Hi guys, I have acquired an IBM THINKPAD and the screen doesn't work! It all fires up ok (ram and HDD are present) but there is just nothing at all on the screen. Even if I connect it to an external monitor there is still nothing! Does anyone have any idea what this could be?? I am giving this to a friend and would like to be able to tell him what is wrong with it in order to let him decide if he wants to get it fixed or not?? Thank you all very much Matt

You get no display at all even before Windows should attempt to load? Does the HDD LED blink like it normally should, as if it is loading Windows? Does the mboard beep once indicating the POST has completeted successfully? If it doesn't........ - you may have incompatible ram installed, or it's not seated properly. Remove the main battery and the AC adapter whenever you fiddle with the ram. You can check for whether incompatible ram is causing the problem by removing all the ram and attempting to boot - if nothing else is wrong, you won't get a display, but you should hear a pattern of beeps that indicate a ram problem or no ram installed. - the main battery may be defective (e.g. shorted internally), and/or it's so old it won't charge up enough. How old is it? - most if not all more recent laptops will not start up unless the battery has at least a minimal charge, and if the battery is very poor or not installed, it won't start up with just the AC adapter connected alone. If you DO hear one beep while booting, and you DO see the HDD LED blinking as if it is attempting to load Windows.... - the mboard and/or it's video adapter chipset may be damaged. You can have damaged wiring between the base and the laptop LCD display, but in that case an external monitor should work fine.

You are a star!!! Thank you so much! Just removed one of teh sticks odf RAM and Hey Presto! Works great! :) Matt

It's good to hear you found the problem. You can look up which ram modules work in the computer for sure by going to web sites of ram module manufacturers and major ram distributors and using your computer make and model to search with. If it isn't obvious on the first page you see, they often have a ram configurator or similar somewhere on the web site. E.g. www.kingston.com www.crucial.com www.corsair.com www.mushkin.com You don't necessarily have to buy them from the brand name site. Once you know what the specific module ID strings are you can get them from anywhere on the web that lists them, or if you buy locally the price may be more but less in total - no shipping charge. Generic ram, a bit cheaper, but guaranteed to work. Largest number of model listings I know of. www.memorygiant.com www.memory4less.com