When you say the LCD goes blank, do you mean the image goes to a black screen or does the backlight turn off as well?
If you pause the boot process (e.g. BIOS setup or F8), does the display stay on? Or does it turn off after two minutes regardless? Could be a driver issue.
It appears to be the backlight going out, but since most LCD panels really cannot display anything meaningful without backlighting, the distinction may be moot.
Although I have not illuminated the LCD panel from the front yet, I have an LCD panel or two (different laptop computers) that can show extremely dim picture without backlighting.
It appears at this point, display engine is still alive, but backlighting is going out.
I will try tomorrow during the day to see how the LCD fares if I do not immediately boot Windows XP.
Based on my recollection from the first time I operated the TLA7012, the LCD starts to dim in about 15 to 20 seconds after a power on.
LCD appears to hold up somewhat for several minutes, albeit with dimmer screen brightness, if I stay within the BIOS setup or the Tektronix splash screen.
I observed this because the CMOS RAM RTC coin battery inside the unit is totally drained, and I like setting the correct time and date before booting Windows XP.
Hence, if I do this, along with customizing the BIOS settings to my liking, it can take a few minutes.
During this time, I had the LCD screen, but it went bad during the Windows XP boot process.
The LCD goes bad 100% of the time if I boot Windows XP.
Restarting the computer, as opposed to shutting it down, does not appear to bring the screen back, although I am not 100% sure.
I will test this as well.
I know for sure that cycling the power definitely brings back the LCD.