Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

About five months ago I purchased the laptop, IBM-600E 2645-AAU,
refurbished. It was working well up until a few days ago.

The first indication of trouble was the distorted logos "ThinkPad" and
"IBM" at boot time, but the machine did boot up and functioned
properly, even though the boot process took longer than usual.

On my next attempt to turn the machine on I noticed a shadowy image of
the two logos fading away, after which nothing came on the screen
except for four horizontal bands.

Now the screen is completely blank. However, at boot time I noticed
that I could see the LED lights and hear the sounds as I did before
the trouble occurred. I tried, therefore, to connect the machine to an
external monitor. When I powered it on, booting Windows 98, the laptop
screen remained blank but the external monitor functioned normally
showing the two logos ("IBM" and "ThinkPad" ) and continuing with the
standard Windows bootup procedure up to the point where the operating
system normally switches the video to text mode in order to display
setup data. At this point the LED of the external monitor turned from
green to yellow, indicating disconnection. From here on I could see
the LED lights and hear the sounds indicating that Windows came all
the way up, but both screens remained blank and the LED of the
external monitor remained yellow.

My next test was to boot the laptop up with MS-DOS from a floppy.
Again, the laptop screen remained blank but the external monitor
functioned normally. MS-DOS came up without any problems, giving me a
chance to recover files from FAT-16 partitions.

My questions:
1. Where is the problem regarding the laptop screen?
2. What can I do about it? I did put together desktop PCs, but I have
no experience whatsoever with laptop internals.
3. Is the problem repairable?

Thanks in advance. I would appreciate any help.

Aharon Lavie

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On 14 Apr 2004 03:03:23 -0700, lavron@altavista.com (Aharon Lavie)
wrote:

>
snip

It appears to be extended video memory. DOS and BIOS use only
basic VGA memory. Sometimes bad RAM can be the cause so removing
all including pc cards etc. Conceivably bad LCD panel
electronics could do this too. It would explain the longer boot.
Good luck.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

If you see no picture on your lcd, then maybe the lamp went out. It
is an easy fix if you can get the lamp. Ibm has the best repair
manual I have ever seen. At least for the older laptops. Try to see
if you can see the ibm logo at an angle, if you can then it is the
lamp in your lcd. From my experience you can use any lamp from any
display as long as they are the same size.




lavron@altavista.com (Aharon Lavie) wrote in message news:<36709618.0404140203.336f1c43@posting.google.com>...
> About five months ago I purchased the laptop, IBM-600E 2645-AAU,
> refurbished. It was working well up until a few days ago.
>
> The first indication of trouble was the distorted logos "ThinkPad" and
> "IBM" at boot time, but the machine did boot up and functioned
> properly, even though the boot process took longer than usual.
>
> On my next attempt to turn the machine on I noticed a shadowy image of
> the two logos fading away, after which nothing came on the screen
> except for four horizontal bands.
>
> Now the screen is completely blank. However, at boot time I noticed
> that I could see the LED lights and hear the sounds as I did before
> the trouble occurred. I tried, therefore, to connect the machine to an
> external monitor. When I powered it on, booting Windows 98, the laptop
> screen remained blank but the external monitor functioned normally
> showing the two logos ("IBM" and "ThinkPad" ) and continuing with the
> standard Windows bootup procedure up to the point where the operating
> system normally switches the video to text mode in order to display
> setup data. At this point the LED of the external monitor turned from
> green to yellow, indicating disconnection. From here on I could see
> the LED lights and hear the sounds indicating that Windows came all
> the way up, but both screens remained blank and the LED of the
> external monitor remained yellow.
>
> My next test was to boot the laptop up with MS-DOS from a floppy.
> Again, the laptop screen remained blank but the external monitor
> functioned normally. MS-DOS came up without any problems, giving me a
> chance to recover files from FAT-16 partitions.
>
> My questions:
> 1. Where is the problem regarding the laptop screen?
> 2. What can I do about it? I did put together desktop PCs, but I have
> no experience whatsoever with laptop internals.
> 3. Is the problem repairable?
>
> Thanks in advance. I would appreciate any help.
>
> Aharon Lavie

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

> If you see no picture on your lcd, then maybe the lamp went out. It
> is an easy fix if you can get the lamp. Ibm has the best repair
> manual I have ever seen. At least for the older laptops. Try to see
> if you can see the ibm logo at an angle, if you can then it is the

"Distorted IBM logo" in the original problem description -> probably
not just a simple backlight failure. I'd guess more likely LCD cable
failure or possibly just the connector crept out. This happened to me
just today on my i1300, too (cable popped out of socket on the LCD).

