X60 Screen Flickers then Blue Screen

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fkelly · #1 Post by **fkelly** » Sun May 25, 2008 6:05 pm

Just picked up an X60 and overall I am very pleased with it, but I have noticed something happening.
The screen flickers ever so slightly about 3-4 times within a 30 minute window and then suddenly the screen goes black. The hard drive continues to run and finally the unit shuts down. I power it back up and it seems to run fine.
I haven't determined if it just does this on battery power, but it seems like that is the only time it happens.

Anyone run into this.

This was the same type behavior my T40 showed, and it ended up being a motherboard replacement (that whole moving the unit deal).

minc3d · #2 Post by **minc3d** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:27 pm

Yep, I described this behavior a few days ago in my previous thread... http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=62163

I am in contact with Lenovo Corporate right now to get a new unit.

fkelly · #3 Post by **fkelly** » Sun May 25, 2008 10:04 pm

Thanks a bunch. Yes the behavior on my X60 is exactly as described by you both (in your previous thread)......I think it only does this flicker and then flicker to black screen while on battery power. I have been on ac for the last 2-3 hours and it hasn't done it once.

I also have an 8 cell battery like the other poster on your topic....

Guess I need to check out the lenovoblogs and see what others are discussing on this subject.

I really like this machine and this has been my only "uh oh" so far.

Not sure how to link up my post with the one you started but maybe a moderator can do it....

Thanks for the heads-up..... Oh and my X60 is a non-tablet version.

brovig · #4 Post by **brovig** » Mon May 26, 2008 8:52 pm

I'm also having this problem. Well, I don't get the flicker that many of you describe but I get complete random blackouts, about 3-4 times a day. Fn+F4 or toggling Fn+F7 gets it back. It seems to occur more - and possibly only - on battery and not AC. Somehow it feels like it's a sw issue and not a hardware one.

I wonder if the recent BIOS or the recent update to Presentation Director (the latest is v 3.06) might be causing this. I've been trying to find v 3.05 of the Pres Director so I can roll it back but I can't find it anywhere. Tech Support claim it's not available. And all they have suggested so far is to re-install the operating system!

Any thoughts/ideas?

fkelly · #5 Post by **fkelly** » Mon May 26, 2008 9:08 pm

Haven't found an answer yet, but if I could suggest that you post your issue on the lenovoblog site also,where the lenovo folks hang out.
Looks like this is an issue that Lenovo has not determined a fix or even what the problem could be, so for now it is our problem.

By the way, I don't use the presentation dir, nor have I ever had it loaded.

The site/link is posted a few posts back in this thread.

Frank

EggsBenny · #6 Post by **EggsBenny** » Thu May 29, 2008 9:48 pm

Would a mod be kind enough to combine threads? Thanks.

It has happened to me on both 4 and 8 cell battery power. Hate to think it's a mobo issue. Is that that the fix Lenovo is recommending at this time? If so, I'll no doubt have to send my X60s in for replacement. No blue screen. Just black but can recover with sleep/wakeup F4 routine.

Don't know how it can be a OS/driver issue if the flicker/blank black screen doesn't exhibit on AC.

Keep posting your experiences. If you had a mobo replacement please post results. Thank you.

UPDATE: I hit the Lenovo boards and ran across the same issue with other X60 owners. A poster from Germany rolled back the video driver and seemed to have solved the problem. I did the same. Went from current to .4860 8.9.2007 and for the last hour on battery 4 cell no glitches to report. If flicker kicks in I'll report back. Hate to think it's anothr faulty driver. Had a blue screen issue with a modem driver not long ago. Makes me wonder if Lenovo fully tests updates before letting them out of the barn. They roll back updates regularly so I think I'm done with trusting the update service henceforth. If it ain't broke and not critical I won't touch it with a bamboo pole.

UPDATE: At least 12 hrs on 4 cell and nothing strange to report. Will swap the 4 with my 8 cell and see if flicker issue remains. Looks to me like a bad video driver. Try a roll back to .4860 in device manager. If you update religiously like me then your roll back is merely a click away.

stevenhton · #7 Post by **stevenhton** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:42 pm

I too am having the same problem, and discovered this started with I replaced my old 8 cell for a NEW 8 cell about 1 week ago.

X60T with a NEW 8cell battery causes the problem, however, using my ORIGINAL 8-CELL which came with the laptop 9 months ago works fine... no problems with the screen going blank.

When it goes dark, only solution was to put into standby and resume.

Seems to be a problem with the battery not producing continuous power to the screen. It 'flickers' as described here and then goes out.

Going to send in this NEW replacement battery for another.

If anyone figures it out, let me know.

EggsBenny · #8 Post by **EggsBenny** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:45 am

Your problem is different from what I have experienced. Seems you are experiencing a flicker similar to a florescent bulb flicker. My problem was more like a screen shudder then a blank screen. I have rolled back my video driver and all seems well both on 4 and 8 cell.

fkelly · #9 Post by **fkelly** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:10 pm

Ok I rolled back my video drivers (as suggested by several of you all) and that seems to have addressed the flickering problem. The driver was ###4926 dated 2007 and when I rolled it back it was ###4550 dated 2005......

I have been browsing, emailing and doing some spreadsheets for the past 3 hours and no flicker and black screen.

Looks like this was a bad driver update.

Will update after I use it for a day or so more.

EggsBenny · #10 Post by **EggsBenny** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:17 am

stevenhton -- sounds like an inverter problem. My last thinkpad suffered the same fate compounded by aged backlighting.

stevenhton · #11 Post by **stevenhton** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:35 pm

EggsBenny, do you mean the AC adapter? I thought that was a possibility... did a new adapter fix your problem?

I find it odd that these problems all seemed to begin at the same time for all of us here.

Thank you for your help.

EggsBenny · #12 Post by **EggsBenny** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:28 am

stevenhton -- no not the adapter. Google lcd inverter and you'll know what I mean. Go ahead and swap out the new 8 cell. If that works count your blessings. If not I'd focus on the inverter -- you described what I experienced a year ago.

As for the rest of this thread I believe Lenovo pawned off a bad video update on us. If rolling back your video driver doesn't solve the problem then you have a more serious issue. I rolled back to the previous release and haven't experienced the flicker/shudder symptom since.

stevenhton · #13 Post by **stevenhton** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:31 pm

I've rolled back my driver to the most recently one I could find for windows vista:

7.14.10.1329

dated Sept. 2007.

Hopefully this will resolve the issue... as I now have 3 replacement batteries from Lenovo to send back.

Odd, however, as the current video driver:

7.14.10.1437

was installed in March, but problems did not start until end of May, as with most other people. This is problem some glitch with this driver with some other driver.

Will keep you all posted.

thevt · #14 Post by **thevt** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:14 am

My x60s is exhibiting the same symptoms-

-laptop screen does a "quick" shake/flicker from side to side
-screen goes either black white or gray
-cycling function/fn - f7 brings it back
-happens randomly (but about 30-40 min) on battery power

does anyone who rolled back the drivers still have the problem?

fkelly · #15 Post by **fkelly** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:45 am

Ever since I rolled back the driver, no issue at all.

Yuj · #16 Post by **Yuj** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:29 pm

Yes, the driver rollback solves the problem with those exact symptoms.

The flicker problem started to happen after installation of 7.14.10.1437 drivers for Intel 945 chipset (for a 32-bit Vista version). Rolling back to previous version (7.14.10.1329) does solve the problem.

Download official Lenovo 7.14.10.1329 drivers here:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... d528ww.exe

By the way, it's not a problem with the laptop per se, but rather with the driver, as the exact same problem existed on my T60. Other users also report the same: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=63915