Thinkpad r40 LCD display problems

[littlalex]

Howdy all - I just purchased a beautiful almost mint corporate return r40 off of a seller on Ebay for a great price ($30+ $15 s/h). Unfortunately the display is bad (was stated as good). The seller is willing to refund me but I'm going to have a pretty hard time finding such a nice machine at such a price if I can fix the video. I happen to have another R40 here with some problems but a good display.

When placing the ac adapter into the machine the screen goes immediately white (before turning the unit on). When I start it booting the screen pretty shortly starts flashing madly and after a number of minutes goes black.

I plugged the machine into an external display and even when all the nasties are going on the external display is perfect which means to me that the problem is the LCD or associated hardware and not the video circuitry.

So, after all the above blah, blah, can some one tell me what piece(s) other than the actual LCD screen (I'm aware of the inverter also) might be bad and causing the problem or would the problem be limited to one or both of those parts (lcd/inverter)?

Thanks in advance, esp. for sitting through the ramble

Regards,
Littlalex

[virge]

If the LCD is lighting up, the problem isn't with the inverter.

You might want to post the 7 digit machine type for your machines. That will tell us with original configuration from the factory.

[littlalex]

Thanks for the quick reply Virge.

The model # is 2897-54U

Littlalex

[Thinkpad Lover]

If your R40 is able to output display to an external monitor then I would just go ahead and switch over the entire LCD assembly from the other R40 you have with the good display and you should be back in business.

Daniel.

[ajkula66]

ThinkPad R40 (2897-54U)
P M 1.3GHz, 256MB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm HDD, 15 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, 24x10x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, Intel 802.11b wireless, Modem, 10/100 Ether, UltraNav, Sec Chip, IEEE 1394, 8 cell Li-Ion Batt, WinXP Pro

Just make sure that the other R40 is also a 15" unit, since these came as 13.3" and 14" as well...and the bases are different from what I recall...

White screen often equals a bad LCD cable - at least on older ThinkPads. If wiggling the lid changes anything, that's the likely culprit.

If not, the panel itself has most likely gone haywire.

Good luck.

[littlalex]

Thanks lots folks - The plan is too switch displays...the replacement is a 15" from a 2897-83U.

Regards,
Littlalex

[virge]

The displays for your two machines should be interchangeable. Make sure you take a look at the HMM, but it'll be easy to swap the entire assemblies.

[littlalex]

Folks - Switched out the LCD with another and everything works fine.

Thanks again to those that responded to my dilemma.

Regards,
Littlalex

[ajkula66]

Glad to hear that the transplant has worked...

Enjoy!