Also the backlight is technically an integral part of the LCM, so
IBM's repair manuals will not tell you how to replace it and it won't
have an FRU P/N. Of course it *is* possible to replace them, it's just
not officially supported. www.jkllamps.com is a good source, though
you can't buy direct from them any more- you have to buy their stuff
from Digi-Key.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

> It appears to be extended video memory. DOS and BIOS use only
> basic VGA memory. Sometimes bad RAM can be the cause so removing

He said the ThinkPad logo was bad at boot time. At powerup, and until
Socket Services load, the PCICs are off and the cards are not mapped
into the processor's address space at all, nor the ZV video RAM
window. So it is not a PCMCIA card problem.

It's much more likely a cabling problem. LCD driver electronics rarely
go bad, and the symptoms are not consistent with a damaged row/column
of drivers, etc.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

> On my next attempt to turn the machine on I noticed a shadowy image of
> the two logos fading away, after which nothing came on the screen
> except for four horizontal bands.

[...]

> external monitor. When I powered it on, booting Windows 98, the laptop
> screen remained blank but the external monitor functioned normally
> showing the two logos ("IBM" and "ThinkPad" ) and continuing with the
> standard Windows bootup procedure up to the point where the operating
> system normally switches the video to text mode in order to display
> setup data. At this point the LED of the external monitor turned from
> green to yellow, indicating disconnection. From here on I could see

Your Windows installation is configured to use a refresh rate outside
the monitor's acceptable sync range, e.g. 1024x768 @ 90Hz. The laptop
_is_ putting out a normal video signal on the VGA output, but that
particular monitor can't lock to it. To prove this to your own
satisfaction, boot the laptop into safe mode on an external monitor,
set the display resolution to 800x600, 60Hz refresh rate, and reboot
normally.

Your problem report is entirely consistent with a failure in the cable
that interconnects the LCD and the mainboard. It is not uncommon for
the cable to break (due to being flexed as you open/close the machine)
or simply to pop out of its connector. First step - disassemble the
laptop, reseat connectors firmly both at the LCD and inverter, and
down in the bottom half of the machine where the interconnect cable
connects to the motherboard.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

Even though I see no image on the screen, the LCD panel light is very
clearly on when the power is on, and off when the power is off.
Therefore I did not suspect the lamp. Anyway, I will follow your
advice and try to look for the logos at an angle.

Thank you very much.


ogloco@hotmail.com (og) wrote in message news:<1658e05e.0404161057.1fb1b31f@posting.google.com>...
> If you see no picture on your lcd, then maybe the lamp went out. It
> is an easy fix if you can get the lamp. Ibm has the best repair
> manual I have ever seen. At least for the older laptops. Try to see
> if you can see the ibm logo at an angle, if you can then it is the
> lamp in your lcd. From my experience you can use any lamp from any
> display as long as they are the same size.
>
>
>
>
> lavron@altavista.com (Aharon Lavie) wrote in message news:<36709618.0404140203.336f1c43@posting.google.com>...
> > About five months ago I purchased the laptop, IBM-600E 2645-AAU,
> > refurbished. It was working well up until a few days ago.
> >
> > The first indication of trouble was the distorted logos "ThinkPad" and
> > "IBM" at boot time, but the machine did boot up and functioned
> > properly, even though the boot process took longer than usual.
> >
> > On my next attempt to turn the machine on I noticed a shadowy image of
> > the two logos fading away, after which nothing came on the screen
> > except for four horizontal bands.
> >
> > Now the screen is completely blank. However, at boot time I noticed
> > that I could see the LED lights and hear the sounds as I did before
> > the trouble occurred. I tried, therefore, to connect the machine to an
> > external monitor. When I powered it on, booting Windows 98, the laptop
> > screen remained blank but the external monitor functioned normally
> > showing the two logos ("IBM" and "ThinkPad" ) and continuing with the
> > standard Windows bootup procedure up to the point where the operating
> > system normally switches the video to text mode in order to display
> > setup data. At this point the LED of the external monitor turned from
> > green to yellow, indicating disconnection. From here on I could see
> > the LED lights and hear the sounds indicating that Windows came all
> > the way up, but both screens remained blank and the LED of the
> > external monitor remained yellow.
> >
> > My next test was to boot the laptop up with MS-DOS from a floppy.
> > Again, the laptop screen remained blank but the external monitor
> > functioned normally. MS-DOS came up without any problems, giving me a
> > chance to recover files from FAT-16 partitions.
> >
> > My questions:
> > 1. Where is the problem regarding the laptop screen?
> > 2. What can I do about it? I did put together desktop PCs, but I have
> > no experience whatsoever with laptop internals.
> > 3. Is the problem repairable?
> >
> > Thanks in advance. I would appreciate any help.
> >
> > Aharon Lavie

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

larwe@larwe.com (Lewin A.R.W. Edwards) wrote in message news:<608b6569.0404161315.23596979@posting.google.com>...

