A nasty display problem on a Thinkpad T20 [pics]

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cheesecake · #1 Post by **cheesecake** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:23 am

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Since a picture is worth 1000 words, please find below my 3000 word essay on "A nasty display problem on a Thinkpad T20". I'd appreciate any input on what the faulty component can be:

1. Inverter card
2. System board
3. LCD display
4. Other

Notice that the leftmost 2 cm of the screen is fine (the fuzziness is just high compression of the JPG image). Using an external display works perfectly. So, what do you think is wrong?

I ask because I need to know what to replace. I'll try a DIY job on this one because IBM won't fix it for me. Sure, my warranty has expired, but I had the exact same problem "fixed" under warranty less than a year ago. I don't know what they did to solve it then, but it worked when I got it back. IBM apparently only has a 3 month guarantee on repairs.

Picture 1.
Picture 2.
Picture 3.

Chobits · #2 Post by **Chobits** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:50 am

Geeeee! that took awhile to load up.

Chobits · #3 Post by **Chobits** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:54 am

I had this same problem once on My Dell Insipron 8200. Apparently it was a faulty graphic card. When i sent it back for warranty service, on the service form it was written " Graphic Card Changed " i might not be 100% sure if that was the case, but most likely it is. After replacing it, i had no problems since then. And i realised that it was time to get a ThinkPad. Im not sure if your gfx card can be changed though, we will need to wait for the experts here to reply as i am only a new owner of a thinkpad.

Cheers~

cheesecake · #4 Post by **cheesecake** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 8:17 am

I think the graphics card of the T20 is integrated on the system board, so I hope you're wrong ...

Don't know why the page took a long time to load - I compressed the images to < 40kB each to avoid that. Perhaps because they're located on a server in Sweden, but that's on a T3 line so it should be lightning fast.

dclee012 · #5 Post by **dclee012** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 9:35 am

man, that looks nasty...

hausman · #6 Post by **hausman** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 10:58 am

What do you see with an external monitor?

cheesecake · #7 Post by **cheesecake** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 11:11 am

As I mentioned above, there is no problem when I switch to an external monitor. Flawless picture.

JHEM · #8 Post by **JHEM** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:50 pm

1) Open it up and reseat the display cable at both ends.

2) Replace the display cable.

Regards,

James

cheesecake · #9 Post by **cheesecake** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:52 pm

Done that, thanks. No effect.

jephhy · #10 Post by **jephhy** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:32 pm

Yikes...have you tried running diagnostics?

Jeff

plucky duck · #11 Post by **plucky duck** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:49 pm

Have you tried calling them to see if they still have a record of what they did to fix your laptop last time around?

I have a similar problem with my Inspiron 8100. Sometimes the display shows up fine, other times random vertical/horizontal lines. Other times 3/4 black screen on top and 1/4 white screen on the bottom. When it's connected to an external monitor everything shows up fine. Used to have to flex the display opening/closing the lid so the screen displays properly. Checked the physical wiring between the LCD and the base of the laptop, everything is secure. Now when I power on, totally nothing, no bios bootup screen, hard drive doesn't even initiate.

stevec5000 · #12 Post by **stevec5000** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 1:03 pm

It may be too late now to be of any help but when a desktop LCD screen has vertical lines like that it means the LCD panel is bad and has broken connections along the top or bottom of the screen. Only fix is to replace the LCD.

A nasty display problem on a Thinkpad T20 [pics]

A nasty display problem on a Thinkpad T20 [pics]

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