LCD stains ... but on the inside? (link to pics)

[GoofyG28]

This is truly bizarre. I have two stains that look like streaks of lightning. The fascinating thing is, they're on the inside! I've noticed the top right one for months now. I didn't call Cust Serv because I'd have to ship my laptop in for repair/replacement, and I need my laptop practically everyday. Since I'm going on vacation in a few times, I finally called to have a shipping box sent to me. Hopefully, they'll address the super high-pitched fan noise, too.

What good timing -- because today, I discovered a second stain! This time near the right bottom. I've taken some photos with my macro lens.

My T60 screen is a beautiful 1400x1050 flexview LCD panel.

http://www.gavenue.com/misc/t60/stain.jpg

http://www.gavenue.com/misc/t60/stain_a.jpg

http://www.gavenue.com/misc/t60/stain_b.jpg

mod edit: please post warning about pics in the title and keep pics <50 KB (post links if they are bigger).

[gator]

Looks like dust inside the LCD ... get it repaired if its under warranty. It happens occasionally ...

[GoofyG28]

Oops, sorry Gator about posting the photos. I haven't visited this forum in so long. Thanks for removing them from my original post and updating the subject line.

I understand that dust can get into even the tiniest cracks, but how can so much of it get inside my LCD? And the formation of the dust (if it's even dust at all) is so strange.

I've tried repeatedly to find similar incidents online, but I found nothing. I am a little disappointed that IBM/Lenovo designed such a beautiful, rock-solid laptop that allowed crap to get inside my LCD. I'm sure it's just an isolated case, though, and I will still continue to buy Thinkpads for life, just as I had converted 4 of my friends already.

[gator]

There has been plenty of posts on this forum about dust/hair inside LCD screens ... it is impossible to miss them on flexview screens ... FYI this has been happening since the A31p days, so yours is not an isolated incident. Here is a recent thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=61119

[GoofyG28]

There has been plenty of posts on this forum about dust/hair inside LCD screens ... it is impossible to miss them on flexview screens ... FYI this has been happening since the A31p days, so yours is not an isolated incident. Here is a recent thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=61119

I think I must be lacking in my "search" skills. It's good to know that I'm not alone anymore, but it disturbs me that this is an uncommon thing with flexview LCDs.

Maybe it's time to move up to a T61... hmm...

[gator]

I have a T23 with a couple of similar spots. It is not just flexviews that get affected. I have no idea how it happens though!

[Troels]

BOE-Hydis is bragging in their 2004 brochure, where they show a normal screen with a 3 mm cover layer, the lcd surface and a 1 mm air gap inbetween. Next to it they show their FFS screen with no air gap at all, i.e. no refraction, so i'm thinking the dust gets stuck in front of the LCD and color filters, which means that some of the companies applying new polarizers probably could fix this problem for you
At what cost i do not know though.
Dust like that would drive me mad though.

[GoofyG28]

Update: IBM refused to fix the problem. If the stains are indeed dust, they could at least clean it for me. Instead, they blame me for "dropping" my T60!!!! They claim that there was evidence of it, and that the LCD was "cracked". OMG! I've never dropped my baby EVER. It was going to be $700 to replace the FlexView LCD. It was their story against mine, so of course, I lost.

[carves]

Just a tought; if the screen can be taken apart, is it possible to clean the LCD ?

It is just unfair after spending alot of $$$ on a Thinkpad then there is something wrong that cannot be replace for free while still under warranty.

[Johan]

Just a tought; if the screen can be taken apart, is it possible to clean the LCD?

Answer: Yes. But - this is certainly something which will require skills, patience, and very clean environments. See the thread LCD issue appearing out of the blue and in particular the post by Troels of Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:41 pm which points to How I took apart and repaired my notebook LCD screen with water damage.

You may get a somewhat impression of the steps in taking a T60 LCD apart through browsing the guide Replacing the CCFL of an IBM A31 notebook. Of course the T60 HMM will describe exactly how a T60 is taken apart - get it e.g. via Lenovo Service and Support Training.

Johan

[Crunch]

I JUST posted about this in another thread lol...

Link to thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 779#425779

If my Flexview screens had ever had anything like that, I'd be all over them. I've had four IPS screens, including my current one, and they were all perfect, as they should be. Call them, and make a big deal out of it. This is an IBM, not Lenovo, design, and as I said in the other post, IBM had always been there for me and my customers with screen imperfections, such as this, as well as dead pixels.

They only ever asked what was wrong and where on the screen, and to "send it on in" for replacement.