Problem with video when undocking X41 laptop

[danvanasse]

Hey Everyone,

Great forum here, I've read many a video post on X41’s but haven't been able to track down the problem I have so here goes. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I've setup an X41 (laptop, not tablet) with docking station for a VIP in my organization recently (XP-SP2). Following the deployment, the client called back to report a lack of display on the internal LCD when undocking the laptop and opening the lid. I've investigated this issue to find the following:

1) When booting the laptop up in a docking station with the lid down, the attached external monitor works fine. In this scenario, if I try to configure the Intel vid driver to use both external and internal monitors, the internal LCD screen is not detected and not available as an option. All I see as Intel video options is the singular "Monitor". Upon undocking the unit and opening the lid, I can hear the tone indicating the detection of a new device, but the LCD screen is pitch black. Despite the lack of display, the unit is powered up and logged in. I've tried every function keys combo known to get a display, and nothing. The only way out of this condition that I've found (save for redocking) is a forced cold boot.

2) If I boot the laptop up in the docking station with the lid up, I get an external display but no internal LCD display. After login, I am able to properly configure the Intel driver to utilize both external and internal monitors, however, I cannot get an image on the LCD screen. It’s worth noting that in this scenario, I’ve noted an extremely faint image on the LCD screen, imagine brightness turned up to 1 out of 100. Fn key + brightness dows nothing. It's faint enought that if you’re not looking very closely, it looks black. Undocking the unit, changes nothing. Opening and closing the lid - nothing.

3) After going into the BIOS, I noted that primary monitor is listed as "both". I tried changing this to internal LCD and set the boot monitor to the internal LCD. After doing so, if I boot the docked laptop up in the docking station with the lid up, the internal LCD screen is available by itself until the [CTR+Alt+Del] window appears. Then, I get an image on both monitors. If I open and close the lid on the laptop, the image internal LCD image operated as desired. If I undock the laptop and open/close the lid it works fine.

HOWEVER, if I then boot the laptop up, docked with the lid down, all the BIOS settings get automatically reverted back and I'm back to square 1 again, no image on the LCD if the external monitor is present.

I've downloaded the Thinkvantage tool and updated to the latest video, power options, and added the easy un/dock tool from IBM, none have had any effect on the video. Now, I'm at a loss.

I understand this is a lot of detail, but if anyone out there has encountered anything similar, any help would be a big plus.

Cheers!