Thinkpads Forum

I have a T61, and the video recently stopped working. It is not producing a usable image. When I attach it to an external monitor it outputs no signal at all.

My guess is that the LCD is fine, but that the video card or inverter has died (I don’t actually know what an inverter does but I’ve heard it referred to in other posts concerning video problems).

Can the video card be replaced, or do you have to replace the whole mother board? How much will I need to spend to fix this? Where can I get parts? Lenovo wants $475, which I think is absurd.

If it’s going to cost too much to repair, I’m going to sell it for parts. Should I piece it out, or sell it whole? Other than the video problem there is nothing wrong with any of the other components.

Here are the exact T61 specifications:

Core 2 Duo 7500 (2.2GHz)
14.1 WXAG+ w/camera
Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M
3 GB PC2-5300 66MHz ram
100GB, 7200rpm HDD
1GB Intel Turbo Memory
8x DVD burner
Wifi A/G/N & BlueTooth

Here are the pictures of the screen at the windows log in screen, at boot up and just before starting Windows.




Admin note: Thanks for keeping the images small but please add *PIC* warning when including inline images.

Do you still have warranty? It might cover such a malfunction.

You can't replace just the video chip. If you want a new video chip, you'll have to get a new motherboard. I read somewhere that nVidia at one point in time made a change to the manufacturing process of these video chips. So if you get one of these newer chips, chances might be that it won't fail so fast again. A probably safer alternative would be to get a motherboard with Intel chipset graphics (Mobile Intel GMA X3100). These chips seem to be more robust.

Evigants wrote:My guess is that the LCD is fine, but that the video card or inverter has died (I don’t actually know what an inverter does but I’ve heard it referred to in other posts concerning video problems).

Can the video card be replaced, or do you have to replace the whole mother board? How much will I need to spend to fix this? Where can I get parts? Lenovo wants $475, which I think is absurd.

You can try the inverter and it's a lot less expensive that a new system board, but inverters rarely fail. My money's on the board as it's a known defective card.

The problem with notebooks is there's very sources for the parts because they're highly specialized, which is why the price is so high. You might want to post over in the Marketplace forum to see if anyone's got one or look on eBay.

And the inverter would only explain backlight issues, anyway - not display corruption or a non-functioning external display. The inverter provides high voltage power for the backlight. It also carries all of the indicator LEDs, but that's an unrelated function.

Your machine needs a new motherboard. Hopefully it's still under warranty.

Good luck.