*SOLVED* thin, verticle lines across entire A31 display

[L. Unruh]

>> thrilled to report i have a perfectly "normal" LCD again. after reading through all the insightful opinions and not giving up, i have my screen back to working perfectly.

i unseated and reseated the lcd cable from the MB several times. nothing happened everytime i did it, so i pretty much gave up and priced replacement LCD's (much ouch).

i still kept at messing with the lcd cable, thinking it must be that, since my symptoms just didn't seem to fit with LCD going down.

i reseated the cable again after laying off a couple of days, thinking i'd try bending it in several places while watching my LCD.

WOW!! reseated cable and got some color bleeding on lcd, then bang!! , perfect. i've seated and unseated the plug several times now, and it's remained perfect.

i may be on borrowed time with my cable, but now know it's not the LCD or the MB chip. <<

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i have read back through page 39 hoping to find my exact problem but did not see it.

i have an A31 2652 Q5U, bought it new in late '03 or early '04. it is in mint condition, no scratches or any signs of ware, and the only problem i've had before this is hard drive replacement 6 months ago (which went well using recovery disks).

i have kept bios and all other aspects updated from lenovo thinkvantage program.

3 weeks ago i had flashes fo color on the screen for maybe a second. then thin verticle lines appeared. they have been there ever since.

i have tried driver updates, rollbacks, restore points, none have changed this display problem. the lines are an orangish red in color. this is easy to tell because any orange or red colors do not have the lines visible.

when i connect to an external monitor, the lines are not there, the display on the external monitor is perfect.

therefore....... i'm hoping this is not my ati video chip, and that also meaning motherboard.

i have dived into my notebook to check and unplug and replug my ribbon cable at the pc end. i have not tried to go into the LCD.

i don't believe this is a backlight problem. i have always run my display in very low light mode, and i can crank up the light to high and it is very bright.

i'm hoping this is an inverter problem, as i see that is not too big a deal to replace.

my A31 is well worth it to me to keep running strong; i've always ONLY had thinkpads and was thrilled to find this thinkpad community forum.

i greatly welcome all thoughts and ideas of how to determine exactly what i need to repair/replace.

[Harryc]

Since the external display is fine, I'd be tempted to try an LCD assembly first. You just missed an A31 SXGA+ LCD new in the package for $25 shipped on the Markeplace forum...bad timing there. Try EBay?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

The inverter board is not the problem as its only function is to provide the high voltage needed to power the panel's backlight; a glorified fluorescent lamp. Since you state that there's no problem with cranking up the brightness, your inverter and backlight are working properly.

Most likely the LCD panel itself has developed this problem. Your attempt at re-seating the video ribbon cable was a good try but more than likely there's some physical (electrical) damage inside the panel. The only way to confirm that it's the panel would be to replace it with another unit. I was not able to find any documentation for a 2652-Q5A. Is that the correct model/type number?

The other possibility is a problem with the video chip on the motherboard. The fact that the external video is working fine does not necessarily mean that the video chip connection to the motherboard is okay. Although on my A31s this type of problem is usually seen as random blocks of color and/or flickering video and not just a line or two that are in a fixed position on the screen.

[fasterbybike]

3 weeks ago i had flashes fo color on the screen for maybe a second. then thin verticle lines appeared. they have been there ever since.
<snip>
when i connect to an external monitor, the lines are not there, the display on the external monitor is perfect.

I had a similar problem on the A21P (which got the A31P UXGA screen transplant). I had some vertical lines and a replacement LCD fixed the problem.

My other suspect would be the LCD cable, especially if the lid has been opened/closed a lot, the cable can develop micro fractures as it flexs. A broken trace would give similar symptoms.

[ajkula66]

I'm going to go with LCD cable as the first possible culprit. If not, with LCD itself...

Have you run PC-Doctor to see what it says about the display and the GPU?

[sjthinkpader]

The column drivers on the LCD are mounted on a flex circuit and bonded to the glass. A thin vertical line means the column driver and/or the flex circuit had a break. Then that column of TFT (thin film transistor) isn't getting any power. For TFT, off state is transmissive and on state is black.

[L. Unruh]

i should have been clearer on the verticle lines- they are across the entire screen.

it makes the display look like you're viewing in the very lowest resolution possible or worse.

much appreciate the quick, excellent responses from all.

it was mentioned i just missed an LCD for sale on market place....??

is the market place part of the thinkpad support community? would appreciate a short direction on how to get to it.

again, much thx for the insigtful and quick thoughts and ideas.

[rkawakami]

If you are seeing vertical lines across the entire width of the screen, then that's a little bit different than a single (or couple) of random lines. If those lines appear to be occurring at a repeatable interval (i.e., every 1/4") and you have re-sat the ribbon cable at both ends (on the motherboard and at the back of the panel), then I would agree with ajkula66 on the prime suspect and a test you should run:

- the ribbon cable (broken trace somewhere along the length)
- graphics chip (connection problem on the motherboard or video memory problem; PC Doctor may be able to detect this type of problem)

The Marketplace can be found at this link:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewforum.php?f=11

You can see all of the sub-forums by clicking the "thinkpads.com Support Community Forum Index" link near the top of the page and next to "New Topic" button (if there is one).