T42 Thinkpad

So yesterday, my laptop started screwing up...If touch the bottom left hand corner(under the ctrl & alt keys) of my laptop the wrong way, my screen will cut off. I have to tap my laptop again for it to come back on. Sometimes when flashes back on, there will be weird lines and shit on the screen. I haven't dropped it or anything...could the video card be going bad or something? Loose connection?

[Edited on December 16, 2007 at 12:32 PM. Reason : and the backlight stays on, it's just the video going out]

12/16/2007 12:23:07 PM

Connect your laptop to an external monitor and see if the same thing happens on the external monitor as the laptop LCD. If it does then it is more than likely the video card (which also means the systemboard). If it doesn't then it could be the LCD, or LCD cable.

The bottom left hand corner should either be where the PCMCIA slot is or the HDD is located. Touching the computer near either of those shouldn't cause the LCD to go out though...if anything you should get a blue screen or a HDD error.

12/16/2007 1:39:19 PM

yeah it might not be that specific area...may just be the laptop case bending somehow and affecting another area

also i was just watching a youtube video and when the screen cut off again, there was no audio either

and why would the whole motherboard be bad if the video card was screwed up?

[Edited on December 16, 2007 at 1:51 PM. Reason : .]

12/16/2007 1:43:23 PM

in laptops every thing is printed on one circuit board except in a few rare cases

12/16/2007 3:10:57 PM

sounds like the lcd inverter board.

hook it up external like was said, if it happens there, video card, it not, then inverter board, cable or lcd.

12/16/2007 4:56:51 PM

why would the inverter board effect the lack of sound when the video goes out?

[Edited on December 16, 2007 at 5:09 PM. Reason : .]

12/16/2007 5:09:18 PM

okay so i tried and external monitor and it cuts off on it too?

when i sent my laptop to IBM a few months ago because my computer kept rebooting randomly, they replaced the system board

i think the warranty on my laptop ran out a few days after i got my laptop back from them...any slim chance in hell they'll replace this one for free since it fucked up(i think they charge like $495 or something), or would i be better off getting one on ebay?

12/18/2007 9:38:39 PM

You should have a 90-day warranty that covers parts/labor from the IBM repair. Call them and bitch and they'll eventually give in if their repair really was recently.

12/19/2007 10:47:28 AM

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Thinkpad-T42-GOOD-Motherboard-1-7Ghz-Blue-Tooth_W0QQitemZ290191067391QQihZ019QQcategoryZ60268QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118

so if I were to buy that^, all I would need to do is to connect my HDD/lcd/DVD drive/whatever, and windows would load from my old HDD where i could download neccessary drivers?

12/19/2007 2:40:23 PM

in theory, yes

12/19/2007 3:28:34 PM