T42 turns on but screen is blank - improved from: won't turn on

[JRWooden]

I am long time owner of a T42 had been using it and everything was fine.
It sat for several months and then would not turn on....
I'm familiar with the problem ... tried pulling the main battery and doing the magic dances with the power button - no luck

CMOS battery being old I ordered a new one.
I left the main battery out while the new CMOS battery was on order (about a week)

Just for giggles, when new CMOS battery came I reinstalled the main battery and ... it turned on.
power light, battery light, CPU fan, and occasional blink from HD but... NOTHING ON THE DISPLAY - just blank.

I took it apart unplugged the old CMOS battery and let it sit overnight.
Installed new CMOS battery the next day but condition is un-changed.
powers up, but blank display.
Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks
Jim

[JRWooden]

I've been "focused" on thinking it's a battery / CMOS issue of some sort, but ...
I could be having some totally different problem that just kinda popped-up at the same time.

IIRC bad RAM will give a POST error not a blank screen

It does NOT appear to be booting up as the HD activity is very modest....

[Gonzaleitor]

Bad RAM would give You some beeps. Did you try to connect it to an external monitor?

[astral]

sounds to me like one of the classic t4x failures. gpu perhaps, or the southbridge. though, i think the southbridge failures are mostly for the t43s.

these suffered from bad solder, and can give symptoms like these when one of the chips solder cracks.

[JRWooden]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I did try an external monitor ... but forgot to mention it...
It didn't light up either :-/

I appreciate the suggestions!

I guess it's dead

[Gonzaleitor]

It seems to me that your gpu has a bad solder problem. Maybe, because you have nothing to lose, you can try to bake the mobo trying to resolder the gpu.
I recommend that you look it up in youtube so you can have a good tutorial.

[JRWooden]

Thank you!

I may try that ... or get a buddy to try that ...

It could save the venerable T42's life!

[Gonzaleitor]

Yeah, it might. If you have a heat gun it may be even simpler.
Make an update after you do it!

[JRWooden]

Yeah, it might. If you have a heat gun it may be even simpler.
Make an update after you do it!

Will do that ... it may be a while, I'm now traveling for a while and not sure when I'll be back,
but again, THANK you all for your help!

[Gonzaleitor]

No problem, good luck!