T60p black screen right out of the clear blue

[sbjoe]

Happened suddenly this morning with no warning whatsoever. No ghost image or anything, just a very black screen. Hooked up another monitor and everything appears normal there. Is this most likely an inverter or something disconnected or what? If I hold it just so when opening the lid to see the screen when its barely open, there's a very brief flash of color before it goes black again.

Admin edit: Changed subject line T61p to T60p per OP's note.

[RealBlackStuff]

If it "flashes" every time you switch it on, it could be the inverter.
OR, the CCFL is broken and only "shows" for a few seconds when cold-starting.

[sbjoe]

Thx RBS,
No warnings of ccfl failure, so it sounds as though I should replace the inverter & if that doesn't do the trick, send it to James for backlight replacement.. That sound about right? Is James still around and doing this?

[RealBlackStuff]

Try another inverter first.
AFAIK James is still doing this, but this solution would be much cheaper:
if yours is a 15.4", you should look at the Sharp WUXGA LQ154M1LW2A or LQ154M1LW02 screens.
They need some metal brackets cut off, but are otherwise a drop-in replacement.
They are by far the best screens on the market, fitting any 15.4" T60/T61/R61/R500/T500.

[sbjoe]

Thx again,
That all sounds like real good stuff. BTW, looks like I erred in typing the original subject line; the machine is a T60p.

[TuuS]

What size T60p and what is your screen resolution?

[sbjoe]

15.4

Don't offhand recall what res I've been running but it's been unchanged pretty much forever

New inverter is on order from China

[ajkula66]

15.4

Don't offhand recall what res I've been running but it's been unchanged pretty much forever

That screen should be WSXGA+ (1680x1050), given that this is a "p" model.

[sbjoe]

Happened suddenly this morning with no warning whatsoever. No ghost image or anything, just a very black screen. Hooked up another monitor and everything appears normal there. Is this most likely an inverter or something disconnected or what? If I hold it just so when opening the lid to see the screen when its barely open, there's a very brief flash of color before it goes black again.

Admin edit: Changed subject line T61p to T60p per OP's note.

Update: I replaced the inverter w/ no effect and then noticed that I do have a very faint ghost image after all. So it would seem that a new screen is in order, right? If so, what are the odds this will work?
http://tinyurl.com/jrfywtq
I do notice that it's WUXGA; is that important? Are there other, better, alternatives?

[RealBlackStuff]

Did you READ my previous post?

[sbjoe]

Did you READ my previous post?

Oops! Guess I was so focused on the inverter at the time that I forgot completely that you'd suggested a couple of screen replacement options. Apologies & thanks. Any reason to prefer one over the other? Certainly good to know I don't have to wait for shipment across the larger Pond.

[sbjoe]

Thanks to RBS my venerable T60p is happily purring again. Got a Sharp LQ154M1LW02 off fleabay for the princely sum of 23 bux & installed it today. Really nice bright screen!

I doubt it's worth it but if anybody has use for the original, in need of a new backlight, it's yours for shipping. I can most easily do Priority - looks like it'll just go into a medium flat rate box - or FedEx Ground. I'll hang onto it until the next recycle pickup.

Thanks again RBS!

[RealBlackStuff]

You're welcome.

Goes to show that it pays off to read the forum attentively.

[sbjoe]

Thanks to RBS my venerable T60p is happily purring again. Got a Sharp LQ154M1LW02 off fleabay for the princely sum of 23 bux & installed it today. Really nice bright screen!

Belated update:
Screen was beautiful until I turned the machine off at the end of the day. When I turned it back on the next morning it was back to the black screen with no ghost image or anything. I had quite enough on my plate at the time so I simply shelved the machine until today. It's a bit late for me to consider taking the ebay seller to task so I need to decide whether to try again with another screen, give up and recycle the machine or ...? Machine works just fine if I hook an external monitor up to it. I did try substituting the old inverter just in case to no effect. Any ideas as to how/why there might've been such a sudden failure? Thx

[RealBlackStuff]

If you have ANY other T60/T61/R60/R61, take the complete lid of that T60p.
From the other machine, remove keyboard and KB-bezel and just disconnect the LCD-cable from the motherboard.
Then connect your T60p-lid to that other machine, put the KB back on and see if the screen works (it should).

[sbjoe]

Thx,
That would the the right clever test - if I had another machine of the type.