T30 - pink tint on LCD , BIOS screen only appears for 0.5sec

[g8tzl]

I have recently acquired a T30 which had a "missing down arrow key and hard drive". Sadly, there is a much worse fault. Symptoms are as follows:

- no "Thinkpad" screen at boot up.
- Eventually displays the following with "pink" letters-
"Intel Boot Agent version 4.1.07
Intel Base Code PXE-2.1 (build 083)
PXE-E61 : media test failure , check cable
PXE-M0F : exiting Intel boot agent
Operating system not found"

- when I press F1 at boot up , the BIOS set up screen appears for a fraction of a second then disppears - I just get a black screen BUT it is illuminated
- If I insert a CD at boot up , it loads and functions but there is a pink tint on the display - I used a memtest 86+ CD to experiment
- an XP install cd will start loading - again with pink tint , but fails to finish ie. stops at screen where you can start to format a HDD

I did some searching for possible faults - possible caused might be:
- a badly seated LCD cable from the LCD screen to the motherboard
- a faulty inverter (but LCD is illuminated?)
- LCD screen (pink letters could be failing LCD backlight)
- faulty VGA controller on motherboard

The LCD displays OK initially when using an XP install CD (so inverter must be OK??) but the BIOS set up screen only appears for a fraction of a second (but black screen is still illuminated - so backlight OK but pink = eventually dead). Maybe something is wrong with the BIOS as I get NO "Thinkpad" logo at boot up?? Or maybe the LCD cable has just come unseated or its damaged??? Maybe its a power issues - LCD might work with a low load but when load increases, there is insufficient current to drive LCD?? Any thoughts??

Thanks

[Harryc]

I'd plug in an external display, and troubleshoot the Operating system not found issue first. That is usually caused by a hard drive not seated correctly. The pink LCD thing is 99% most likely a failing backlight.

[g8tzl]

I've installed a new hard drive but cannot get Windows to finish the install.

Should the Thinkpad logo always appear at boot up?

Can the ROM where the BIOS is held get corrupted?

[g8tzl]

UPDATE: I've connected an external monitor and I can now see the Thinkpad logo and BIOS screen - funny that I could see the "Windows install pages" but not the BIOS pages on the T30 LCD???

From the BIOS, I've established that the HDD was not being detected - I guess this was due to not using a caddy - a bit of careful adjustment enabled the HDD to be detected

I am currently formating the HDD.

I read lots of different explanations to the PXE boot agent error - although a faulty or incorrectly seated HDD was the usual explanation.

Its interesting the the PXE-E61 error has not previously been mentioned on the Thinkpad forum but there are numerous postings on the internet when you search on the term!!

Many thanks for your help Harry!!!

[g8tzl]

Update - there are lots of mentions of "PXE" when you search on the forum. But when you try and search on "PXE-E61" nothing is found - I think the search routine does not like the "-" sign!!

[Harryc]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie ... tnG=Search

Use this as a google search term;

site:forum.thinkpads.com

Followed by a space, then your search term/s;

site:forum.thinkpads.com PXE-E61

It's (PXE-E61) been discussed 364 times on the forum.

[g8tzl]

Thanks Harry.

Using the external monitor , I've now successfully installed XP.

When I switch to the T30 LCD , all I see is an "illuminated" black screen.

At boot up , I DO see the Windows XP Professional logo but it is very very red and dark - when the logo disappears , all I see is an illuminated black screen. I've tried to increase the brightness but this has no effect although you can tell that the brightness IS increasing.

It appears that words/pictures in bright white are displayed - such as the XP Pro logo at boot up - otherwise all I see is a black/greyish screen - but the screen is definately illuminated.

Any thoughts?

If the backlight/inverter is faulty , why does the screen appear illuminated? Maybe the LCD panel is faulty but white letters (XP logo/earlier boot failure messages) are displayed but in pink/red. Maybe its a faulty LCD cable?? Maybe the backlight is faulty and actually needs to be significantly brighter to display the screen content ??

Thanks

[Harryc]

Maybe the backlight is faulty and actually needs to be significantly brighter to display the screen content ??

