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Today I will be removing and replacing the LCD screen in an IBM ThinkPad T43p laptop. You can use same set of instructions for ThinkPad T43 and some other IBM (now Lenovo) laptops.
Failure description: the laptop starts with a reddish screen (white color appear to be pink). After a minute or two the backlight goes completely off but you still can see a very faint image on the screen if you look very closely. When you restart the laptop, the screen lights up again but a minute later the light goes off.
Solution: the laptop has a failing backlight lamp which is a part of the LCD screen. The whole screen has to be replaced.
Let’s disassemble the display panel and remove the LCD screen.
STEP 1.
Carefully remove four screw seals from the bottom part of the display bezel.
You can remove them with a sharp object.
Remove all four screws found under the seals.
STEP 2.
Remove three screws (found under seals) from the left side of the display panel.
STEP 3.
Remove four screws (found under seals) from the right side of the display panel.
STEP 4.
The display bezel is glued to the LCD screen with sticky tape. You can separate the bezel using a guitar pick (as I do) or another piece of plastic.
Insert the guitar pick between the display bezel and screen and carefully move it along the side until the bezel is separated.
STEP 5.
Continue removing the display bezel with your fingers.
STEP 6.
The screen inverter is mounted under the bezel and can be replaced without removing the bezel completely. I’ll remove the display bezel because I have to replace the LCD screen.
STEP 7.
The display bezel has been removed.
STEP 8.
In order to confirm the backlight lamp failure I did the following experiment.
I unpluged the LCD screen from the right side of the inveter board and pluged in an known good backlight lamp. After that I turned on the laptop and tested it with my backlight lamp for about 10 minutes. My backlight lamp didn’t turn off and worked fine all time. That means the backlight lamp inside the screen is bad.
If your laptop doesn’t work with a known good backlight lamp, most likely you have a problem with the inverter board.
STEP 9.
Unplug the inverter board from the video cable.
Remove the inverter board.
Do you need a new inverter board? Find a new inverter here.
STEP 10.
Carefully separate the LCD screen from the display cover. Do not forget to release the cable with night lamp. Simply pull the cable from the display cover.
STEP 11.
Now you can access the back side of the LCD screen and unplug the screen cable.
Remove sticky tape securing the connection and pull the cable connector from the LCD screen.
STEP 12.
Remove the LCD screen from the laptop.
The LCD screen has been removed.
Be careful with this piece of plastic. Try not to remove it from the display because it will take some time to figure out how to connect it back together.
I believe this piece of plastic is designed to prevent the screen cable from breaking when you close the display.
STEP 13.
Remove two screws securing the display mounting brackets.
Remove the bracket and move it to a new LCD screen.
Do the same with the bracket on the other side of the screen.
You can find a new LCD screen using two different part numbers from the back side of the defective screen:
1. The model number of the LCD screen. In my laptop it is N150U3-L01
2. FRU part number. In my laptop it is 92P6753.
Looking for a new screen for your IBM ThinkPad T43/T43p laptop? You can find a brand new screen here.
December 14th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
@ jthendrix,
Most likely this is inverter failure or CCFL failure (backlight lamp inside the screen). Cannot tell without testing the laptop with another inverter or lamp. If you have to guess, try replacing the inverter board first. There is a good chance you’ll fix the problem.
December 13th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
right now my t43p’s screen goes out regularly, every 2-5minutes. sometimes i see something faint in the background, more likely if i have white-colored windows opened when it happens. but most of the time i see nothing at all back there. and my usually white letters aren’t reddish or pinkish at all. i can’t figure it out. i’ve gone through BIOS tweaks, multiple scans for malware, going through settings, but nothing so far, and it’s been almost 4 days of constant approaches. can anyone help me out with this? please do if you can
) thanks!
October 24th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Thanks for such a great posting. I just replaced my LCD screen on my t43p and everything was exactly as shown in the pictures, even the screen model number and FRU part number were identical. New screen works great. I was worried as I had no way of knowing if it was the screen back light or the inverter that was bad, but the way the symptoms were described (with the pink colors) fit what I was seeing so I took the chance. My screen had actually completely died (no light at all, even when first started up) but it had shown the pink color symptoms for a while before it died. It still worked fine on an external monitor though. The full replacement took less than an hour.
August 24th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I just want to really thank you. I was looking for about 2 hours on how to find the panel model number for my screen and you really helped me out.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:06 am
HI, just want to ask you if I could use a compaq nc 6220 to replace it on my IBM thnkpad T40
it seems to me they both have the same dimentions and size
any repply would be much appreciated
lcd screenless in Seattle.
October 4th, 2010 at 8:18 am
mikiki,
Unfortunately, there is no way to tell what is wrong without testing the laptop with another KNOWN GOOD SCREEN.
It’s possible that when you installed a “wrong” XGA screen you damaged something on the motherboard OR maybe fried the video cable.
October 4th, 2010 at 1:57 am
Thanks for fast reply.
Notebook works ok with external monitor.
However, when i return both original SXGA screen with original cable, it still shuts down
immediatelly 3-5 seconds after I press power button. Same thing also happens with XGA screen from T42.
So, is motherboard damaged, how can I determine that?
Do you have any more clues after I provided to you with this info?
If i can be sure motherboard is not damaged I would by a new screen, however, if i cant determine if motherboard is damaged it would be too risky to buy a new screen.
October 1st, 2010 at 1:01 pm
mikiki,
Take a look at the parts list again. SXGA and XGA screens require different video cables. It’s possible that using a wrong screen with the original cable damaged the motherboard.
Here’s what you can try.
1. Turn off the laptop.
2. Remove AC adapter and battery.
3. Disconnect video cable from the LCD screen. Do not connect any screen.
4. Disconnect CMOS battery.
Wait for a while and try turning it on with the external monitor. Can you get external video after that? If yes, connect all back together and install the original screen. Test again. If it works, try replacing the video cable and only after that installing the new XGA screen.
If the laptop still shuts down and will not stay on, it’s possible that you damaged the motherboard.
October 1st, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I have T43p with 14″ SXGA Samsung 1400×1050 screen (FRU 92P6760).
Since my LCD backlight lamp was dead (as diagnosed by IBM authorized technicans) and buying new screen was not an otpion as it costs too much (about $500), I replaced my old LCD screen with 14″ XGA 1024×768 (manufacturer – LG) from T42 notebook (screen FRU 92P6726). Both screens listed here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-58431.html
I did replace ONLY old lcd panel with new one, all cables, screen box, and other things have not been remmoved, all are left from previous screen.
PROBLEM:
After I turn on notebook it works 3-5 seconds (it works until LCD screen should turn on), and then it shuts down
automatically. I can NOT turn on notebook again before I remove baterry and put it back again.
Mystery is I also tried to return original SXGA screen with broken lamp to my notebook, but same thing happens again – it shuts down automatically after 3-5 seconds. Before I replaced original broken SXGA screen, I could still turn notebook on,
and no matter picture was pitch black on notebook, I could still get picture on my TV (connected via S-video cable to notebook).
What went wrong, any ideas? Is something fried (motherboard maybe?) or what?
October 27th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Great photo instructions – thanks. I just replaced my shattered T43 screen and it helped knowing what I was in for.
But a word of caution, even within the T43 series, there are screws in different places. I had two on the front bezel top (near the light), but only three on the bottom of the front bezel.
Everyone should look closely for the black screw head covers so that you don’t overlook a screw. Otherwise you might crack the front bezel (or other plastic part) if you try to remove without a hidden screw still in place.