How I took apart and repaired my notebook LCD screen with water damage
Yesterday took apart and repaired my notebook LCD screen with water damage. The screen itself was working just fine but it had two different problems.
- previous owner spilled water on the laptop. Somehow the water got inside the LCD screen and left stains inside the screen. The water marks were very noticeable on a white background and it was very irritating.
- the screen also had dust and lint inside also very noticeable on a white background. I have no idea how it got in there but I decided to clean it up too.
To fix both problems I had to open up the LCD screen. This was my first experience on opening a notebook screen. I was pretty confident because I didn’t really care if I break the screen, I just wanted to know if it’s possible to fix it.
Warning: the LCD screen can be easily damaged if you open it up. If you do something wrong the screen might become completely unusable and you’ll have to buy a new screen. It’s very expensive. Think twice before you decide opening the screen. Continue at your own risk.
Here’s my Dell Latitude D610 notebook with water damaged screen I’m going to take apart.
First of all remove the battery from the notebook.
Lift up rubber screw seals and remove all screws.
Carefully separate the screen bezel from the LCD cover and remove the bezel.
Remove two screws from the front and two screws from both sides.
Carefully remove the LCD screen from the cover and place it on the notebook base. Disconnect the video cable and the inverter board cable.
On this model the inverter board is attached to the screen with two screws. Remove both screws, disconnect the screen cable and remove the inverter board.
Carefully peel off sticky tape and foil and put it aside. You’ll have to put it back in place during the screen reassembly.
Remove two screws from both sides of the screen.
Carefully place the screen upside down on a flat surface. Carefully unglue the film that covers the circuit board and remove two screws from the board (top circles). I wasn’t really sure if I have to remove screws on the bottom, so I removed them just in case. Do not touch the circuit board with fingers.
After both screws are removed you should be able to lift up the circuit board. Be careful, it’s still attached to the LCD.
Start unsnapping the metal frame from the screen. There are a lot of latches on all sides of the screen. You can unlock them with nails or a small flathead screwdriver.
After all latches are opened you should be able to separate the screen into three pieces: metal frame, LCD and background (not sure about correct technical name).
If you have lint or dust inside the screen, probably you’ll find it between the LCD and the background. Do not touch LCD or background with your fingers. I was able to remove dust and lint up with a very soft cloth, barely touching the LCD and background surfaces.
After I split the screen I found that the background has a few some kind of optical layers (three transparent sheets) and in my case they were damaged by water. The water dried out and left stains between these optical layers.
In my case removing dust and lint wasn’t enough and I had to go further.
Very carefully separate the LCD with attached circuit board from the background.
To remove damaged optical layers it’s necessary to remove metal locks on both sides of the screen. It’s like a small clip that keeps layers in place.
After I removed both clips, I was able to look between the layers. At first I tried to clean up the dried water marks with a soft cloth but it didn’t help. The stains were still visible and didn’t want to go away.
Fortunately I had another similar screen laying around, it had a cracked LCD. I decided to borrow the optical layers from the cracked screen and transfer them to my screen. I wasn’t sure if it’s going to work, but as I mentioned before I didn’t really care if I break the screen. It was just an experiment.
So I disassembled the cracked screen and carefully transfered the white background and all transparent layers to my screen.
After that I assembled my screen back removing dust and lint with a very soft cloth. Breathlessly connected my new screen to the notebook. Turned it on and…
That’s a miracle, it works!
No dust, no lint, no water mars inside the screen! It’s clear and the background is absolutely clean!
My donor screen had a cracked LCD but it had a good working backlight tube. The backlght tube is very fragile and it’s located inside a metal casing. I didn’t remove the backlight tube, I just broke off the entire metal casing from the plastic frame. I’m going to use this backlight tube for testing purposes.
If you fixing a Dell laptop yourself, probably you’ll need a service manual. Some Dell service manuals provide step-by-step laptop disassembly instructions.
Are you looking for a new screen? You can find very inexpensive brand new LCD screens here, just search for your laptop model.
Entry Filed under: LCD Screen Repair
February 4th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
[…] Read more: How I took apart and repaired LCD screen on my Dell Latitude D610 notebook […]
February 6th, 2007 at 4:55 am
hi
this is unbelieveble site, i got many helps from this site,
thanks a llot
February 11th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
hi
I’m trying to replace the optical layers of my old Dell Inspiron 5100 from an old lcd screen. The question is. in which order should the optical layers be positioned??
