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Thinkpad T61p Screen is Broken

post #1 of 9
6/8/10 at 4:30pm
Thread Starter 
Hey there everyone,

Problem in Brief: Laptop Screen on my Thinkpad T61p went out.

I'm posting on another area of this forum about which monitor I should pick up to use if I can't fix this, but honestly I'd much rather fix my laptop than have to buy a monitor to use with it.

My laptop is a Thinkpad T61p. Specs include 15.4" screen, NVidia Quadro FX 570m graphics, Core2Duo T9300 processor, and 3 GB DDR2 RAM, if any of that matters. I can provide further information if needed. I purchased the laptop about 2.5 years ago and have used it extensively. Warranty ran out a few months ago. I bought a monitor at Best Buy that I am now using with my laptop.

There was nothing that seems to have happened at the time the screen went out. I was working at home one day, went to make lunch, and came back to find the computer screen would not come on no matter what I tried. As far as I know there isn't a "make the screen not work" button that I could have hit on accident.

I did upgrade the Nvidia drivers a few days before this happened. However it appeared to work fine. I thought I would mention it in case there is the possibility of some kind of delayed reaction.

So, is there something hardware-related that I can check? I've never taken apart the screen area of my laptop, just the bottom to upgrade the RAM and clean out the computer. Would rolling back the Drivers possibly do anything?

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm willing to try most things because my only options are to keep this monitor I purchased (which makes my laptop into a desktop), buy a new laptop (can't afford it and this one isn't dated yet, to me), or have Lenovo replace the screen for 600 dollars.

Thanks in advance!
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post #2 of 9
6/8/10 at 4:50pm
Can you see the screen with an external monitor?

cheers ...
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post #3 of 9
6/8/10 at 7:28pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, I thought I mentioned that. Sorry if I didn't!

I bought a monitor at Best Buy that I am using with the laptop right now.
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post #4 of 9
6/8/10 at 7:52pm
A possibility is the inverter that goes bad. Cheap and easy to replace. Try that first.

cheers ...
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post #5 of 9
6/8/10 at 8:53pm
Thread Starter 
I don't know what an inverter is, what it does, or where I can buy one. Let alone which one I would need for my specific laptop. I'm dumb.
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post #6 of 9
6/9/10 at 3:28am
Something like this.

It is at the bottom of your screen. Use this as reference to remove the screen cover to get to it. You only need the cover off and use pic#12 on the link to replace the inverter.

cheers ...
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post #7 of 9
6/10/10 at 6:26am
Or you can pan thru this PDF maintenance file for the T61p
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...IGR-67980.html
Just be very careful because there normally are little plastic tabs on the plastic that you dont want to break off. I did the inverter replacement on an older Toshiba and it was probably about a 15 min job....unfortunately it wasnt the inverter and had to replace the whole LCD screen which was maybe a half hour job....as for parts, try using "IBM Thinkpad T61p inverter" on ebay and also if you have to "IBM thinkpad T61p lcd screen". You should find a variety as it is a popular model.....The other thing you may want to try on ebay, it look for a parts machine ie someone getting rid of a laptop for a mainboard problem but the LCD is fine (therefore the inverter is probably fine too)..sometime you can get one of thos e for less that purchasing just the lcd screen...besides, then you have some replacement parts if needed in the future like your DVD etc
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post #8 of 9
7/29/10 at 12:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CheddarTrek View Post
Hey there everyone,
Problem in Brief: Laptop Screen on my Thinkpad T61p went out.
Your backlight might've gone out. Do you see the windows and all that very dimly? If so, you need to replace the back-light. A thin fluorescent tube, $10-15. But the replacement will take a few hours, because you have to avoid breaking the delicate tabs that hold the LCD together.
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post #9 of 9
7/29/10 at 10:09am
The above post is absolutely true but requires some very involved work....its much easier to just replace the whole LCD. There are people on EBay who charge exhorbitant amounts for the LCD as well as shipping...Then there are some which are more realistic....you can also check for a machine which is unusable because of unknown passwords etc that sell for cheap or possibly has a bad motherboard.
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