Thinkpads Forum

the multitouch screen of my x61t is old, not very bright, and has a decided yellow cast. i'm looking for the cheapest possible way to rectify this. i can score a new ccfl backlight for $12 including shipping. were i to install this to brighten things up and then use my x-rite calibrator to adjust the white point, would this be a reasonable solution? i tried using my calibrator as-is but adjusting the white point necessitates dimming the screen some, which on this old thing means the screen just ends up laughably dim.

there are some whole bezel assemblies on ebay for about $50, but they're all used and so the screens are likely at varying stages of dimness already.

also, if it matters, the multitouch feature of my screen is completely useless to me (i never use it because it's inverted, and i can't figure out how to fix that), so i have no problem with a simple pen-enabled display. supposedly the non-touch displays are brighter anyway, right? i would go that route if i could be sure the replacement was new and plenty bright.

thx for your time

also thought i'd share that i'm currently kicking myself in the pants because i didn't realize until just now (via http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product ... fault.page) that this used x61 tablet was once under a 4-year upgraded warranty that included parts, labor, and on-site repair. i bought the computer in jan 2012. the warranty expired in july 2012. it was not advertised as being under warranty, and so i never thought to look it up!!! big mistake!!! could've had a free screen replacement. *sigh*

Sorry for the late reply. Replacing the backlight will probably fix the yellowish screen. If you decide to do so, here's an illustrated guide that is very helpful http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/53172.html Be especially careful not to get any fingerprints or dust inside the assembly when you put it back together.

Man that guy did a terrific job of documenting the entire process of teardown and rebuild.

I've serviced many, many laptops but have never done a CFL replacement for the back light. To be honest while I was reading over his description and looking at the pictures of how he dismantled the LCD it kind of scared me a bit. It's quite involved and those ribbon cables going into the digitizer looks pretty fragile. I love how he said if you pull one of them out, then the screen is ruined. That's pretty intense.

I'd rather replace the entire upper assembly instead of replacing the back light. I might attempt it on a machine I don't care about, but geez does it look scary. I'm not normally one to back away from repairing things, but still. Up until looking over this, the hardest thing I had repaired was replacing the LCD in the G4 Titanium Powerbooks. Man those were a pain in the butt.

Temetka:

I didn't replace the CCFL in my X61T, but did dismantle the display to replace the LCD cable assembly, which had developed an intermittent when tilting or rotating the screen. It wasn't that bad a job to do, and I'm thankful to the guy who posted the detailed pictures. They were very helpful in getting things put back together correctly.

A friend who has done more of this than I have told me to think twice before replacing the CCFL in an LCD display because of the many layers to the LCD panel. If you get any dust or fingerprints on them during reassembly you're going to be staring at them for a long time and be mad at yourself for being so careless...

@K0LO

Thanks for the link. I have swapped digitizers for a X41T and the toughest part was removing the glued LCD bezel. As a matter of fact, lenovo says

The LCD bezel on the ThinkPad X41 Tablet is not designed to be removed and then reused. The removal process will damage the assembly. When the LCD enclosure is reassembled the servicer must use a new LCD bezel.

ref: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-62295