Thanks
February 11th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Dietrich,
When I was fixing my screen I just removed all layers from the old screen and transferred them in the same order into the new screen. I didn’t pay attention how the layers were positioned.
February 11th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
[…] I have no idea how the inverter board can cause this problem. LCD inverter acts like a power supply for the backlight bulb, it converts low voltage DC power into high voltage AC power. When the inverter board goes bad you lose the backlight but to the best of my knowledge a failed inverter board cannot cause vertical stripes on the screen. Motherboard problem? Possible but I doubt it because the external monitor works fine. When you have a faulty video card the same defect usually appears on both internal LCD and external monitor. Sometimes you can get it to work by closing and opening the display. When you open or close the display you flexing the video cable. It’s possible the vertical stripes appear because of a loose connection somewhere inside the display assembly. […]
February 15th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
thank you very much my laptop was really messed up. i took it apart then played with the clip and now it is like brand new. you saved me some money
February 16th, 2007 at 4:23 am
thanks so much for your help. i did it …. and it worked on my 28 day old Acer that i spilled water on
February 17th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Thanx, a mil! We will follow your leadership and try to fix an HP pavilion dv1000 blacked-out screen. I will let you know how it goes. Bye!
February 19th, 2007 at 7:32 am
I have a Tecra S3 which is only a year old, just out of warranty. The display just started to have problems mainly with the color red. Little red dots appeared everywhere and the color red had blotches of crappiness in it. Toshiba told me my warranty was over, I figured I’d try to fix it myself. I determined the problem comes from a weak plug in the display
panel itself. I removed the rubber bumpers at the top and the flat plastic covers near the bottom, and all four screws.
Then I carefully removed the plastic cover by inching it up with my fingers. There were two screws near the bottom of the panel that needed to be removed, and a high voltage plug with white & pink wires that will pull out of a circuit board
near the bottom of the housing. I then pulled up the display & saw the long data cable & plug going into the top of the
display. I pulled this and determined it is made of copper. I took a can of Radio Shack contact cleaner, and sprayed both
the cable and the plug on the top of the display. Just for good measure, I sprayed a light coating on the board under the
plastic cover as well. I replaced everything, and now my display works perfectly. If you have a similar display problem
crop up, you might want to give this a shot, it can’t hurt anything. Always be extra careful with the front of the
display, they scratch very easily.
-Chris
February 19th, 2007 at 11:46 am
This is exactly what I need. I have damage on the monitor of my Sony VAIO. However, what do we do if we don’t have or know how to find these layers?
February 20th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Hi,
I have a Toshiba M100 which is otherwise in great shape but has a problem with the LCD. If you look directly at the screen you can see dark grey spots scattered around the screen. To me this looks like mould or some sort of dirt and it’s definitely on the inside of the screen. So basically, the LCD is dirty on the inside!
To make the story worse, a friend of mine also bought the same laptop from the same source (private seller, used laptop, no warranty) and it also has the same spots. When I was buying the laptop I figured the screen was just plain dirty and I could wipe it off. But it turns out it’s not and the spots are driving me nuts.
Do you know whether or not it would be possible to open the screen and clean the LCD panel? I figure it’s the top glass layer but then again, I could be wrong.
Thanks in advance.
Greetings from Slovenia!
Bojan
February 25th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Bojan,
I think a dark spot on the LCD screen might appear if you press on it with your fingers. Maybe the previous owner wasn’t careful enough with the screen? I cannot see your screen so it’s just a guess.
If you decide to take it apart be very careful because you can permanently damage the screen and it will be even worse. Here’s a guide for removing the LCD screen from a Toshiba Satellite A105. This guide should be close enough to Satellite M100.
March 1st, 2007 at 10:39 am
My laptop is Toshiba Satellite A75-S2292.
Do you have any idea how to disassembly the screen and change the new LCD on this model.
Appreciate your help.
Thank you.
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:57 am
Hi charmaigne, did you have any luck with your blacked out screen??
I now have the same problem!
Shayne
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:51 am
I have a Sony Vaio FRV25. I was having fan problems, opened up the laptop, replaced fan. The screen is now black. I tried an external monitor and nothing happens.
