42308

If everything else works fine, I wouldn't bother.

agarza · #3 Post by **agarza** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:41 am

My T42p outside LED's do not light up either. Those were like that the moment I bought my T42p. I wouldn't bother, internal LED's work, but if the laptop is ON and with the lid closed it appears as if it's OFF.

CareyB · #4 Post by **CareyB** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:09 pm

Thanks for the replies.

Looks like it's more trouble than it's worth and everything else does work so I'll just leave it unless I start getting bored

CareyB · #5 Post by **CareyB** » Wed May 02, 2007 8:16 pm

LCD no longer lights up

Any way of knowing if the inverter is bad by just looking at it?

#6 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed May 02, 2007 8:29 pm

If it's black in places where the circuit board is otherwise green, or if you detect a smell like burnt plastic, that's about the only ways I know of detecting a failed inverter. If not, then there's really no way to look at the inverter and tell if it works or not.

As they are fairly cheap and easily obtainable, I'd try getting one off of eBay or here in the Marketplace conference and swapping them.

The indications of a failed inverter are usually:

- a sudden lack of backlight (i.e., it was working yesterday and now it's not)
- a previous flickering of the backlight
- those two things, coupled with pixel activity still showing up on the LCD panel (shine a bright light on it when it's powered up)

There can also be a problem with the backlight itself. About the only way to determine that is to swap out the inverter. Another source of failure can be the ribbon cable; either broken or cracked or simply disconnected from the motherboard. Finally, something on the motherboard itself could be wrong.

CareyB · #7 Post by **CareyB** » Wed May 02, 2007 9:27 pm

I don't see anything on it but what you just said describes exactly what I'm getting. Hopefully it's just a cheap inverter.

I do get video when I hook up an external monitor so I think the video card should be fine.

CareyB · #8 Post by **CareyB** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:46 am

rkawakami wrote: Finally, something on the motherboard itself could be wrong.

Looks like this has to be the prob now. I have swapped out both the inverter and the cable and it worked occasionally but then it just didn't at all. When the laptop starts I can see the thinkpad splash screen but very faintly.

However, I have found that if I twist the base a little I can get the screen to light up beautifully and it will stay like that until I turn it off.

Is there a fix other than a new motherboard? Guess I could just keep twisting the base a bit but I'm assuming that eventually that won't work.

#9 Post by **rkawakami** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:30 am

CareyB wrote:However, I have found that if I twist the base a little I can get the screen to light up beautifully and it will stay like that until I turn it off.

Twisting or torquing the case in order to get the system to work properly is usually indicative of a loose component on the motherboard. Could also be one of the interconnects (LCD cable to motherboard, motherboard to another board, etc.). The only way of determining that is to pull the motherboard out of the case and closely inspect it. I don't have any experience with the T30 system but tons with the T23. What you would be looking for are any parts which have a cracked solder joint. Definitely a "needle-in-a-haystack" operation but if you concentrate on the "larger" components, specifically anything larger than say two grains of rice, then you could get lucky. Once identified, you would then have the task of soldering the part(s) back onto the board.

phool@round · #10 Post by **phool@round** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:39 pm

I noticed your T30 has an ATI 7500 chip. Ball solder joints. The 7500 and later 9000 is used in the G3/G4 Mac iBooks and have a long history of failing physical connections. Same symptoms with R and T model Thinkpads. There are shade tree methods (heat gun) to fix it as well as replacing the entire board.

Other possibilites are, cracked logic board or north/south bridge chip connections, same style of ball solder joints which fail under board flexing while hot or cold.

CareyB · #11 Post by **CareyB** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:13 pm

So I popped my T30 open again to see if I could find some broken solders and I wasn't seeing anything so I decided to close it up and try again later when I had more time. I pick up the top cover and noticed some masking tape holding something together so I look closely and the tab that presses the sleep button has broken off and been taped back on. So I took that tape off and redid it with some electrical tape and my screen pops up beautiful and bright every time

Bought a new inverter and cable when all I needed was a 99 cent roll of tape.

#12 Post by **rkawakami** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:13 pm

Or it could be the lid switch

. I seem to forget mentioning that one problem area all of the time. Hang on to the inverter at least; if and when your backlight goes out, swapping the inverter can quickly tell you if your fix is $10 (i.e., the inverter) or >$100 (replacement LCD). Unless you try replacing the CCFL yourself and then the cost is around $20.

Website · #13 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:32 pm

Hey. something that I found on a T30 that was having similar issues....there was a VERY SMALL crack in the pink wire casing that runs from the inverter to the LCD/CCFL/backlight. When the case moved, it cause the cable to touch the hinge, which was also causing the crack in the wire casing. I had to make sure that the cable was rerouted, so that there was no more wear on it.

T30 LED Dead

T30 LED Dead

Who is online