T42p Screen/Backlight Broken - Replace Or Buy A New T60p?

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cjberg · #1 Post by **cjberg** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:19 pm

My T42p screen all of a sudden went blank on me yesterday. At first I thought it was some error with the power management, so I put it in standby and back on again, and that did the trick... or so I thought. You see, as soon as I increased the screen's brightness to maximum it went blank, and it wouldn't lit again unless I did the "standby trick".

After I've searched the net and this forum I believe it is the backlight or the inverter that is broken. Maybe I can rule out the inverter, since the symptoms are the exact same as those described by Aaron Skonnard in his blog. He first tried replacing the inverter, and that didn't help, and he ended up by replacing the entire LCD. Does anyone know if the screen could be "reactivated" by going to standby in the case of a broken inverter, or would it be completely dead?

This T42p (a 2373-HTG) is more than two years old now, and I'm wondering what you guys think I should do in case I need to replace the LCD: should I buy a new 1600 x 1200 UXGA or should I simply go for a new T60p? What would be the most economic option considering I had planned on buying a new laptop in Q2 next year anyway. (I have no idea what an UXGA screen costs, but I figure it isn't going to be cheap.)

Cheers!

cmarti · #2 Post by **cmarti** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:33 pm

Of course repair the T42p, after that you can sell it and order the T60p.

#3 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:55 pm

You can replace the LCD display which FRU I believe includes the backlight. You can replace the entire lid by buying one from a scrapped machine. Or you can replace the backlight itself (I haven't personally done this, but AFAIK it is possible on the T42), if you are mechanically inclined, by buying one from a source that sells backlights (about $10 -$20 new). Here is one source that sells backlights. http://lcdpart.com/ Regardless, you need to be sure and check which size display you have.

See following link for an example: http://personal.bellsouth.net/d/r/drseng/ThinkpadCCFL/ .

In case you missed it, in the first link above is a link to get your panel repaired. http://www.moniserv.com/doc/laptopscreen.html

Website · #4 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:09 pm

What is the status of your warranty? Backlights are a warranty issue.

gearguy · #5 Post by **gearguy** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:31 am

If you are incredibly careful with those selo-tape esque Circuits they use on LCD assembleys these days, you couldpeel it back and put in a new tube if you wanted to.

naro · #6 Post by **naro** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 5:31 am

check whether there's any warranty left as Thinkpads comes with 3 yrs international warranty...

my Thinkpad had problems writing CD-RWs and i gave them a call, 2 working days later, someone came to swap the faulty combo drive.

cjberg · #7 Post by **cjberg** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:50 am

Thanks guys, very helpful replies! I'll start by checking up on the warranty; I thought it was two years, but if it's three years that would solve the problem for me. Otherwise I try replacing the backlight, if that's possible.

I realize it will be worth repairing it no matter what. It was just that I was pretty upset yesterday when it happened (in the midst of a critical development task), and wanted to throw the [censored] thing out the window.

leegaard · #8 Post by **leegaard** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:29 pm

Warranty lookup:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ubtype=Cat

T42p Screen/Backlight Broken - Replace Or Buy A New T60p?

T42p Screen/Backlight Broken - Replace Or Buy A New T60p?

Thanks!

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