How easy is it to change a T22 screen inverter?

[andy625]

I have an IBM Thinkpad T20 on which the screen backlight has packed up. You can still see the screen working if you hold a torch right next to it.

Its come and gone over the last week. At first I thought the whole screen was off. I rebooted into safe mode and it came back to life. I then did a system restore and it appeared to fix it which made me think it was a driver problem. Same thing happened a few days later - system restore and all was ok. Now its happened again, system restore doesn't make any difference, and I've noticed that you can still see that the screen is there - just not lit up (which I think is probably what it was like before except I didn't realise). I'm at a loss as to why a system restore got it going again, the first couple of times it happened!

I've read the symptoms of backlight failures on this forum, and I'm inclined to think that as my screen had no problems relating to pink tinges etc, my problem is either the inverter or the cable.

According to the manual, it appears that you need to take out the hard drive, keyboard, battery, backup battery etc to change the inverter. Is that all really necessary? It looks to me like the inverter is in the lid. Why do you need to take out all the bits from the base unit?

Can anyone thats done this before give me any advise?

I work in engineering I have electrical training and am used to repairing electrical items, so I fancy doing it myself.

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Indeed, the HMM says to remove things that are not really necessary (IMHO). About the only thing you need to take out is the battery (and disconnect from AC). The reason is you do not want to accidentally turn on the system while you are touching the inverter (shock hazard).

So, beside the power sources, the only thing you need to remove is the LCD bezel. Underneath is the long, thin inverter board. Disconnect it in two places and install the replacement. Done!

However, before you try doing that, take a look at the lid switch. It's located in front of the right-hand hinge cover (just to the left of the battery LED). Push it down a couple of times and see if that cures your backlight problem. If that AND a new inverter doesn't solve your problem, then it can be the ribbon cable or the backlight itself.

[andy625]

Thanks for letting me join your forum and for your reply.

We have the machine set to go into standby when the lid is closed. When the backlight has been not working, the pc still boots up (at least it sounds like it), and the standby light doesn't come on. Therefore I think the switch is ok.

I think I'll get a new inverter and see what happens. Sounds like a fairly straightforward job.

Many thanks.

[andy625]

A quick update to my screen problem:

I bought a new second hand inverter on Ebay £12.50, and finally got round to fitting it yesterday. We'd had the machine attached to a spare monitor all week. Anyway, I took out the battery and unscrewed the screen bezel, this was a little more awkward than I anticipated as the bezel was stuck to the bottom edge of the screen with adhesive pads. Once I managed to pry the bezel off of the screen edge, I unplugged and swapped the inverter cards, reassembled the bezel, put the battery back in, rebooted abd everything was working! I was amazed! Fixed it for next to nothing.

Just thought I'd share the good news and say thankyou for the help. You've saved us a fortune and lots of inconvenience.

Andy