New type of blank screen problem

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icebag · #1 Post by **icebag** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:40 am

This one is new to me.

A T21 was working fine using Xubuntu. I decided to put a larger hard drive in it and re-install Xubuntu. The installation went fine until I re-booted. The re-boot was perfectly normal up to the point where the GUI kicks in, but then I got a blank screen. Not a blue screen, not a command line prompt, just a blank screen and no response to any key presses.

Assuming the installation was faulty I did it again. Same outcome: everything as normal until the the GUI takes over on re-booting: blank screen.

So I tried Kubuntu. Same outcome.

Then PCLinuxOS. Same outcome.

Then openSUSE. Same outcome.

So then I decided to give up and put the old hard drive back in. Guess what: absolutely normal boot until the GUI should start and then the blank screen.

It's as if something in all these different versions of Linux flips a switch (literally or figuratively) when handing over to the GUI and my T21 can't handle it -- though it used to have no problems.

Any ideas?

icebag · #2 Post by **icebag** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:16 am

I don't know if this makes it easier or harder to diagnose, but the T21 with the original hard drive in it is working normally again.

I left it for a couple of hours then switched on again and it booted to the desktop without any problems.

It can't just be the switching off and waiting that did it, because in the middle of the saga in my first post it was switched off and left several times, including once overnight. Each time, booting led to the blank screen at the moment the desktop should be displayed.

#3 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:28 am

Could it be overheating of the larger hard disk?
Could there be vibrations from the new HD and you may have loose inductors?

Try reseating the LCD-cable or try another cable, it might be about to break one of it's leads.

Do you use a 72W adapter or the weaker version (56W I think)?

icebag · #4 Post by **icebag** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:34 am

The problem occurred with both disks and at a completely predictable point every time. That seems to argue against a mechanical problem and against an overheating problem.

I used two different power adaptors during the process, one high wattage, one lower. It made no difference.

#5 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:31 pm

Try another LCD cable.
If you hook up an external monitor, do you see the normal screen?

Download the PC Doctor, location from where is in this thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=62785

New type of blank screen problem

New type of blank screen problem

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