R40 screen went out

[jjski216]

I have a 3 yr old R40 that I purchased after leasing it from the school i attended. It's worked great in every way since I've had it, but the screen has gone almost completely black. When I boot up I can still see the "Windows" screen if i have a light shining directly on my screen and if it's tilted at the right angle. i think it might be the backlight, but i'm not sure...

[pjm99au]

Hi,

You have a number of possible problems

1. The inverter may have gone

2. The backlight tube may have gone

3. Cables may have come unstuck

The first thing I would do (which fixed the same problem on my R40) is, with a small screw flat head screw driver, to dig around the small micro switch which is depressed when the screen is closed - RHS of keyboard above the insert key. With a bit of judicious flicking and leavering up (with the r40 turned on) my screen came back to life. It will feal like the spring is not stuck but it solved my problem without incurring any cost. I then trimed the lug on the screen so that it didn't push the switch down again in the future.

If this doesn't fix it then remove the keyboard and check the connection of the screen cable to the mother board. The hardware maintenance manual will show you how to remove the keyboard if you are unsure.

Still having a problem then you could check the connection of the inverter card to the back light and the LCD cable to the LCD screen.

If it still doesn't work then you can replace the inverter fairly easily and with greater difficulty the backlight itself. Before you spend money on a hope these will fix it it is best if you can convince someone to lend you an inverter from their thinkpad to see if it fixes your problem. Their are different types of inverters (I think principally two in the older thinkpads) so check for compatibilty before convincing someone to open their screen up for you.

Sorry to be so wordy but having been in your situation I know how painful the experience can be

Good luck

Peter