need a little help with my thinkpad

CiaraBohs

hi there i was given a thinkpad today by my nanny because she can't seem to get it working anymore. she has it a couple of years now and it was a re-con when she bought it. the problem is the screen doesnt seem to be working . i have a feeling it might be the graphics card but im not sure . on start up it flashes white blue and red lines but straight away turns back to black. i know the screen itself is working and i know the system is powering up but there doesnt seem to be a connection between them. would it be worth my while opening it up and maybe buying a new graphics card or what?

any advice would be greatly appreciated

p.s. iv also tried connecting it through vga on the laptop and a vga port on an external docking station and the screens aren't getting a signal

Alanstrainor

You generally cannot replace laptop graphics cards. It's only in rare cases that you can. If the laptop had a dedicated graphics card then maybe, but I seriously doubt that laptop has one.

cookie1977

Well from what you describe it probably is the graphics card but the problem is many graphics cards in laptops are welded to the mother board. One goes both need replacing. What model is it?

CiaraBohs

i cant find a model number anywhere but i think its a T43?

cookie1977

Well based on that you've either:
ATI - Machine types 2668, 2669, 2678, 2679, 2686, and 2687
*********128 MB ATI Mobility FIRE GL V3200
*********64 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X300

Or

Intel - Machine types 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, and 1876
*********Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
*********Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 300

If it's the intel they're integrated for sure so the entire motherboard would need to be replaced

CiaraBohs

cookie1977 wrote: »

Well based on that you've either:
ATI - Machine types 2668, 2669, 2678, 2679, 2686, and 2687
128 MB ATI Mobility FIRE GL V3200
64 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X300
Intel - Machine types 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, and 1876
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 300

If it's the intel they're integrated for sure so the entire motherboard would need to be replaced

just seen that its got ati graphics type 2669? .... any idea what that would mean for me? haha

cookie1977

From reading around the it seems the two ati graphics cards are chips embedded on the mother board so no go I'm afraid.

CiaraBohs

cookie1977 wrote: »

From reading around the it seems the two ati graphics cards are chips embedded on the mother board so no go I'm afraid.

oh well at least iv got another laptop

speacking of which anybody got any idea how expensive it would be to get an asus UL30A screen replaced? haha

Capt'n Midnight

check out www.thinwiki.org for info on IBM's

T43's were a divil for overheating

if you are lucky then it's just a loose video cable

try hooking up to an external monitor to verify that the rest of the machine is OK

PS if you ever want to get rid of it

cookie1977

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

check out www.thinwiki.org for info on IBM's

T43's were a divil for overheating

if you are lucky then it's just a loose video cable

try hooking up to an external monitor to verify that the rest of the machine is OK

PS if you ever want to get rid of it

I think the ip tried the external monitor but it didn't work.

CiaraBohs

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

check out www.thinwiki.org for info on IBM's

T43's were a divil for overheating

if you are lucky then it's just a loose video cable

try hooking up to an external monitor to verify that the rest of the machine is OK

PS if you ever want to get rid of it

tried it already through the connecttion on the laptop then again through the docking station (just incase it happened to be riddled with loose connections) and no joy from what i can tell though the laptop is booting up alright (from my knowlege of computer/laptop type noises) haha

Capt'n Midnight

on line looks like about 100 for the screen, and then there is fitting

if you find the screen model number you may have more alternatives
it may start with LTN or something

and you would need to be 100% sure it's the right one before ordering - also that the screen is the problem, which if you have a cracked screen is fairly easy

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=asus+UL30A+screen&hl=en&safe=off&client=ubuntu&hs=RFv&channel=fs&prmd=ivns&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=11041962287019281694&sa=X&ei=Zl6rTdqWAo6bhQe-1JzFCQ&ved=0CFoQ8wIwAA#

CiaraBohs

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

on line looks like about 100 for the screen, and then there is fitting

if you find the screen model number you may have more alternatives
it may start with LTN or something

and you would need to be 100% sure it's the right one before ordering - also that the screen is the problem, which if you have a cracked screen is fairly easy

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=asus+UL30A+screen&hl=en&safe=off&client=ubuntu&hs=RFv&channel=fs&prmd=ivns&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=11041962287019281694&sa=X&ei=Zl6rTdqWAo6bhQe-1JzFCQ&ved=0CFoQ8wIwAA#

thanks .. its fairly obvious that its the screen in fairness cracked the hole thing (practically shattered it) one drunken night . i was snapping only had it about a month or so