ThinkPad 600X LCD display is ALL WHITE after LCD replacement

[BioTeacher]

Like I said above, I replaced the LCD on 600X with a unit I bought on eBay (in truth, I did this twice!)

The LCD IS ALL WHITE, AND BRIGHTNESS RESPONDS TO SLIDER CONTROL BELOW SCREEN. Still, no images.

External monitor works fine (I'm typing on it right now.)

Running XP Pro (very nicely, by the way.) XP display properties reports that the LCD is working properly (Yeah, right, Bill!)

Your thoughts?

[Laptop_wizard]

Make sure all the LCD connectors are fine, make sure the ports and insets are clean, check for any tears in the ribbon cords.
make sure they are all sungly inserted, if none of that works try replaceing your LCD ribbom cables, if not that, try replaceing the sub card. and if that dosent work, then you kneed a new LCD, the one you have may be defective.
thank you.

[BioTeacher]

Win XP properties reports that the display is working. In light of this all, does this mean anything?

Thanks for you reply.

[Laptop_wizard]

Yes I understand that. as you staed above Xp thinks it's working righ, no kneed to say twice. XP might think the monitor your on is fine, not the LCD, it may even think the LCD is fine, XP is READING it correctly, but dose not know if it is displaying properly.
your LCD is probly defective.
replace it.
regards.

[farna]

Bio, I have to agree with wizard on this. XP is likely reading the status of the LCD controller, not the panel itself. XP can only report what the controller sends it, so the controller could be bad. It could also be reading the CRT display as the main output. Reboot and hold F1 down. That gets you into setup. Run the IBM diagnostics from there and see what that reports.

You didn't state WHY you changed the LCD in the first place. If you swapped because of the same condition with the original, a faulty controller or connector might be the problem. If the LCD was working and changed due to broken glass it's a different story.

[BioTeacher]

Thank you, farna. I originally replaced the LCD because of a cracked LCD. Even with the cracks, I still had a partial display that was good. Since then, both replacement LCD's have been completely white. Please advise this novice.

Thanks.

[Laptop_wizard]

Did you try cleaning out the connectors and inserts like I advised?
if you have tried 2 new LCD's you have other problems, try replaceing the sub card. are the LCD's actually THINKPAD screens, or just the same size different brand? do you know what the sub card is? when you remove the keyboard,
it's the part on the far upper lefthand corner, they are cheap on ebay, replace that and see if that corrects the problem. make sure your LCD ribbon cords are clean at the ends, sometimes junk gets up in those, and blocks the connection.
regards.

[BioTeacher]

Thanks for your replies, Wizard. Both screens are used Thinkpad 13.3 inch screens. I will follow up on checking out the cables and connections. It would be great if it were simply a matter of a bad connection.

[BioTeacher]

Guys, thanks for your insights, and moral support. At this point, I'm not sure which was more useful. It's nice knowing your not left hung out to dry when your faithful old ThinkPad goes belly up!

Anyway, it turns out that the LCD ribbon cable (the one on the right) had a crack in it right at the turn next to the connector. BOTH replacement LCD's had cracks in the same place! Thank God, my original LCD had a cable that was still serviceable. My 600X is back in business!

Laptop_wizard, your advise on this case was golden! I owe you, man. Thanks!