I’m just wondering if I broke a ribbon or something. Im pretty sure I put all of the screws into the right holes.
Any help would be appreciated.
March 3rd, 2007 at 8:30 am
[…] How I took apart and repaired my notebook LCD screen with water damage - removing the LCD and taking it apart […]
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:30 am
Jerry,
I haven’t created a guide for a Satellite A75 notebook but I have created guides for other Toshiba laptops. Take a look at Satellite A65 for example. Steps for taking apart the LCD panel on a Toshiba laptop will be similar for most models.
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Google brought me here while searching LCD screen cover Toshiba 105.
Question: Can one replace only the flexible shiny front plastic cover which protects the Toshiba LCD screen? Mine has a little scratch where the cover bravely protected the LCD from a falling tool. It’s not the end of the world, but if I can replace this easily and economically I’d like to do it. If I could I’d replace it with a protective cover that was not so reflective.
KLS
March 3rd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
John,
Did you remove the CPU during disassembly? If you did, make sure it’s seated properly in the socket and the socket is LOCKED. Make sure the memory module is seated properly in the slot.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I have a question, or should i say i have a fried laptop and i wanted to ask if you can give me some clue to what’s wrong with it.
Its a Dell D600, and when i turn on the power, the Caps-Lock and Scroll-Lock lights turn on, and so do the power and HDD lights. about 5 or so seconds later, the thing powers off!
I have tried everything from swapping Memory modules, to removing battey and using AC power instead, and also tried removing DVD and HDD … Nothing seems to work
Any ideas ?? i read in one of your posts that you fixed a laptop which wouldnt start because of a lose cable .. do you think this is a similar problem ? or is the motheboard DEAD ?
Helpppp meee … pleaaseeee ….
and doc .. here is some medical history of this laptop …
…. a few months back i had a different problem, the Caps Lock key was blinking a few times, and then the system would shut down. I read on some forums that this was related to memory, so i tried removing the memory from Slot 2, and it turns out, the Slot2 is probably fried. Because the system doesnt work if it has memory in Slot 2.
At that time i was relieved that the motherboard was OK, and so i happily kept working with half the memory !
March 8th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
I have a 15.4” WXGA High-Definition BrightView Widescreen laptop that has a bright white spot that is very notable, what causes this problem? And is it fixable?
March 9th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Just to say a big ‘thankyou’! Your site gave me the confidence to open my screen cover and swap the broken LCD with a working one…which saved a fortune. Keep up the good work and thanks again.
Julie
March 10th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Wajih ur Rahman,
Disconnect the video cable from the motherboard (under the keyboard) and try starting the laptop without the video cable connected. If the laptop still shuts down the same way as before, you might have a problem with the motherboard.
March 16th, 2007 at 10:55 am
my daughter accidently knocked my e1505 off my desk now i have a three inch portion of my screen that is white with pink,green and yellow lines running through it,any suggestions
March 17th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I replaced a cracked screen on an HP Pavilion dv8000. I followed your instructions, but I only get horizontal lines on my new screen. Any ideas what I might have done wrong?
Thanks for your help!
March 19th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Carla,
Make sure the video cable is seated properly on both ends - on the motherboard and on the back of the LCD screen.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:22 am
i have a toshiba satellite p105 17”. i tried a massage method to remove a stuck pixel but instead of that when the laptop is turned off there is a circle on the screen which is like a blur bubble. when the notebook is turned on the circle is visible only on black background.i havent put much pressure so to cause damage.
can i fix this problem or i have to change screen?
March 27th, 2007 at 5:03 am
I think I have the same problem as Savvas, tried to do something with probably bad pixels on my Toshiba Satellie A105 which I thought was a dirt at first. I did not do it to hard, but may be it suck water inside and now it has a large blur on the screen, when it is on it is not visible, mostly not even turned on black screen. what bothers me more, is the fact that I have two shiny spots on the screen, pretty visible and it is not dirt (as I have found out), they were there before. Can these be fixed? Can I try to repair at least the shiny spots within manufacturers warranty?
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I’ve been striping and repairing laptops since 97′ in Toronto, Canada. I know that it has been pointed out with a big disclaimer, but I think for the average user or “tinkerer’ it would be LCD Suicide to disassemble the LCD layers on a spotty screen !!.
