Thinkpads Forum

Hello,
I have had my T60 for about 5 years now. About 3 months ago the screen started having a high-pitched hissing sound whenever the luminosity was at the highest setting. So what I did was start using the lowest brightness setting which made the sound go away but I noticed a distinct reddish color. After about a week of this, the backlight started failing and the only fix I could find was to close the lid and open it again at which point the backlight would turn back on. Eventually the backlight stopped working entirely, and I caved in and started using a crappy external monitor I had in storage, disabling the LCD completely.

I recently bought a new screen on ebay for $15, replaced the LCD and it seemed to work fine. However the screen still had a reddish tint and after a small amount of time it was unable to be at max luminosity, just like the last one. I went back and noticed that the ebay auction said that there was a reddish tint to the screen so I figured that I just bought another dead screen since it was so cheap the guy was probably just waiting to get it off of his hands.

I ended up buying an entire top half, including the LCD plastic casing, for $50 again off ebay and it was 100 times easier to install, I also asked the seller if there was any reddish tint or anything wrong with the monitor, he said no. I hooked it up and I still have the same problem, hissing sound at high luminosity and a very dark red color when I am running at lowest brightness. I am starting to think there is another problem with my computer, and I am actually blowing out all of these new screens that I am installing. Could it be a fuse or the video card? Could it be that I am buying the wrong resolution monitors (the two ebay monitors had a max resolution of 1024x768 while my T60 originally had a higher resolution, not sure exactly what it was though).

I am out of ideas and I'm wondering if anyone has had the same problem with their T60 and could shed some light on what exactly is going on, I feel like I wasted a lot of money buying new monitors just to find out that there may be something else wrong. Thank you for your time.

Could be the inverter card. They're quite cheap and you'll find the exact FRU number for your model in the Hardware Maintenance Manual.

How could an inverter cause the red tint? I always thought the redness was a sure sign of a failing CCFL. BTW, I have an XGA T60 with the same very red tint that doesn't go away no matter how long it's on at low brightness settings. At full brightness, it will eventually go away, but the lamp will shut off after a while, much like automation describes.

The standard 14" (4:3) models use the same inverter for XGA and SXGA+.
The standard 15" (4:3) models have one inverter for XGA, and another for both SXGA+ and UXGA.
Hanging an LCD to the wrong inverter can cause all sorts of weird and wonderful things.
Generally speaking, any reddish/pinkish hue is a sure sign of a CCFL on its last legs.
Quite often the red/pink goes away after a few seconds and the CCFL could live for another 3 days, 3 months, and sometimes even over a year!
Replacing the CCFL will take care of the red/pink.
The hissing sound could be due to a bad inverter, or bad contacts in cable or inverter.
Blowing them out with compressed air and making sure they are properly re-tightened might help.

Heh. So I bought another dead screen from ebay? Great. I thought the problem must have been from another part of the laptop, but after reviewing the comments posted here and the information on this site, it seems like there is no doubt it is the CCFL. I guess I will take the entire thing apart and replace these, see if that helps.

If there is a hissing noise, replace the inverter. Red tint means the bulb is failing, but if your inverter is sick, you could be putting out the wrong a/c voltage to the bulb. That certainly won't do the bulb any good.

My X60s was making a high pitched hissing sound like yours. I couldn't stand the sound it was making so I starting poking around and figured out the inverter board was making the sound. I wrapped it with tape and it fixed the sound, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving it like that.

Purchased a new one on Ebay and the sound is completely gone. Unfortunately the screen is dim, I don't know if it was always that way, but maybe the inverter damaged the bulb. Oh well, the screen is fine for me.

But yeah, I would definitely get a new inverter board if you can help it, I don't know where it is located in the T60, but my X60s it was located right in the panel. I hope you haven't already replaced it with a similar condition one

Thank you all for the quick and informative input. Before I leave negative feedback on EBay, I want to be sure that there is no other possible explanation for this problem. The entire top half of the computer (the screen+casing including the inverter) is what I bought. If there is no way this could be a problem with my system board, then I will have to leave negative feedback, considering the screen shows all of the symptoms of a bad CCFL/bad inverter.

Thanks again.

hi guys

i have simmilar problem - it started with pink screen during boot. then the screen was pink during first few minutes of work, and then yesterday the backlit stopped working. when lighting it with my reading lamp, i can see what´s displayed on screen a bit.

i assume it´s a problem of CCFL backlit - is there any chance to replace only the CCFL instead of buying whole LCD? they are quite pricey in my country and shipping from US makes the price double..

I have T60 with 14,1" SXGA+

thanks for replies

Yes, you can replace the CCFL tube.
See e.g. my HOW TO... here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88991
This is the part you need: http://store.lcdparts.net/MSLLENOVOIBM141R_p_1695.html
or get its equivalent locally.

so i made it. works perfectly:)

considering the cost - about 10usd (here in my country) for ccfl tube instead of 100usd for whole lcd.. i am more than happy.)