Thinkpads Forum

Recently the monitor to my Thinkpad 600 2645 31U has had an issue where the backlight is on but I have to move the lid back and forth to get it to display anything. And it's not always with the lid in the same spot. I can maneuver it back and forth a bit and it will at some point display at an acceptable lid position. Any ideas what the problem is and how to fix it?

If I am understanding you right, your backlight is on, but nothing is showing up on the display, correct? (unless the display is moved)

Try reseating your LCD cables, both ends.

Correct, the backlight is on but nothing shows on the display unless I play with the lid positioning and find a spot where it does display. If I move the lid after it stops displaying. But the backlight stays on the entire time.

Then the inverter and backlight are working properly.

Try reseating the LCD cable, as it sounds like the cables are not pushed in all the way, thus the movement creates a more stable connection.

Those are the three connectors that the orange ribbon are connected to. Two behind the LCD paneling on the right hand side and one under the keyboard, right? I reseated those and it didn't correct the problem.

Side note, it's been getting progressively worse over time. It used to just be a slight lid repositioning would get it to display again. Now i have to move it back and forth a bunch until it displays things again.

OK, look closely at the LCD ribbon cable...there might be a tear in it.

tfflivemb2 wrote:OK, look closely at the LCD ribbon cable...there might be a tear in it.

Ahhh, the problem has been discovered. The whatever it's called, I guess spooled ribbon on the right hinge has gotten misaligned and the opening and closing of the cover created a tear as it comes off the spool heading to behind the LCD. Thank you.

Now to decide if I want to seek out a new ribbon or see if I can position it to minimize the problem for now. If I wanted a new ribbon what/where would i be looking?

Glad that you found it. Atleast the cables aren't that expensive. You should be able to get another one off of eBay for less than $20 shipped.

Or post an ad in the Marketplace here, and you might get one cheaper. Lots of 600/600E parts here.

Can someone let me know what part number for a new LCD cable I need to be looking for? Only thing I am pretty certain is my model has a 12.1 which uses a diffferent cable, right?

According to page 105 of your Hardware Maintenance Manual, the part number for LCD cables is 05k2655 for the 12.1" LCD.

Thanks for the info and the link to the hardware manual