I took this laptop in on trade. It's a Thinkpad R31 2656 M2U; Celeron
1.2, 14.1"LCD at 1024 x 768.
XP Pro. When it boots up the screen is very dark; Windows splash
screen is hardly visible, but on an external LCD everything looks
fine. Once into XP, I can hit the function key/brightness control
combo keys a few times and usually get the screen to come back on. The
external LCD works fine at all times, so I am assuming the video card
is fine. Can anyone help me figure out if this an inverter problem, or
something else? Would a loose connection cause this? Any suggestions
would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I think it's a software issue. First, lcd panels use fluorescent tubes
for backlights, and it is normal for them to take up to 1-2 minutes to
reach full brightness (this gets much worse with very old lamps). But
your comment that you can hit the function key to get the brightness up
suggests that it's not a hardware issue at all, but rather a (software)
configuration issue.


ken10254 wrote:
> I took this laptop in on trade. It's a Thinkpad R31 2656 M2U; Celeron
> 1.2, 14.1"LCD at 1024 x 768.
> XP Pro. When it boots up the screen is very dark; Windows splash
> screen is hardly visible, but on an external LCD everything looks
> fine. Once into XP, I can hit the function key/brightness control
> combo keys a few times and usually get the screen to come back on. The
> external LCD works fine at all times, so I am assuming the video card
> is fine. Can anyone help me figure out if this an inverter problem, or
> something else? Would a loose connection cause this? Any suggestions
> would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Jun 28, 2:40*pm, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> I think it's a software issue. *First, lcd panels use fluorescent tubes
> for backlights, and it is normal for them to take up to 1-2 minutes to
> reach full brightness (this gets much worse with very old lamps). *But
> your comment that you can hit the function key to get the brightness up
> suggests that it's not a hardware issue at all, but rather a (software)
> configuration issue.
>
> ken10254 wrote:
> > I took this laptop in on trade. It's a Thinkpad R31 2656 M2U; Celeron
> > 1.2, 14.1"LCD at 1024 x 768.
> > XP Pro. When it boots up the screen is very dark; Windows splash
> > screen is hardly visible, but on an external LCD everything looks
> > fine. Once into XP, I can hit the function key/brightness control
> > combo keys a few times and usually get the screen to come back on. The
> > external LCD works fine at all times, so I am assuming the video card
> > is fine. Can anyone help me figure out if this an inverter problem, or
> > something else? Would a loose connection cause this? Any suggestions
> > would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
>
> ** Posted fromhttp://www.teranews.com**

Thanks for the reply Barry. Can you suggest what software would cause
this? Could an older BIOS cause this kind of a problem? Anything else
that you can think of?

In news:4a544$486693d1$18470@news.teranews.com,
Barry Watzman typed on Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:40:53 -0400:
> I think it's a software issue. First, lcd panels use fluorescent
> tubes for backlights, and it is normal for them to take up to 1-2
> minutes to reach full brightness (this gets much worse with very old
> lamps). But your comment that you can hit the function key to get
> the brightness up suggests that it's not a hardware issue at all, but
> rather a (software) configuration issue.
>
>
> ken10254 wrote:
>> I took this laptop in on trade. It's a Thinkpad R31 2656 M2U; Celeron
>> 1.2, 14.1"LCD at 1024 x 768.
>> XP Pro. When it boots up the screen is very dark; Windows splash
>> screen is hardly visible, but on an external LCD everything looks
>> fine. Once into XP, I can hit the function key/brightness control
>> combo keys a few times and usually get the screen to come back on.
>> The external LCD works fine at all times, so I am assuming the video
>> card is fine. Can anyone help me figure out if this an inverter
>> problem, or something else? Would a loose connection cause this? Any
>> suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
> ** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Lamps will get dimmer and dimmer with age. So the dim display to me
sounds like an aged lamp. Although the OP and fabianusv say it also acts
like a loose connection. This could be the lamp and/or the inverter.

--
Bill
Gateway Celeron M 370 (1.5GHZ)
MX6124 (laptop) w/1GB
Windows XP Home SP2 (60GB HD)
Intel(r) 910GML (64MB shared)