T-60 corrupted image: bad LCD or EDID? (picture)

[phndude1]

This is quite a bit of text, so please bear with me. I have been very frustrated with this issue.

Six months after the 3-year warranty expired, my T-60 display now looks like this:



The screen looks like this even in the pre-boot/BIOS stage before loading into Windows.

System specs are as follows: 14 in. T-60 Part no. 2623-D6U with the TMD SXGA+ display (FRU 13N7063) as described here and running Vista.

Symptoms: The image is unfocused and blurry. The bottom of the screen separated by the black bar is a duplication of the upper 1/3 of the screen. Another vertical 1/4 of the screen is un-viewable. The only screen resolutions the OS will recognize is 800x600 and 1024x768 (as opposed to the native 1400x1050) and the LCD appears in device manager as Thinkpad Display 1024x768. The screen looks the same in any resolution.

My attempted fixes/tests, non-OS related:

• messing with the BIOS settings and downgrading to an earlier BIOS with no lock.
• attaching an external display and "mirroring" the image with Presentation Director; result: the external display is perfectly fine
• purchasing a new LCD cable and swapping them out physically (FRU 91P6984); result: no change

In terms of the OS, I've tried fixes in both Vista and XP by swapping out the hard drive.

In XP, I've tried:

• Installing omega drivers and powerstrip to force the resolution to 1400x1050 since this does NOT work in Vista; result: the screen "expands" beyond the physical dimensions of the display so that the desktop scrolls around when I move the cursor to the edges of the screen; the image corruption persists.
• Running diagnostics with PC-Doctor; result: the primary display drawing test is the only one that fails

In Vista, I've tried:

• Creating a custom monitor .inf driver with Phoenix EDID designer and MonInfo to take advantage of this so-called EDID-override feature in Vista with the EDID info in this thread; result: does not work, or I cannot do it properly--the registry seems to have the proper EDID override information, but it does not change anything.
• Using powerstrip to adjust/tweak timings to no avail

The thing that gets me though is this: the very first time this happened, the laptop was resuming from hibernation. I was startled to see the display corrupted like that, but once Vista resumed, the image was perfectly normal. However, in my poor judgment, I restarted, and the display has been like this ever since. This is why I went through the trouble of attempting these EDID fixes, so there must be a way to duplicate this behavior again, right? Also, a few days before this happened, I noticed that the Vista Window Display Manager would sporadically fail for no reason, causing the Aero theme to be disabled. Possibly related?

So has the LCD panel simply gone bad? Is it an EDID issue, and if so, is there a way to reflash the EDID somehow? Force Vista somehow to read/use the EDID override feature properly? I saw a few threads with a DIY cable requiring a parallel port, but that is beyond my technical know-how at the moment. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[evil]

I dont think it can be LCD related problem, because as much as I know(I can be mistaken), signal to LCD on digital connection is always provided in native resolution, so its probably Windows problem. Try booting some linux distrubutions, there are many tools for reading EDID, etc. I think that burning livecd shouldnt be problem in case what you did up to now, and under linux you get access to lower level of hw.
And you must set native res and ~60Hz, I think its scaler issue. But when you boot linux, then go to #radeon if problem will be persistent, there are many devs/esperts.

[frankausmtank]

That's not a software issue. He stated the problem is also occuring in bios stage.

[virge]

I have an R60 which I upgraded from XGA to SXGA. It worked for a while, but then it started displaying a image just like yours. Replaced the ribbon cable with no effect. It turned out to be a bad EDID chip (my best guess). The panel worked fine in a T42 machine (resolution determined by cable).

I still have the panel, but haven't gotten around to flashing the EDID.

[richk]

My guess is that the EDID is corrupted. Building the interface for a single panel is a pain.

[phndude1]

How do I flash the EDID chip? I did a search, but did not get a complete walkthrough of it. How much would it cost getting a new LCD as opposed to getting the tools to reslash the chip?

Also, does anyone have any more info on this supposed EDID-override feature of Vista?

[phndude1]

Update: I just tried installing a new LCD panel in my thinkpad. Result? The backlight does not work, but I can tell by shining a flashlight behind the LCD that the image still looks exactly the same--corrupted and split in half as in the original picture.

Does this mean the motherboard is defunct? Again, external images are perfectly normal, but it looks like the onboard video card has malfunctioned somehow.

What are the odds that the second LCD has a bad EDID (aside from the non-functional backlight)?

[richk]

What was the panel you installed? Is there an fru

[phndude1]

No FRU or obvious manufacturer on the new LCD panel itself, but this is the Ebay listing where I purchased the display here.

Supposed to be compatible with FRU 13N7063.

[ajkula66]

Key word..."compatible" as in generic, and not a proper Lenovo one.

Return the screen to the seller, and get a good used one in the forum's Marketplace...and no, I don't have one to sell you...

Good luck.

[phndude1]

Yeah, but what are the chances that the exact same symptoms occur with two different displays? I still can't increase the resolution above 1024x768 in Vista, and the image is still corrupted on the new LCD both in the BIOS and in Windows even without the backlight.

Is it possible it could be the inverter? Or has the video card just gone bad?

[richk]

It is hard to diagnose from a distance, but my best guess is that the eeid in your old panel is corrupted. The new panel is incompatible and caused you to blow a fuse on your motherboard. Without parts to swap, it is really impossible to know. I couldn't be sure without seeing it.

[phndude1]

What parts would I need to swap, exactly? I've tried two different LCD cables and two different LCDs in all possible combinations and I still get the same result.

If it's the video card/motherboard, I guess there's nothing else I can really do, can I? I'm just annoyed that this alleged EDID-override feature of Vista does not really work--or I just can't get it to work.

In theory, if I blew a fuse on the motherboard, shouldn't I get no image at all? Everything else on the laptop works fine. The nature and quality of the image corruption has remained constant throughout this whole ordeal.

[ajkula66]

phndude1 wrote:

In theory, if I blew a fuse on the motherboard, shouldn't I get no image at all?

Not necessarily. In certain cases, you'll get the same type of dim image a bad backlight would produce.

[richk]

No. A blown fuse would be exactly like you have. (image present, no backlight)

[phndude1]

Thanks for the help so far--I really appreciate it, and I should apologize. I must clarify that my original LCD's backlight still works and powers on. I actually have the original LCD installed currently and it works except for the image corruption. I'm in the process of returning the other LCD that does not have the working backlight.

[richk]

That's good news for you. I didn't understand