ThinkPad issue: toast or not?

S

starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
8,908
Hello, all. I have recently acquired a ThinkPad T41 Type 2373 that has a screen full of artifacts when I turn it on... leaving me with a couple of questions. (Yes, I can post pics if ya'll want to cringe.)

(1) Is this likely just a loose screen cable, or is the graphics card made of toast at this point?
(2) I have a couple of other ThinkPads, but none of them have a screen this nice. Can I simply pull the screen and put it into one of the other ThinkPads (both are T4x)?

Thanks, guys!
 
There could be a number of issues going on here. I'd post pics if I were you. That makes it easier to diagnose. Some artifacting could be due to graphics hardware issues, or you could have a failing inverter, etc. It's unlikely a screen issue, but whether or not you can move the screen over is up in the air. The wiring harness for it may be different and beyond that, despite two machines being in the same series and even looking the same, internally they can be vastly different IBM / Lenovo has been that way for years.
 
Well, then, have some pics.

First it does this:

Then it does this:

...and if I let it sit long enough, it lets loose with an alternating lo-hi tone: booDEEPbooDEEPbooDEEP...

The other two ThinkPads are a T42 2373 and a T40 2374. Would either of those have the same screen connector?
 
Well, the T40-series did have issues with motherboard flex and desoldered graphics chips
 
Pylon said:
Well, the T40-series did have issues with motherboard flex and desoldered graphics chips
Click to expand...

This is true^^

A reflow has worked for people I hear, but yes, you can pull the screen and transplant it
 
Since you are getting stuff on the screen, I'd be more leaning towards the motherboard/graphics card being crapped out. Like others said, you could try a reflow.
 
I fixed a T41 with this issue... put the motherboard in the oven at 450 degrees for five minutes.
 
Screen replaced. It would be a success if I hadn't also replaced the WiFi b-only card with a Dell b/g card... IBM and Dell really don't like each other ;) need to get an OS CD for this thing anyways. After all, a Home OEM CD won't work with a Pro key...
 
I am confused. Are you saying that the screen replacement fixed the issue? And what are you saying about the WiFi card?
 
For clarity's sake... I took the screen from the T41 and stuck it into the (working) T42 that I mentioned above. At the same time, I also stuck in an extra gig of RAM and a Dell WiFi card. I changed out the WiFi card because the only two IBM WiFi cards I have are WiFi b (11Mbps) only -- they are not WiFi g (54Mbps) capable. Upon booting, I got the proper screens until it detected that there was an "unauthorized" (by it, not me!) WiFi card present.

Oh well, I put a screw through the palmrest (dammit why don't they label *all* the holes, or at least use fewer screws...) so I gotta swap out the palmrest anyways.

Thanks, dj_2004, I'll try that after I extract the protruding screw. If it works, I'll just stick some electrical tape over the rogue hole. Never thought I'd be glad that they used dinky screws in that thing...
 
Replaced a damaged (by me) keyboard bezel and the palmrest/touchpad assy., as well as running that little fix-it program. Everything is humming now. I don't even really need an OS CD because I accidentally chose a spare HDD which happened to have XP Home on it. It doesn't match the key on the system, but unless there's a really pressing legal issue, I'm not going to worry about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top