T60p IPS backlight problem?
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:18 pm
Hopefully, someone will read this and say "oh, I know that problem." 
Last week, my T60p (2623DDU with UXGA and WinXP) froze, or so I thought. I restarted and kept using it. Well, it's kept freezing intermittently, always while under heavy load (hot), and always worked after restart. Now it froze while I was playing a game, and I could hear the game still running, so I looked in bright light, and could make out a faint screen image: the Thinkpad wasn't freezing, the backlight was turning off.
I was hoping I could plug in an external screen, and see for sure whether it is the backlight or the computer itself. Unfortunately, it seems I cannot plug in an external screen on the fly, but have to restart, at which time it works again anyway.
I searched the forum, and didn't see my exact problem, but saw t60p problems were regularly getting the response that t60ps need regular cleaning or they overheat. So, I carefully cleaned it, I thought. I didn't blow compressed air, contrary to some suggestions, because I was afraid of blowing something somewhere and making things worse.
Since cleaning it, the fan is now much louder. I don't know if that is good (blowing more air) or bad (dying). The screen blacking out appears to be better, but it's hard to tell, because it is so intermittent. (It's happened only once since cleaning.)
So, it appears to me that the problem is either heat, and my cleaning didn't totally fix it, or it isn't heat at all.
The problem is I'm a road warrior, I'm usually away from home, and w/o another computer to read instructions from while I perform anything too intensive.
Apologies if I've been wordy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I bought a t60p to have a bullet proof laptop on the road. Is it time that I retire this one and move on?
Last week, my T60p (2623DDU with UXGA and WinXP) froze, or so I thought. I restarted and kept using it. Well, it's kept freezing intermittently, always while under heavy load (hot), and always worked after restart. Now it froze while I was playing a game, and I could hear the game still running, so I looked in bright light, and could make out a faint screen image: the Thinkpad wasn't freezing, the backlight was turning off.
I was hoping I could plug in an external screen, and see for sure whether it is the backlight or the computer itself. Unfortunately, it seems I cannot plug in an external screen on the fly, but have to restart, at which time it works again anyway.
I searched the forum, and didn't see my exact problem, but saw t60p problems were regularly getting the response that t60ps need regular cleaning or they overheat. So, I carefully cleaned it, I thought. I didn't blow compressed air, contrary to some suggestions, because I was afraid of blowing something somewhere and making things worse.
Since cleaning it, the fan is now much louder. I don't know if that is good (blowing more air) or bad (dying). The screen blacking out appears to be better, but it's hard to tell, because it is so intermittent. (It's happened only once since cleaning.)
So, it appears to me that the problem is either heat, and my cleaning didn't totally fix it, or it isn't heat at all.
The problem is I'm a road warrior, I'm usually away from home, and w/o another computer to read instructions from while I perform anything too intensive.
Apologies if I've been wordy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I bought a t60p to have a bullet proof laptop on the road. Is it time that I retire this one and move on?