Thinkpad W500 4062: BLACK SCREEN BOOT

[DuncaZ]

Hello,

I've been struggling for the past year getting my W500 to use discrete graphics again. I had XP 32 installed and had upgraded to Windows 7 and something happened there and my ATI card went inactive or burnt out. I re-installed XP 32 and it worked again for a short time and now is inactive again. I heard this was possibly from some updates but I'm uncertain.

It worked fine on the integrated Inteli graphics chip but I couldn't really game anymore. Now I'm stuck on a black screen and can't get it display anything on the screen. This is after I setup switchable graphics in the bios again trying to fix it after reading a few articles on the subject. I recently fixed it by taking the laptop apart and resetting the ram and battery but now that isn't even working.

Is there a way I can fix this problem? I've been through this several times fixing it by sheer miracles but now nothing is working. I would like to get the discrete graphics working again so I can play some games properly.

After I put it back together I got the beep codes so I reset the ram again and that went away. Now it boots, black screen but the lights are on. I don't have a battery so it's just the AC light and the circle with the Z in it. It stays on steady humming and doesn't do anything just a black screen. I don't have any login sounds setup so I don't no if it is booting or not.

[Brad]

Welome to the forum!

Sorry to hear of your trouble.

If you can I would try a Linux live CD to test another OS. Google it.

Let us know how it goes.

Brad