Moving Lid causes screen to black out, Also major dimmming

[driven]

Hi, I've been having problems with my screen for maybe over a year now with a flashing screen, and more recently dimming.

The problem is when i move the lid, the screen would do many quick flashes to a blank screen and back, but once the lid is stable everything is fine. Also, there are times when i dont have this problem.

A newer recent problem is that sometimes my screen becomes extremely dim. When I turn on the the laptop, i hear a buzzing sound like it wants to power up, but it couldnt and the buzz stops and the screen dims. I did a search on the dim screen and realize there can be many causes like the bad inverter and such.

But was wondering if my two problems are related and if anyone one know the cause.

Thanks!

[Brad]

Red tint on startup would be an indication of a failing backlight.

My thoughts are a bad inverter which is the least expensive and easier to check than a bad LCD cable.

Brad

[rkawakami]

Weak backlight or inverter, along with the ribbon cable or sticking lid switch can lead to the loss of just the backlight. If the screen dims but you can still see pixel activity, then I'd opt to re-seat the ribbon cable at the motherboard, re-seat the inverter board and re-seat the plug going to the backlight. All of those things won't cost you a dime. Just grab a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual from here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 39298.html

I'd also look very closely at the wires going from the inverter board to the backlight. If they appear to be frayed, then you can try taping the wire with electrical tape. If those things don't help, then you start with some hardware replacements. One thing to consider, based upon your description of the problem, would be the ribbon cable. You can usually find them on eBay or ask here in the Marketplace. Moving the screen around and having that cause a problem is usually indicative of a broken/loose connection. The buzzing sound you describe is probably the inverter board trying to output enough voltage and current to get the lamp to fire up. That would be the other swap I'd try. Which one first? The inverters are normally cheaper than the ribbon cable. It's also the easiest to replace. Given that movement appears to cause/fix the problem, and if re-seating everything doesn't help, then my bet would be on the ribbon cable.

[Brad]

Since he just replaced the motherboard and this was happening a year ago that would eliminate the motherboard reseating possibility. Of course the cable could be loose on the LCD end. I usually find the cable with the piece of tape holding the cable to the LCD intact.

Brad

[driven]

Thank you for the advice Brad and Ray

I've never opened up the lcd before, but I think I'll give it a look to check out the cable

Hope hardware replacement wont be necessary, but the buzzing seems like a sure sign somthing is going down soon..