Thinkpads Forum

So basically, I spilled some stuff on my screen. It didn't seem to get into the internals whatsoever, just limited to the LCD. I dried everything, took everything apart, left stuff covered in rice, etc. Screen was shot so I ordered a new one (exact same LG screen that I had - LPA154W02 TL06)

After installing the new LCD, everything looked great. Fired up, screen is working, then BOOM it goes dark (haha just went "dark" again...brb...) By "dark" I mean it goes black essentially, but if you look closely, you can still see the pixels for a brief while (computer is still running). If I put it into and out of standby, the screen pops back perfectly fine (did it again...argh...)

After putting it into standby, the screen seems to "cooldown". It looks like when you run the defrost on a foggy front window.

So anyone got any ideas? Shot inverter? Bad LCD panel? I mean, right now, its 100% fine. Brightness controls work, etc, but any minute it is going to go "dark" again.

Well, I'm no expert, but I did have an experience with my/old T60P which may be helpful in your case.

First the most obvious is for you to go into control panel and power options and make sure that under display settings that you don't have the option set for the screen to go black in three minutes or five minutes when not used.

The other thing you can do, and this most directly parallels my own experience wherein the screen kept going black, is to go into the bios and display settings and make sure the screen is set at maximum.

The good thing is that when your screen works... it works!

Good luck,

Taichi

The bad screen may have overstressed the MOSFET switch on the MB but usually the fuse would blow first.

sjthinkpader wrote:The bad screen may have overstressed the MOSFET switch on the MB but usually the fuse would blow first.

How could I test this?

More symptoms: When I first wake up the screen, the time from ON till BLACK is the longest. After the first blackout, the time between blackouts becomes consistently shorter (until it becomes a worthless endeavor).

I've ordered another inverter. Will keep this thread updated

If the screen goes dark but you can still see the pixels, it means the backlight is off.

This usually means a failing inverter, possibly a bad lamp (CCFL).
Given the story you mentioned, a bad inverter seems likely, maybe a few drops got into it.

Received the new inverter and have new problem symptoms:

With the new inverter, the backlight refuses to come on at all. Can still see pixels in background, but no backlight. The original inverter still powers the backlight for a time, then goes dark. The new inverter does not at all.

The "new" inverter is used, so it may be faulty. I am going to try another. In the mean time, any other tests?