I would agree with that statement.

[g8tzl]

I searched the archives and came across a few mentions of T30's which worked OK using an external monitor but the internal LCD only gave an illuminated black screen.

However, the archives mentioned that replacing the entire LCD panel, inverter and LCD cable with known working devices resulted in the same problem ie. still an illuminated black screen. Possible explanations discussed were faults on the motherboard which resulted in insufficient power to the LCD - possibly due to a faulty capacitor or inductor. One interesting comment was that an LCD panel in "full glory" requires significant power.

This could be the problem with my T30. When the LCD panel is just displaying very basic stuff ie. a simple error message at boot up , then you can read the characters although they are in pink not white. Likewise, when you run the Windows install CD , the blue Windows set up pages are displayed ie. a full blue screen with some white (actually pink) characters. Likewise , when you start Windows , you briefly get the Windows logo (in dark red) and then just the illuminated black screen.

So it could be that my T30 cannot supply enough current to the LCD to drive a "full colour" screen but there is sufficient current to give very basic "2 line" error messages or basic one colour (blue) Windows XP setup pages.

Any thoughts?

With a failing backlight , would I still expect to see the usual Windows desktop display - except with a pink tint or very dull? On my T30 , after a very brief flash of the Windows logo (very dark and reddish), I just get an illuminated black screen - not a hint of any image.

Interestingly,when I shake my T30 , I can hear something rattling!!! Maybe its an inductor which has separated from the motherboard??

Thanks

[ajkula66]

Pink letters equal nothing but a failing backlight. Your motherboard is fine, but CCFL or the whole screen need to be replaced.

If you're replacing the LCD, make sure that you have matching cable and inverter, because T30s were shipped with both 150 and 200-nit LCDs, and these parts are different amongst them, as are the ones used for XGA and SXGA+ LCDs.

Good luck.

[g8tzl]

Maybe I have a faulty backlight AND a faulty motherboard!! The archives mentions problems with the GPU

If it was just a failing backlight, why do "simple" displays (one colour and simple letters) display OK but "complicated" displays (lots of colours such as the XP desktop appear as an illuminated black screen - absolutely no hint of any pink image??

I ran Memtest86+ and I get the usual blue screen but with pink letters (due to failing backlight) BUT the "Memtest86 logo block" in (top left hand corner) is almost all black but I can just see the logo - I guess it should be a "complicated" combination of colours.

Its like simple colour displays are OK (but pinkish) but multicolour displays just result in an illuminated black screen.

Two other updates: - the rattle is not due to a loose component - its just one the latches on the lid which is missing its spring. Also, the lid closure switch is loose - although I don't think this will have an effect as the screen is set up to display all the time.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[ajkula66]

The pink hue disappears once the screen warms up...on another note, if the CCFL is really bad, it will just power off and show nothing-or next to nothing.

It's NOT a faulty mobo, because if the digital output to LCD were shot, it would NEVER display anything that makes sense, but just checkered lines, well-known to T4x series users...

Once and again, NOTHING apart from a failing backlight gives out pink hue. Period.

[RealBlackStuff]

I totally agree with George (ajkula66) that red/pink is exclusively due to a bad CCFL or backlight.
In the time you argued about finding some obscure messages in the archives, you could have replaced the CCFL a couple of times!
When it comes to dealing with ThinkPad ailments, there are few people more experienced than George!

[g8tzl]

I guess I should stop reading the archives

I'm just concerned that its MORE than just a faulty backlight.

I read that a total replacement of the LCD panel , backlight , inverter and cable still resulted in an illuminated black screen but perfect output to an external monitor - which is exactly the symptoms of my T30 .. as well as the pink hue.

I can't understand why running Memtest86+ shows up a blue screen (albeit with pink characters which is due to failing backlight) BUT the Memtest86+ logo in upper left hand corner is all black and distorted - also why multicolor pages such as the XP Desktop just don't display. If I could see a weak pinkish XP desktop display , I would be very happy - but all I see is an illuminated black screen.

By the way , I ran Memtest86+ for 2 hours and the pink hue to the white letters did NOT disappear!!