Thinkpads Forum

Dear ThinkPaders

1) Issue with the display of a T60P 2007 C8U

I own a T60P since 2007 . I am very hapy with it . Sudenly, on sunday, the LCD stop working . The LCD is good, I suspected the GPU because, with an VGA external display, it is working . I opened the T60P and I noticed that the FAN was ON for 3 seconds and the it stopped completely . The cooper metal near the FAN was very HOT .

What do you think ? Defective FAN ? Defective MB ?

What should I do ?

Thank you in anticipation 6 I am in Paris - FRANCE
BR
YVES SOUSSI

Your laptop is overheating.
Remove the keyboard, get a can of compressed air, hold the fanblades with e.g. a toothpick to stop them from turning, then blow out all the dust from the fan.
Just reconnect keyboard, see if it now works.
If so, praise yourself lucky.
Now remove the keyboard bezel and the fan it self.
Clean off the old thermal paste with isopropyl alcohol.
Apply a rice corn size of new Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste on only the CPU. Spread evenly with a credit card.
Reattach the fan, and connect it again.
check if it works. If so, put the other items back on. Enjoy.

Dear Sir

1) Thank you for your fast reply : I really appreciate it .

2) I removed the keyboard : As you said, it was full of dust !!

3) The T60P is working, but still not on the T60P's LCD, only on an external Samsung display. And only VGA

4) Do you think the T60P's GPU is dead ?

tia
YVES SOUSSI

It's possible something was damaged by the heat. If you have a known good display handy, I'd try swapping so you can know if the problem is your display or your board.

If you did fry your board/gpu, I posted one in the marketplace today. It has the ATI fireGL 5250 and will run the fastest t7600 cpu. It's currently still in the laptop and running, so it's not some untested board in a box that may or may not work. It will be available by the weekend.

In the future, make sure you don't allow your cooling system to get to dusty, it can really kill one of these things. Also do as "RealBlackStuff" suggested and clean and replace your thermal paste. This should be done every couple years or more often in dusty conditions. I'll also add to make sure NOT to use alcohol that has oils or scent added. Some has things like pine or wintergreen oils added. You want pure alcohol, as strong as you can find, and a as little overspread as possible on the thermal paste. When properly applied, it will run a few degrees cooler then when new. Artic silver is good stuff... RealSilverStuff *sorry, couldn't resist*

Anyhow, I hope you don't need a new system board, but have a look at the one I'm offering. I'll post some pics of the unit it's coming out of when I have time.

Good Luck

1) The display is OK - So it is the board

2) How uch is your MB ? I am interested

tia
YVES SOUSSI

I'm asking $99. I did a search on ebay and all the cheaper ones were as-is untested, the rest were considerably higher, plus most were not highend board.

I'll send you a PM with details.

Not so fast! Your problem might be a bad inverter rather than a bad GPU. If your laptop displays properly on an external monitor, then the motherboard and GPU are OK. In this case, the problem is almost certainly a bad inverter. Inverters are inexpensive and can be installed in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, if you connect to an external monitor and still get no display, then there is definitely a problem with the GPU and you need a new motherboard.

Be aware that replacing the motherboard will cause a licensing problem with Windows. The copy of Windows that came with your T60 may only be used on that computer. On startup, Windows reads a key from the motherboard to confirm that the installation is valid. If it finds the wrong key (which it will if you replace the motherboard), then Windows will ask you to purchase a new copy of Windows. The alternative is to send your laptop to IBM to have your new motherboard rekeyed.

ThinkPadophile wrote:If your laptop displays properly on an external monitor, then the motherboard and GPU are OK.

Not true.
The GPU has 2 parts, an analog part for external display, and a digital part for the internal LCD.
One can work while the other is not!

ThinkPadophile wrote:Be aware that replacing the motherboard will cause a licensing problem with Windows....
Windows reads a key from the motherboard...

Don't spread FUD or bullcrap.
If the motherboard is replaced with an identical one, Windows wouldn't even notice. Even a change from an Intel GPU to an ATI GPU (or v.v.) on an otherwise same board does not trigger any Windows. Neither does a change of hard disk if you clone it.
And Windows does NOT read a motherboard, it reads a file on the hard disk!

I agree with RealBlackStuff entirely. In addition, "if" windows activation is broken, all you have to do is call microsoft and tell them you had your system repaired and they will give you a new key. Your even allowed to remove your windows from one machine and install it on another, however, the operators at microsoft get paid commission to sell licenses, so they'll quote you only part of the rule, that you're not allowed to install it on a different pc, and ignore the second part that says something like "unless you fully remove it from the previous pc". However, if you tell them your harddrive and system board needed to be replaced, then if they try to sell you a license, insist you already paid once, and please activate the license you already own, they will do it.

After all, they got to be the richest company in the world from the money we pay when we buy these things, so don't pay twice for the same product, they are rich enough already.

My two cents

Just curiosity on my end: if you turn the machine on, and point the flashlight at the screen, do you see any dim images, anything at all?