help to diagnose display flicker in Frankenpad

[bwaldow]

The machine is Frankenpad 1 (see signature):

• NOS T61 'Holy Grail' Nvidia 140M motherboard post 08/08 - should have no Nvidia issues.
  LED backlight UXGA display panel
  SSD

I have been running OS X Mavericks on it with no problem. Recently, the display has begun to flicker.

• The flicker is a sharp loss and immediate return of backlight - the screen blinks black.
  No display corruption appears.
  This can occur at idle or while in use.
  It is not obviously periodic, can happen as a single occurrence or in clusters of several 'blinks'.

I have booted the system on a System Rescue USB install (Gentoo Linux based) and the problem occurs the same, so I rather doubt it's OS X.

I suspect the inverter, although the cable, panel or other parts of the display might be a problem.

I have two of these panels (each in it's own lid with own inverter, etc.), and I think swapping them would be a good way to proceed. I'll do that later today.

However, I wanted to report this and get the ball rolling on hearing back suggestions for other possibilities, other ways to diagnose, etc.

Thanks for any help,
Bret

[bwaldow]

I swapped lids between my Frankenpads, and the flickering has traveled with the lid to the other chassis. Different graphics chipsets, etc.

So, now it's a question of inverter or LCD panel or maybe cabling?

Or ghosts, I suppose.

[ajkula66]

My guess would be the inverter...and that's where I would start my troubleshooting.

Good luck.

[RealBlackStuff]

Agree with George.
Swap the inverter+cable from one lid to the other to test this.