Big video screen at bootup?!?

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INGMAN21 · #1 Post by **INGMAN21** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:45 pm

Hi there,

I have a T20 and when I start it up, the IBM logo is about 300x larger than what it should be. All I see is the IB and thats all. What the hell happened? I tried to reformat the computer and the display is still huge! What do i do to fix this? HELP! Thank you all!

ajkula66 · #2 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:10 am

First of all, welcome to the forum!

I've never seen the exact same problem that you're describing, but have seen similar stuff, and it has been a GPU issue followed by motherboard replacement on two machines that I can recall...

Don't rely just on my word, though. I'm certain you'll harvest more opinions here shortly.

INGMAN21 · #3 Post by **INGMAN21** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:13 am

Hi and thanks for the welcome!

What is a GPU? I might just put this up on Ebay for parts then. If its a mobo, forget it. Its not worth the time. Thanks for the reply though. =)

#4 Post by **erik** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:27 am

can you see enough to get into the BIOS and attempt to turn off 'display expansion' to see if that does anything?

frankiepankie · #5 Post by **frankiepankie** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:11 pm

Or press Fn+F8, i believe that with this key combination you can switch some kind of screen expansion on/off.

INGMAN21 · #6 Post by **INGMAN21** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:04 pm

erik wrote:can you see enough to get into the BIOS and attempt to turn off 'display expansion' to see if that does anything?

Yes! I did that and this is what happens...

Upon bootup, the screen is extremely large again but when passing the IBM screen, the screen is regular size but its not centered, its more towards the lower right hand of the screen. Ughhh..i think its the video card on the mobo or the LCD..

INGMAN21 · #7 Post by **INGMAN21** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:06 pm

frankiepankie wrote:Or press Fn+F8, i believe that with this key combination you can switch some kind of screen expansion on/off.

It does turn it off, but now the display goes to the lower right hand corner..its not centered correctly....

ajkula66 · #8 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:52 pm

Now that you've tested it the way you have, and described something I'm very familiar with, I'll tell you that the mobo is most likely shot, with an issue regarding video card (GPU) and/or video adapter.

INGMAN21 · #9 Post by **INGMAN21** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:13 pm

ajkula66 wrote:Now that you've tested it the way you have, and described something I'm very familiar with, I'll tell you that the mobo is most likely shot, with an issue regarding video card (GPU) and/or video adapter.

crap..ok, i think i'll junk this then. Cause the screen is sorta pinkish with several vertical lines (pink) running up and down. If this LCD is no good, please let me know. I'll trash the entire thing. Thanks!

ajkula66 · #10 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:42 pm

The fact that the screen is pinkish might mean a couple of different things...

Does the pink ever go away? After, like, 5 minutes. If yes, that screen is on its way out-more precisely the backlight is. If not, it's the reflection (like the stripes most likely are) of the GPU issue.

I wouldn't junk it anyway...someone will take it for parts, here or on eBay...

Good luck.

#11 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:16 am

The fact that the IBM logo is off-center could also mean that it has an XGA LCD-screen (1024x768) with an SXGA+ LCD-Cable (1400x1050).
Both need to be of the same XGA type.
This has nothing to do with the discoloration though.

Get the Hardware Maintenance Manual here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4UYM3F
Open it up and identify the parts concerned. At least you will learn something about the innards of a ThinkPad.
You'll find it easy enough to find your way inside a ThinkPad.

Big video screen at bootup?!?

Big video screen at bootup?!?

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