No video on Ibm Thinkpad T23

Hi
i also have a t23, and i have messed around with the display a lot...
there are several things to consider:
1) your operating system. i would assume you are using windows xp, and that you dont get video even before the OS starts up in the first place, but its just something to consider: i have heard of some video bugs with the t23 under linux
2) you should check to see if the laptop display and the video out problems are related in the first place. to be honest, i dont know why they would or would not be related. the display not work because a) its just plain broken (although in this case there are usually some somewhat obvious cracks) b) the ribbon cable from the display to the motherboard could have ripped (they do so very easily). if the ribbon cable is ripped in its usual place, you MIGHT just not have a backlight. make sure that there is nothing on the screen, not just a normal display extremely dark. if theres definitely no picture, then you have to take the laptop most of the way apart, but you can start with just the screen casing. its fairly easy to figure out how to take apart, but you might want to look it up. behind the screen casing you can see the ribbon cable and whether or not its ripped. oh, but before you do that, try turning the led light on thats built into the top of the screen. its also part of the ribbon cable. you can do this by pressing the fn key and page down or something next to the brightness buttons. if that doesnt work then your ribbon cable is either ripped, or of course it could just be a motherboard problem in which case all of what ive said is fairly useless information. if you want you can also take off the keyboard and top casing from the screws in the bottom and look at where the ribbon cable (and maybe the video out too) meets the motherboard, just in case theres an obvious problem or disconnect. it probably wont be very obvious. however, if you do discover fairly surely that it is the ribbon cable, then you can get them for very cheap. search "ibm thinkpad lcd video cable t23"
hope i could be of some help