T30 intermittent lcd issue

[rutteger]

Have an intermittent issue with a t30. On occassion the lcd will either show a completely black screen with white horizontal lines or it will show a partial good screen with the same issue. Sometimes the screen is fine. Display to external always fine. Given this i guess it may be the cable to the lcd or screen. Could it be the mobo, assume not since external is ok and surely its the same gpu for both? Anyone seen similar? Not looking to spend loads fixing this...

The t30 has had a hard life. It was originally my work laptop, during which time it did this on a couple of occasions. I ignored it (normally worked on external), it went away, i forgot about it.

The laptop itself is a bit like triggers broom. It's had new memory, hard disk and motherboard along with other bits and bobs.

[RealBlackStuff]

This could be a loose/worn LCD cable. Check that both ends are fully connected (you have to disassemble the LCD lid for that). These cables are relatively cheap. If you do need a new one, make sure to get the same as you had (XGA or SXGA+).

The GPU has actually 2 parts: a digital part for the internal LCD, and an analog part for the external VGA.
If analog/external works fine (nearly always the case), internal/digital may not work.
9 out of 10 times it's the GPU's BGA becoming loose, a fairly common problem with T30s and T4x.
Reballing the GPU is the solution. (Available in the UK in Newcastle upon Tyne. See http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=73945 )