My friend's IBM Thinkpad T30 had the backlight burn out, which led to the screen becoming completely dark. I happened to have a dead IBM Thinkpad T21. We took apart both laptops and put the working backlight lamp from the T21 into the T30. The T30 works normally now. The lamps on a T21 and a T30 are the same size and have the same connector, so it basically just plugs in. It isn't really hard to replace the bulb, you just have to be gentle and patient and keep track of all of the screws. It takes about an hour.