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IBm Thinkpad I series black screen

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by chicano Jul 25, 2002 last reply Aug 20, 2002

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Hello mates,
I have an IBm Thinkpad I series and the HD was broken. So I wanted to replace it by one that a friend gave me (Toshiba). When I swapped the HDs and booted the Thinkpad I got a message that there is a problem and that I should do a checkdisk. (Might be because he had Win2k installed on the new HD and the old one had Windown ME on it). After I rebooted the Thinkpad, I just got a black screen, no Beeping signal and Bios wont start or I cannot see it as the screen is black. I tried toswap the HD again, in vain. IBm was not able to help me:(. No system disk was accepted as I would have to change the bootsequence in Bios wich is impossible with a black sreen.
I hope some one can help me.
Thanks to all of you.
Walter

13 replies

by sean Jul 25, 2002

Just a thought, have you tried connecting an external monitor and playing with the monitor toggle keys (my IBM A20m uses the Fn +F7 keys)? Hopefully you didn't destroy the display controller by using the wrong drivers for it, this is easily possible with laptops. You should't transfer loaded hard drives from one type laptop to another but if you are going to do it at the very least you need to uninstall the video drivers and let the receiving machine start off with standard VGA. Hope this helps.

by chicano Jul 25, 2002

Thanks for your reply. I just tried it with connecting it to my other monitor and it didnt help with Fn+ F7. IF the display controler is destroyed, is there a way to get the display controler fixed?

by dmiles Jul 25, 2002

Go to the manufacturers web site to check for Hard Drive compatibility list,interchangibility may be your problem

Check the laptop with a external monitor to see if you get display to come up,if so try downloading the drivers to support W2K

Not much help if you donot get the display screen to come up on this one.

by chicano Jul 25, 2002

Thanks, as far as I could read, the HD is compatible. I tried an external monitor, but with the same result.
Hope you guys dont take it wrong if I dont rate your answers positive, but then the thread will be closed.:)

by jcorlett Jul 25, 2002

Shot in the dark but.....did you drop your laptop by any chance? Most laptops have a small ribon cable that connects the TFT display to the video card. I have seen many of them come loose and show similar results as you describe. You can check this cable by taking the tiny plugs out from the bezel of your diplay and unscrewing it. BUT, do this at your own risk because it could void your warranty if you still have one. Also, do you hear any other noise like your hard drive spin up? Are all of your power lights on?

by chicano Jul 25, 2002

Thanks for this suggestion, I will try this, first thing tomorrow in the morning. Too bad it doesnt work with an external monitor. Another thing is that when I received the error message of the hardrive not having loaded the right drivers, the Thinkpad crashed and after that the screen was black without beeing able to get into Bios. The hardrive is making the characteristik noise when beeing turend on and the lights are all normal.
Hope you guys dont take it wrong if I dont rate your answers positive, but then the thread will be closed.:)

by dmiles Jul 25, 2002

The external monitor failing is not a good sign,this may be a screen problem on the other hand laptops being so delicate if anything has caused a short,then you will not get the display to show,from expierence this is something that a expierenced tech may have to solve,this may not be a simple troubleshooting fix.

by chicano Aug 20, 2002

Poster rated this answer

by bin falcon Aug 20, 2002

Im not terribly familiar with the thinkpads, however I would recommend removing the HDD, checking the display ribbon cable, and then remove the CMOS battery, system battery, and power adaptor for about 1/2 hour, the CMOS battery on most laptops tends to be accessible by removing the keyboard, retry the system WITHOUT the system battery installed if the machine allows it, faulty batteries can cause myriad problems.