Thinkpads Forum

My LCD display just quits after about a half hour or even less.
You can still vaguely see any icons but it is all blacked out.

I connected the laptop to an external monitor for hours on end, and had
no problem.

Is this possibly a problem with the BIOS? Any suggestions?

Thanks.

That sounds like your backlight (CCFL), since you can still see it with an external monitor.

tfflivemb2 wrote:That sounds like your backlight (CCFL), since you can still see it with an external monitor.

Can you please elaborate how to fix it?

Can almost guarantee its the inverter,not the backlight.....VERY common on the 770 series....replace with a 12j0445....

Greg St.L

I think sickofit is right, I forgot that this has been a common problem for this series. I should have mentioned the inverter as another solution, but I was just moving along too quickly.

The inverter is easier/cheaper to replace than the CCFL/Backlight.

Just use your Hardware Maintenance Manual as a guide:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 7l5152.pdf

On a side note,Its not necessary to completely remove the LCD,among other things....just remove the keyboard,take the 3 screws out from the bottom of the LCD housing,(being careful with the little screw covers,so you can re-use them..I usually just put just enough on to make it stick to a clean piece of hard plastic)then lay the LCD down flat(all the way open),pull up where the brightness slider is,then slide down....that pops the front off,and allows access to the inverter,replace,put back together...good to go....Now a couple of us have discussed this,and we think it is the brightness slider that eventually goes bad....I would suggest sliding it to its max brightness,and then don't touch it..!!!

And even if yours is a 10L1160 inverter,replace it with a 12J0445....it is much more common to find and A LOT cheaper....should be able to find one for around 30 bucks....compared to 1 or 2 hundred for the 10L1160 one...!!!

I think it was thinkpadmedic online where I always got mine...

Later...

Greg St.L

You don't have to remove the keyboard, at least I've never had to; just the three screws, pop, and slide.

I've never found a bad rheostat, that would be an easy fix to just bypass so it stays on bright (as mine have always been adjusted anyway). There is a fuse, two ICs, and quite a few transistors and regulators that would be more suspect.

Thank you all very much for your help.
So it sounds like replacing the inverter would be the first (and hopefully,
only) thing to do to fix this problem.