The only “advanced” work I do on LCDs are backlight replacement, which at times can be finicky
I’m very curious to know what kind of environment you did this in. I.E. Was it a clean room /box or were you just sitting at your desk ? I’m also going to hazard a guess that although you and I may have LCDs lying around in many “stages of broken” very few other people do !!
However on the flip side: For someone in the laptop repair business this is a very interesting article.
Thanks
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Sharon,
I’m not saying this guide is for everybody :). If you are not careful enough and have no experience fixing laptops, you can damage the LCD. That was my first time when I took the laptop screen apart. I had to reassemble it three times until I was satisfied. It was really hard to get rid of dust between layers.
I disassembled it at my dusty desk, same desk where I fix laptops.
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I have a dell Latitude D600 and am having a problem with the lcd. When there are large black areas on the screen it kind of blinks black and red in that area. Also, there are very fine vertical lines throughout the whole screen. Dark blues have the blinking redish problem also. Also there is a slight double image of some elements on the screen such as the submit comment button below, I see a pink outline to the right of it. It does look normal sometimes, but a majority of the time it has these problems. Any suggestions? Thanks
April 4th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Bottom inch or so of my LCD is blank.
Any ideas
April 6th, 2007 at 12:15 am
hello i have a problem of my lcd laptop acer. hopefully you can help me. on my lcd screen have a line in the middle. what i suppose to do?
April 7th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Shawn,
Test the laptop with an external screen and see how the external video is displayed. If you have the same bad video on the external screen, there is a problem with the video card.
April 7th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Peter,
Can you see the taskbar above this blank area on the screen or it covers the taskbar with part of the image?
If you can see the whole desktop, including all icons and taskbar (the image on the screen appears to be compressed vertically), it’s possible it’s just a software related issue. Play with the screen resolution, test if the display works fine in Safe Mode. Try reinstalling the video driver.
April 8th, 2007 at 7:46 am
Thank you very much for detailing your disassembly with photos. I’ve recently gotten a fully functioning Inspiron 5100 with good external display but the LCD is completely dark. I am considering replacing the backlight or inverter myself and you’ve helped a lot with your pictures. I have the display panel removed but cannot tell one part from another. For instance I wondered if the backlight was behind the top edge or the bottom edge and was the inverter the circuit board in the middle of my display of the one that has the caution tape on it running across the top of the panel.
Kudos and thanks - Dale
April 8th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
adik,
Is it a thin vertical line about 1-2 pixels wide running across the entire screen? If yes, then there is not much you can do to fix it. It’s a screen problem and you’ll have to replace the screen (or get used to this line).
April 8th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Dale,
The backlight lamp is located INSIDE the LCD screen, I’m not sure if it’s behind the top edge or the bottom edge.
Search for “Inspiron 5100 inverter” here and you’ll see how it looks like.
If the screen still has a very faint image but no backlight, most likely it’s just a bad inverter board.
April 9th, 2007 at 5:39 am
Thanks CJ,
Yes great idea - eBay to the rescue. I completely disassembled it yesterday. The inverter was actually very easy to remove; the backlight is quite the opposite. To get the backlight out you will have to take every piece of the display waffle layers apart and the outer metalic rim/frame. The 5100’s backlight is nestled along the bottom of the inner plastic frame in a u-shaped metalic channel that fits snuggly into this plastic. Additionally when you get down to only having the backlight assembly in that plastic frame there is a keyed black plastic topper which you have to spend a bit of time studying how both the left and right sides must be manipulated to remove. Once that is off then I had to take an exacto knife carefully under the backlight channel where it is glued to the frame. Then the backlight pops out. After all that I stuggled putting it all back together without smudging any of the film layers or the glass. This was the hardest thing. After several failed attempts of keeping everything aligned, I improved my techniques and got it fully assembled.
Post-op I’m convinced the backlight is fine and therefore the inverter is at fault. For roughly $30 I hope to aquire a replacement. This will be a reasonable cost for the fix.
My advice to anyone considering removing the backlight would be to not do it. The reason is that unless you are in a clean room you will likely gather dust on the display’s waffle layers as you handle them. You won’t notice this until you’ve got the whole back together and figuring out which layer holds the dark spot is itself likely to induce smudges. It is a viscious downward spiral. The backlight itself is a self contained part that could be simply replaced without soldering if not for the above mentioned issues.
