Replaced motherboard & inverter, LCD still does not work!
Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 1:51 pm
The LCD on my Thinkpad T61 recently died. I started by ordering a new inverter, since that was a possible cheap fix for the problem. When the first replacement inverter did not work, I tried another one, and the LCD still did not work. Because the laptop outputted fine to an external monitor, I was led to believe (from reading many forum posts online) that the issue may either be with my Nvidia 140M graphics card or with a fuse on the motherboard delivering power to the internal LCD. When I held a flashlight to the LCD, I could not see anything at all (not even a faint display, as would be the case with a bad backlight).
In an attempt to rectify both of those problems, I ordered a brand new system board. The replacement motherboard had Intel graphics instead of NVidia graphics. After I swapped everything in and turned on the computer, the LCD screen briefly worked, but none of the status LEDs on the inverter board worked (except for the Wi-Fi light on the far left). After I turned off the computer and turned it back on, the internal LCD stopped working again.
If I hold up a flashlight to the LCD, I can see a faint image when I boot up. However, once the computer boots into Windows, this faint image disappears even if I shine a bright light at the LCD. This leads me to believe that something may be wrong with the backlight. However, would a bad backlight alone also cause most of the lights on the inverter board to not work? Currently, only the LED for Wi-Fi on the far left works. I'm skeptical that the problem is with the inverter board, since I've tried THREE different inverters (the original one that came with my computer and 2 replacements I bought on eBay). I've inspected the LVDS cable and it does not seem to be damaged. I've also double and triple-checked all of the LCD connections to ensure that they are firmly in place.
What else could be possibly causing the problem here? I was very much encouraged when the LCD worked for a few minutes after I swapped the motherboard, but after that it never worked at full brightness again.
In an attempt to rectify both of those problems, I ordered a brand new system board. The replacement motherboard had Intel graphics instead of NVidia graphics. After I swapped everything in and turned on the computer, the LCD screen briefly worked, but none of the status LEDs on the inverter board worked (except for the Wi-Fi light on the far left). After I turned off the computer and turned it back on, the internal LCD stopped working again.
If I hold up a flashlight to the LCD, I can see a faint image when I boot up. However, once the computer boots into Windows, this faint image disappears even if I shine a bright light at the LCD. This leads me to believe that something may be wrong with the backlight. However, would a bad backlight alone also cause most of the lights on the inverter board to not work? Currently, only the LED for Wi-Fi on the far left works. I'm skeptical that the problem is with the inverter board, since I've tried THREE different inverters (the original one that came with my computer and 2 replacements I bought on eBay). I've inspected the LVDS cable and it does not seem to be damaged. I've also double and triple-checked all of the LCD connections to ensure that they are firmly in place.
What else could be possibly causing the problem here? I was very much encouraged when the LCD worked for a few minutes after I swapped the motherboard, but after that it never worked at full brightness again.