First of all, I appreciate your help. Thank you very much!

>
> [...]
>
> > external monitor. When I powered it on, booting Windows 98, the laptop
> > screen remained blank but the external monitor functioned normally
> > showing the two logos ("IBM" and "ThinkPad" ) and continuing with the
> > standard Windows bootup procedure up to the point where the operating
> > system normally switches the video to text mode in order to display
> > setup data. At this point the LED of the external monitor turned from
> > green to yellow, indicating disconnection. From here on I could see
>
> Your Windows installation is configured to use a refresh rate outside
> the monitor's acceptable sync range, e.g. 1024x768 @ 90Hz. The laptop
> _is_ putting out a normal video signal on the VGA output, but that
> particular monitor can't lock to it.

As mentioned in my original post, the external monitor is disconnected
when Windows attempts to switch the screen from graphic mode to text
mode in order to display setup data, i.e., after the graphic mode
Windows panel has already displayed the Windows-98 logo. How does this
fit with your explanation?


> To prove this to your own
> satisfaction, boot the laptop into safe mode on an external monitor,
> set the display resolution to 800x600, 60Hz refresh rate, and reboot
> normally.

In my original post I mentioned that I am not familiar with the laptop
internals. I might as well add that I am not familiar with the
internals of Windows-98 either. So, please tell me what do I need to
do in order to boot the laptop into safe mode, and set the display
resolution to 800*600, 60 Hz refresh rate.

>
> Your problem report is entirely consistent with a failure in the cable
> that interconnects the LCD and the mainboard. It is not uncommon for
> the cable to break (due to being flexed as you open/close the machine)
> or simply to pop out of its connector.

Your explanation that the problem is a failure in the cable that
connects the mainboard and the LCD makes sense, but the following of
question remains:
Even thoguh no image shows on the screen, the LCD is lit when power is
on. Does the lamp get its power from another cable?


> First step - disassemble the
> laptop, reseat connectors firmly both at the LCD and inverter, and
> down in the bottom half of the machine where the interconnect cable
> connects to the motherboard.

Since I am not familiar with the laptop internals, I am looking for a
manual that would tell me how to disassemble and reassemble the
machine and provide details about the internals. I hope that such a
manual is available in the IBM site. A URL will save some search time.

Thanks again for your help.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

> Even thoguh no image shows on the screen, the LCD is lit when power is
> on. Does the lamp get its power from another cable?

No, but the thing is, there are more conductors required for the
display to work than for the backlight to illuminate.

> Since I am not familiar with the laptop internals, I am looking for a
> manual that would tell me how to disassemble and reassemble the

Search for "thinkpad 600 hmm" on IBM's site. I think it's in
tpvol3.pdf from memory. That will give you full disassembly
instructions.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

Aharon Lavie <lavron@altavista.com> wrote:
>
> Since I am not familiar with the laptop internals, I am looking for a
> manual that would tell me how to disassemble and reassemble the
> machine and provide details about the internals. I hope that such a
> manual is available in the IBM site. A URL will save some search time.

http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/ [...] WIK-3SYPX2

Regards,

James

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

Try www.laptopspares.com they are very helpful and if you quote my
name: Hamish they will definatly look after you. You can e-mail them
on sales@laptopspares.com or go to their site and call them.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

collections@londonrecycling.co.uk (Harry) wrote in message news:<b0cf0f7.0404210510.5d7a7129@posting.google.com>...
> Try www.{SPAM-MERCHANTS}.com they are very helpful and if you quote my

Plonker.

That site you mention is grossly overpriced and any site that uses
shills and spam is obviously operated by totally unethical people.
Thank you for warning us all never, ever to place an order with them.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

It ain't the backlight, okay? The backlight either works or it doesn't.
So we can rule that out.

When your system is connected to an external monitor and booting up, you
said that the external monitor worked briefly and then gets disconnected.
So why don't you switch to the external monitor again (hold down the FN
key and hit the function key that has a monitor printed on it) and see if
you can direct output to the external monitor? If you can switch to an
external monitor and everything works, then I think you may have a bad
LCD. Besta luck to ya.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems (More info?)

collections@londonrecycling.co.uk (Harry) wrote in message news:<b0cf0f7.0404210510.5d7a7129@posting.google.com>...
> Try www.laptopspares.com they are very helpful and if you quote my
> name: Hamish they will definatly look after you. You can e-mail them
> on sales@laptopspares.com