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T61 external monitor has dingy, yellow "whites"

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:29 pm
by dizmayed
Please indulge me, this is not really a Thinkpad problem, but they're so many LCD experts out there who know LCD troubleshooting. My searches for solutions have been inconclusive.

I have several ten year old Samsung monitors (173P) that I connect to my T61 (Win7/Linux) or desktop (Win7 dual monitor). They all work fine, I am not at all picky abt color corrections.

I acquired another old Samsung (193P) but it doesn't display whites correctly on either computer: they are dingy, yellowish. If I turn on this monitor, w/o connection to an PC, I see a "seeking connection" screen where the normally white background is dingy white, yellow, etc. If I connect on-line, the normally white space in a Firefox empty section is dingy, yellow.

You must know what I mean.

I am handy with repairs in general but don't know where to start with this problem.

tm

Re: T61 external monitor has dingy, yellow "whites"

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 1:16 am
by ZaZ
The yellow is a function of age and there's not much that can be done about it. A new(er) LCD would fix it, but that'll obviously cost money.

I had this happen with an old Dell LCD that I had hooked to my main desktop for years. When I went dual screen, I was surprised at how yellow the Dell had become over the year and I ended up replacing it as well.

Re: T61 external monitor has dingy, yellow "whites"

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 5:54 am
by RealBlackStuff
Maybe the previous owner was a smoker, and the screen is dirty with nicotine.
If cleaning doesn't help, then age is to blame, as Zaz mentioned.

Re: T61 external monitor has dingy, yellow "whites"

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 11:14 am
by dizmayed
Okay, thanks all. Despite all the "info" on various web pages, I see now that two rules of thumb re LCD monitors are:

1) hues changing to reds or pinks is usually the CCFL.

2) the dingy yellow, white screen is usually the screen itself.

I browsed the Samsung 193P service manual and see the two lamps look relatively easy to change and cost ~$25. Haven't found a replacement screen (the true culprit) but if I did, I suspect the price wouldn't be worth it.

Onward,

tom
latitude 38