Laptop Display

I have an IBM Thinkpad T42 and the display is faded and can barely see the screen. Does that mean the display is completely gone? What options do i have?

Most likely the bulb for the backlight is dead, but confirm this by trying the Function commands to increasing brightness on the laptop.  If these don't work, its either the bulb or the controller port that tells the bulb how bright to be (most likely the bulb).  I think they are under $180 to replace.  Try giving SparePartsWarehouse a call.  Alternatively, you can buy Thinkpad T42s refurbished at prices starting about $280 and up.

I closed my dell latitude laptop with the lid to my usb stick still inside and ruined the display.  I was able to buy the complete top part of the laptop off ebay and just changed at the hinges.  It took a bit of googling to figure out.  It was a couple of screws and a wire to connect.  The cost was around $75.  I was lucky that it worked out though.  It looked easier to replace the whole top of the laptop rather doing the bulb or parts of the screen but when you buy used you often get what you pay for.  :-)

In addition to the above feedback, I recommend you also post your question to the Lenovo Community Forums.  I have a ThinkPad W500 and the advice I've gotten from other ThinkPad users on those forums has been quite helpful.  I'd give it a shot for your T42!

Yann

Thanks i'm going try the Lenovo Forum.

We recently replaced the bulb and the controller on a ThinkPad R40. We had the same problem and we purchased the bulb first, but the problem persisted so we purchased the controller. All Parts +S&H was around $60. It was worth it because we are comfortable opening the screen, but we had lots of screws to keep track off and what goes where. You will be able to find in the online manual how to replace the bulb and the controller. We bought the bulb at www.lcdparts.net, can't find from where did I buy the controller.