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    Thinkpad T42 powered on but no display

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by gforce23, May 12, 2009.

  1. gforce23

    gforce23 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was surfing the web on my trusty T42 a couple of minutes ago when the display suddenly started flickering and the computer just hung. Moving the trackpoint didn't move the mouse and the keyboard wasn't responding to any input. So I pressed the power button for about 5 seconds for a forced power off shutdown.

    Now upon powering it up, the power and battery indicators light up but the display is absolutely blank! The heatsink fan is still running and the CD tray can be ejected but there is no BIOS splash screen.. just nothing.

    I tried removing the HDD and putting it back in but that didn't help.

    Could anyone please help me out here? Losing this laptop would be a major blow.

    EDIT: The display does appear with a lot of flicker if I gently press the middle part of the keyboard just left of the trackpoint nib but goes back off once I release my fingers. I'm guessing that's the area above the video chip. Does my laptop have the dreaded gpu problem?
     
    gforce23, May 12, 2009
    #1
  2. jimbob83

    jimbob83 Notebook Evangelist

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    A couple of things to try:

    - hook your T42 to an external monitor and see if you get video there, if so your problem is with the built-in screen

    - with the power off press down on the keyboard where you got it to flicker and try to power on while continuing to press down. If it boots up but dies when you let go, you've got the GPU problem for sure.
     
    jimbob83, May 12, 2009
    #2
  3. gforce23

    gforce23 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I tried both:

    1. There was no video
    2. No matter how much I press down on the keyboard, there is no display :(

    Is my laptop gone for good? :(
     
    gforce23, May 14, 2009
    #3
  4. zillal

    zillal Notebook Consultant

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    If and when my T42 GPU goes I am going to try this guy in UK.
     
    zillal, May 14, 2009
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  5. Iron Eagle

    Iron Eagle Notebook Evangelist

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    I just had the same thing happen to my Dell E1705. This is the third GPU I tried in this laptop and it worked fine for a week. Then one day I came back and tried using it by moving the mouse and heard a loud "beep". I powered it off and every since then I had trouble powering it on because the machine would power on but I get no picture, not even when I connected it to an external monitor. After running many extensive tests on the HD, RAM, and GPU I was able to determine that it was a bad GPU by putting another working GPU inside and isolating the problem. Unfortunately what you described sounds very similar.
     
    Iron Eagle, May 14, 2009
    #5