ThinkPad X220 LCD issue

[shako]

Hi everyone and nice to meet you!

I just subscribed to the forum in order to receive help and suggestions on my ThinkPad X220: an amazing machine I purchased second hand almost two years ago for little over 100€.

It has been doing great since then, until a very recent attempt of mine to re-install the OS: I was partitioning disks and everything seemed normal, until at some point the LCD screen turned black. I tried shutting it down (via power button) and turning it back on, and this is what happens:

1) the ThinkPad logo pops up straight after turning on the machine, but it appears very dimly on the LCD screen.
2) In an instant, the LCD goes black and I can hear one "beep", followed by a short pause and two shorter "beeps".

This happens every time I try to turn it on.

I would love to fix the problem myself in order to learn something and save time (and money...).. After some googling, I found out that the error message associated to the "beeps" pattern may indicate either a motherboard problem or a LCD screen problem. Before rushing into buying replacements for one (or both) the mentioned parts, I wouId like to ask:

a) if there's a way to try and fix the problem without replacements, and
b) if this is not possible, if there is a way to specifically identify the problem (motherbord, or LCD, or other), to understand which replacement parts I should buy.

Thanks to anyone who will help and sorry for my bad english,
Federico

[axur-delmeria]

You could plug in an external monitor (VGA or Displayport input) to the laptop so that you can see whether the laptop boots, or displays an error message. If the monitor doesn't show anything, you may need to disconnect the LCD cable on the X220's system board-- doing so will force the laptop to use an external display.

[shako]

You could plug in an external monitor (VGA or Displayport input) to the laptop so that you can see whether the laptop boots, or displays an error message. If the monitor doesn't show anything, you may need to disconnect the LCD cable on the X220's system board-- doing so will force the laptop to use an external display.

Thank you for your reply @axur-delmeria. I tried connecting an external monitor (through the VGA port) but obtained the same abovementioned results. No output could be seen on the external monitor (as it almost immediately entered stand-by mode). I also tried to disconnect the LCD cable on the X220 motherboard and nothing changed. However, I am not 100% sure I did everything accordingly. Here is a pic of what I did, with the cable I disconnected marked by the red circle. May you confirm whether I have done everything accordingly?

[axur-delmeria]

That's not the correct cable. IIRC that's for the LED indicators and webcam.

Getting to the LCD cable requires removing the palmrest and the keyboard bezel. Grab a copy of the X220 Hardware Maintenance Manual (open the link labeled "HMM" at the top of this forum's pages, just below the site banner. The HMM contains the disassembly instructions as well as the parts listing.

[shako]

That's not the correct cable. IIRC that's for the LED indicators and webcam.

Getting to the LCD cable requires removing the palmrest and the keyboard bezel. Grab a copy of the X220 Hardware Maintenance Manual (open the link labeled "HMM" at the top of this forum's pages, just below the site banner. The HMM contains the disassembly instructions as well as the parts listing.

Thank you! I managed to disconnect the display accordingly, and now it shows a message as soon as it turns on:

Code: Select all

Real Time Clock Error - Check Date and Time settings

Press Esc to continue or F1 to enter Setup.

After some googling I found that this is probably a BIOS battery issue. I already tried to replace the BIOS battery some time ago, but it didn't solve the issue. Maybe I should set the BIOS Time and Date settings to "system degault" after replacing the battery, in order to let the system "detect" it?

[axur-delmeria]

The error message does indicate a dead BIOS battery-- I mean, the X220 is over a decade old by now, and the little coin cell usually last between 3-5 years.

But if replacing it doesn't solve the issue, then it may be a different problem altogether. There might be a more severe fault in the system board, sometimes beyond the skill level of end-users like us to troubleshoot and fix.

If you have a multimeter, you can check the voltage of the BIOS battery that's currently installed. If it's 3V, it's still OK.

[shako]

The error message does indicate a dead BIOS battery-- I mean, the X220 is over a decade old by now, and the little coin cell usually last between 3-5 years.

But if replacing it doesn't solve the issue, then it may be a different problem altogether. There might be a more severe fault in the system board, sometimes beyond the skill level of end-users like us to troubleshoot and fix.

If you have a multimeter, you can check the voltage of the BIOS battery that's currently installed. If it's 3V, it's still OK.

Thank you very much @axur-delmeria, with your suggestions I could at least identify the problem. I will play around with the BIOS battery and the BIOS settings, and hopefully I will solve the issue. I will let you know