Thinkpads Forum

About a year ago, I spilled part of my after work beer on my x61s, while reaching for something at my desk.
I freaked out and flipped the laptop over to be sure that nothing would leak in through the keyboard. This was a HUGE mistake.

I took the laptop apart and there was virtually nothing except a rather small drop on the motherboard, I cleaned it up with alcohol, let it dry then booted it back up.

It booted up fine but liquid had worked it way into the LCD wreaking havoc on the layers between the pixels. The screen still light up fine and the laptop boots as perfectly. I removed the LCD screen and began the search for parts. It was a HUGE pain in the rear to find the ultra light screen. I bought some parts online after verifying that it was the correct part number and for the ultralight, and Impact Computers STILL managed to send me the incorrect panel in the mail. Took over 2 months to get my refund. So I decided ebay was the best place to purchase an LCD from because I could verify from pictures that FRU and P/N's are correct. So finally a year later I found the correct screen for under $400 (Thats right this 12.1" Ultralight is a friggin rip off!).

I got the new LCD today, but before installing it, decided to re-plug in the old screen to verify I was putting it back together correctly. The old screen's backlight no longer comes on. So I plugged in the new screen and I have the same problem!

So why would the power inverter suddenly be bad? Is it from running the laptop without the LCD plugged in? I haven't messed with the laptop in about 8 months so it's just been sitting in a laptop bag. I don't understand how the inverter could have gone bad? Tried to get a voltage reading with my Fluke and it's measuring under a volt. The led's on the inverter are lighting up, however I want to test if power is even being passed to the part of the inverter that is used to boost the voltage. Multi Meter in hand please help!



CLIFFS:
Spilt Beer on screen.
Screen still lights up but looked funky on one side.
Purchased new screen after getting major run around.
New screen and old screen no longer light up (the back light they both display though when I hold a flashlight behind them)

So, what do I do now? I have spent a fortune and still have no working laptop? What do I do next? Buy a power inverter? Why would it have gone bad? New Cable? Why would that have gone bad? Need some direction I want my laptop fixed!

Thanks in advance!

I'm guessing that some of the beer made it on to the inverter and eventually ruined it. Have you inspected the inverter? You can't use a conventional multimeter to measure the CCFL start-up voltage, it is too high. You could also have a blown fuse on the systemboard, (2) bad LCD's, or a bad signal cable.

Liquid is a very pervasive substance and wreaks havoc with electronics. But I guess I
don't have to tell you (or anyone) this!
As Harry said, there are 3 possibilities. The motherboard, the LCD cable or the inverter.
I think the motherboard is a long shot especially since you cleaned it right away and the
laptop worked at that time. The LCD cable is also a long shot since the connector is well covered
behind the screen and I doubt that any liquid running down the cable would make it past the flex hinge.
If your laptop has bluetooth, and it still works, then I think the LCD cable is probably good. And again
the screen worked in the past.
So that leaves the inverter, which is right in the line of fire as it were! It's pretty much uncovered and
so prone to any liquid fallout. Luckily it's readily available and relatively cheap, at least on eBay!
It's also easy to replace and hopefully it will do the trick.

Tim S

If you fix your problem by perhaps replacing the inverter and end up with two good ultralite displays I would be happy to buy one.