T30 display no picture

[Memphis]

After returning from a flight trip with the T30 carried in the luggage, being protected in a soft bag, it turned out, that the display doesn´t work anymore, as the machine is correctly booting.

These are the exact symptoms: Upon booting the display turns from black to dark blue, and the degree of darkness can be varied with the brightness-hotkey. However even in a dark room there is absolutely no picture visible.
Connecting the notebook to an external display shows normal funtion.
Tried everything like "warming up", open/close several times, nothing.
As I´ve been reading through the forum here, it is still unclear to me, whether is´s a failure of the inverter or the display itself, though there are no visible cues of cracks or similar, the notebook is in an excellent state and was in use only a total of may be 2 years.
In case the display has to be exchanged, are there any compatible displays by other manufacturers or do I have to use an exact T30-display by IBM?

[rkawakami]

From your description of the problem, it seems like the backlight IS working ("degree of darkness can be varied") which means the lamp AND the inverter are operational.

That leaves the video signals getting to the display. It's possible that either end of the ribbon cable from the motherboard to the back of the LCD has come loose. If you feel comfortable checking this yourself (and any warranty has already expired), you can download a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual (HMM) from here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-42308

This document gives both the directions on how to remove and replace the various pieces of your system and the IBM part numbers. As far as which panels you can put in there, I'd have to say that you would be better off sticking with ones recommended in the HMM as they are known to work with your motherboard and cable.

The other possible point of problem could be on the motherboard itself. One or more of the connections to the graphics chip could have come loose. It would have to be ones that only affect the LCD as the external video appears to still be working properly.

[tfflivemb2]

I am almost willing to bet that the cable has come loose from the back of the LCD. I would check that first, if the system is no longer under warranty.

[Memphis]

Thx for the replies.
There is no warranty anymore.
Opened the LCD and found the cable and everything else fully ok. As well as removing the keypad, the CPU-Cooler, nothing loose.
I know, that LCDs are very sensitive to shocks and pressure, so they´re not really the best for an notebook. Probable, as a shock exceeds a certain magnitude, the crystals are displayed or similar, so the display doesn´t work anymore.
Sent it to a repair shop with enhanced testing facilities and a lot of spare LCDs on stock, so let´s see, what they find out.

[Memphis]

The investigation turned out, that the LCD is working normally.
So in conclusion with what I wrote in my 1st post (ext. Display working) I was said, that there are 2 ports from the video adapter - an analogue one and a digital one, the latter of those, as being the input source of the T30-LCD, might be broken.
Does anybody have had similar results or can give some advise about where to check else on the mainboard?