Thinkpad T61 faulty screen/graphics.

First things first; yes, it has the Quadro NVS 140M.

Has been working flawlessly for almost five years (except a fan fault), but yesterday my screen ended up like this:



Tried rebooting, and all I get is a black screen (no logo screen before Windows boot). Can not get it to work with an external display either. The funny thing is that I can still use it remotely (TeamViewer, however only 640x480, 8 colors), so apart from the graphics card/screen, it's seems to be working fine. Can anyone confirm that this is the result of the known NVS 140M problems?

Edit: 14,1"

 

I don't know about known NVS140M problems, but this seriously looks like your GPU is almost dead.

 

I've been using my T61 with NVS 140M for the past 4.5 years and I've seen this screen only a couple times, mostly when setting up the laptop on the 2503 dock with eGPU. I'd suggest playing with the BIOS display setting, update the drivers, or even monkey with the windows OS before I'd call it dead (assuming the screen works at all).

The NVS 140Ms that were defective probably wouldn't have lasted this long so it's likely yours just died 9how hard did you push it in the last 5 years?)...I've been abusing mine lately with an external 2560x1440p screen, playing 720p videos/games etc lol.

 

I played the entire campaign in StarCraft II right after it's release, but after that almost no games at all. Some 1080p video on external display from time to time. I can not access BIOS, since the screen is all black now. Will try to see what I can work with remotely, but Windows 7 was clearly not designed for 640x480.

Edit: Huh. Tried a reboot again, and now... everything is fine again. Not very confident that it will last though.

 

GPU is dying, exact same thing happened to one of our T60's with the NVS 140 quadro.

The reason Team viewer is working is because it is likely utilizing a "VGA mode" type of API, which from my understanding utilizes CPU processing to display the images instead of the GPU.
Thus a defective GPU would be difficult to pick up in this mode since it's completely separate from the API that Windows normally uses for the video card which does indeed use the GPU's transistors to process and vastly hasten the simple rendering and whatever simply mapping occurs in the Windows OS.

Meaning, Teamviewer is likely transferring basic renders to your PC via networking (internet) and probably no mappings *hence crappy image quality) of the video output and then your PC is likely rendering it via your hardware with Teamviewer's API.

That's my best guess, it isn't factual or anything but just taking a shot since I can't know without having the computer in hand.

 

What you're experiencing is an early stage of the GPU chip failure.

I would not be turning that laptop off ever again, if at all possible, just press Fn+F3 to shut the screen down when not in use. Avoid repeated heating/cooling cycles like the plague.

A replacement motherboard - or a new laptop altogether - should be placed high on your priority list.

Good luck.

 

Did not last long. Was able to set the resolution to 800x600 in TV though.



Translated: "Windows has disabled this unit because it has reported problems. (Code 43)"

If I understand correctly, replacing the board with a new one with the NVS 140M only works as a temporary solution, as they all fail (?). Replacing it with an Intel only board, means sacrificing the already low performance. Any estimate on what a used, functional board costs?

 

Replace the laptop in my opinion.

The Intel version is really bad performance wise, iirc it couldn't even handle 720p youtube.

 

It's really not that simple...:

a) Presuming that your machine is a "conventional" (non-widescreen) 14" model, there are no "known safe" boards out there, since the production of the 4:3 units ended before August of 2008 which is deemed as the initial "safe" date for nVidia-equipped T61/p models. That being said, Penryn boards have a lesser chance of failure in my far-from-modest experience with these machines. If you could find a well-kept, one-owner T61 with a build date of February of 2008 or later you might very well be OK.

b) If your T61 is a widescreen model, there are "safe" boards available, but expect to pay a premium unless a seller is clueless on what they own.

Now, realistically, these machines are turning five years old as we speak. Unless you have a serious attachment to that T61, you might want to look into a newer unit.

If you never do anything video-intensive, an Intel board is OK. The moment you leave the conventional "office" segment of laptop use, you'll notice the difference.

A properly-tested board from a trusted source - depending on a variety of other factors - will run you $150 or more.

Good luck.

 

or you could try this:

forum.thinkpads.com • Dead T61 w/Nvidia 140M? Here's an option. *PICS*