LCD problem... backlight or inverter?

[stemilano]

Hi all,
I've a T61, model 8895-CTO, that met last week a glass of italian wine (BAROLO - 1999) and died. After I had dismounted and cleaned all notebook partes (maybe I have to wash the keyboard) I've discovered that notebook itself was not damaged and works correctly but LCD is black.
Looking better I'm able to see that image is present but is really dark. Googling for this problem I've found that maybe inverter or backlight problem. The way to understand which is the broken component is quite empiric.... some people says to start changing the inverter and than change the backlight. Others says to switch on notebook in a completely dark room and check if able to discover any image....

Does anyone may suggest how to proceed in order to determinate which component is failing and replace it?

Thanks
Ste

[Troels]

Hi,
Do you by any chance remember if you spilled anything onto the LCD that ran down towards the bottom and down to the inverter?
If yes - you might need a new inverter, or at least check if there are any on-board blown fuses using a multimeter.

Did you spill something anywhere near where the LCD cable enters the laptop?
If yes - remove keyboard, bezel and LCD cable, and find the fuse marked with a "P" in this photo: http://wap32.homeunix.org/pics/T61_fuses_s.jpg . Measure it using a multimeter (it must show 0 ohms to still work)

[richk]

It is also very possible that when you spilled the wine, you shorted something out that caused the fuse to blow that passes the current to the backlight. It usually has a "P" current rating, and is located just to the right of the LCD connector. That would be my guess, but there is a separate current path that controls the lid switch.