T41 Issue

[OrioleMagic]

I just bought a T-41 on Ebay. It had no drivers for some odd reason. I had to install the ethernet driver from a thumbdrive and then install the soundcard/videocard/ and a few others. I managed to install a Intel WM3B2100 Wireless card under the palmrest... (I am proud of myself!)

Here is the issue. When I was installing the drivers the screen went blank for about 5 seconds and then came back to normal. Since then I can only run the computer about 15 minutes before the screen goes blank! I can see a blue-grayish tint to the screen and don't believe it is the LCD. I am terrified that I bought a laptop with a motherboard that is about to go... Am I right?

I did have a motherboard go on an R40 and it was not like this. The screen was displaced or skewed and sort of jerking.

What could this be? Did I loosen a connection accidentally when I opened it up?

[yak]

This could be the infamous loose GPU problem. Take off the keyboard and see if applying pressure to the GPU helps.

[OrioleMagic]

This could be the infamous loose GPU problem. Take off the keyboard and see if applying pressure to the GPU helps.

Ya gotta explain what a GPU is to me. I think I know what a CPU is...

[yak]

There is a known problem with some T40-T42 Thinkpads where the graphics chip (GPU) come loose and the display gets either garbled or goes black. There is a sticky thread about it: t42 shuts down when i move it. Mine T41 had this too. It was working only for a couple of minutes after I turned it on (until the GPU warmed up). If this is indeed your problem, you will find possible solutions in the liked thread.

Pressing the GPU would make its pads contact the system board properly thus fixing the problem (as long as you keep it pressed). The GPU is located to the bottom right of the CPU. If you have a Radeon chip, there will be a big ATI logo on it.

It would also be a good idea to post your exact type and model number (look at the bottom of your laptop). For example mine is 2374-312 as you can see in my sig.