Re: [tlug] Laptop repair: backlight

[jep200404@example.com]

Jean-Christian Imbeault wrote:

> I've 4 year old IBM Thinkpad ... the screen decided to give out; 
> I get a picture but it is so faint as to be useless. 

Does your screen emit any light in a dark room? 
If not, the backlight is likely bad. 

If you hold a very bright flashlight up to the screen 
so that you are pushing light _into_ the screen, 
then it will diffuse through the diffuser and 
come back out through the rest of the screen, albeit dimly. 
If you do that and if the content on screen seems to work OK, 
albeit dimly, then the backlight is likely bad. 

If the backlight is not working, 
I would first check the inverter 
(high voltage power supply) for it first. 

I would look at capacitors on that inverter board. 
If the caps are bulged[1] and you know how to solder, 
the fix is very cheap. 

If the inverter board is bad, you can buy replacement 
inverter boards[2]. 

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
[2] http://www.google.com/search?q=thinkpad+backlight+inverter