Thinkpads Forum

Hi. I’ve got T60p, T7200, FireGLV5200, 15”UXGA, 3GB, SSD w/Win7.
Needless to say I love my ThinkPad.
The problem I experience lately is that it starts with dim screen, even though brightness bar is at 7.
It usually takes more than once to restart it to get to normal brightness and it’s getting worse, …so I changed Inverter, that did not help…, than it must be back-light,… so I changed whole TFT-panel, that did not help either.
What am I missing? What should I do? I’m out of ideas.
I need your advice.
Thanks, Alex.

1catman wrote:... it starts with dim screen ...

Cannot tell from your note if the machine is getting "stuck" on a dim Windows logo screen at startup. Is that what is happening? If yes, then the problem is overheating -- replace the thermal paste on the CPU and the problem will be solved.

Sometimes (quite often lately) my computer starts with dim screen and it stays this way for the duration. ThinkPad is completely functional otherwise, runs programs, Internet, etc., it does not get “stuck” on Windows start screen, but display stays dim, till I restart it.
After that it may start dim again, or with different level of brightness, or start at full brightness…so it may take more then one restart,… but every time, even with dim screen it shows 7 on brightness bar.
Another thing I noticed is that at the very start, (at POST test), like first second or so after start, screen always bright and next split of a second the brightness goes a notch down.(?)
So every time I start computer, I check visual Screen brightness and if it’s low, than I restart it, till I get it to full brightness.
Pattern is random and it seems to me, that something is about to fail,… but what?
And like I said, I just put new Inverter and Screen in it and that did not solve my problem, if it is a hardware problem.(?)
Thanks for a prompt response.
I hope this description is better.
Alex.

If you decide you need a screen, I have a brand new IDTECH (IBM) UXGA panel with the eeid eeprom flashed to work in a T60.