BTW I took pictures of the process.
April 9th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Just out of curiosity …
I see that, on your pictures (and in my own laptop) there is that white tape with specific instructions not to touch it. However, it would appear that you are, in fact, touching it when you’re displaying where to remove the screws on the side of the screen.
What is the reason for not touching this tape? And, if it is touched incidentally, is that cause for major concern? And, if so, can it be easily cleaned / repaired?
April 9th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
ahh! the dreaded don’t touch that tape warning;->
I touched it and live to tell the tale. On my display, behind the tape were flexible circuitry hinges that link the adjacent circuit board visible on the back side of the assembly to the display panel that faces the the front side. As I removed that tape I couldn’t help worry about what gremlin was about to be unleashed. My take is that this is all sensitive and so I did my best to avoid any abrasion or contact with anthing with these surfaces.
Additionally once I opened the hinge I elevated the display and allowed the hinge to fully open just past 180 degrees. This took a little work to get something to get just the right heights for both hinged sides and to keep any tension on the hinge itself to a minimum.
To preserve that tape I got out a long cookie sheet and stuck it to the clean backside of it. The cookie sheet as a palette idea turned out to be useful for all of the several the tape pieces I found I had to remove.
Don’t touch the tape - bah! I dare you :->
April 9th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Jacin,
I believe they put “Do not touch” instructions because there are data cables connecting the circuit board with the LCD and they are located right under the white tape. I think nothing terrible is going to happen if you accidentally touch the tape, but do not push on it because you can damage the data cables.
April 9th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Dale,
I hope new inverter board will fix your problem.
By the way, if you don’t have your own website and would like to publish your backlight lamp removal instructions here just let me know.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:35 am
All this information is great, but I need to know what’s the best way to find out if I need to replace the whole LCD screen, or just the inverter?
Secondly, I formatted the C:\ drive and now am trying to install XP…but it keeps turning the screen off after 3-4 minutes…and I have to restart the computer so that the screen comes back again…is there a cure to this? ANY help is appreciated.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Hiya was searching the internet for this and stumbled on your page its been of great help as am looking forward to buying a toshiba m100 protege laptop but the outer metalic case is scratched and can do with a new one. I just dont know how to go about this and where to get the cheapest parts so I can refurbish it to brand spanking new. Your help is highly appreciated.
Sam.
April 13th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Don’t Laptop LCDs Have mercury. I read that in a book from the libary. So if you diasembel an LCD Wash your hands when done!!!
April 16th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Edgar,
Here’s my previous post about troubleshooting laptop video problems,take a look.
If the laptop starts with normal video but after some time the backlight goes off (you still can see an image on the screen) then most likely it’s just a faulty screen inverter. If the screen goes off and there is no backlight or image, then it’s not an inverter issue.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
sam banda,
Are you asking about the bottom cover? If yes, then you can search on the internet by the following part number P000382360 and find the cheapest one.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Nick,
Here’s what I found on HowStuffWorks website (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question580.htm).
So there is some mercury inside the backlight tube but during the disassembly I’m not even touching the tube.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:07 am
i forgot my dell inspiron 600m bios password please give me full solution
April 20th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
hi, ive justknackered my sceen with water damage, its stillworkingbut a can see a water mark esspecially on awhite background.i don’t fancy taking the screen apart because i have important work on my comp anddon’t wannabreak it. it seems to have subsided, (only damaged it a coupl of hours ago!) what are the chances of it evapourating and evrything bing hunky dory again?
April 20th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
[…] Taking apart notebook LCD screen […]
April 20th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Probably a better chance of that than of you improving your spelling skills. If it was distilled water (pure H2O), you might have a chance of it coming clean. The impurities are what makes a mark and tap water (or bottled) has a bunch of them like trace minerals, microscopic solids, etc. If it was still wet, you might be able to remove the bezel, detached the screws/clips that hold the screen in place, and “drain” it out by taking the screen, holding it vertically, and gently tapping it against a hard surface to possibly spread out or move the water out of the screen. Kind of a long shot, but there’s not much you can do when you don’t want to go to the source of the damage. There’s an active market on ebay for used screens.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Followed the article on LCD screen repair. Found it excellent. Cleaned the glass layer with Walmart glasses cleaner (70% isopropyl alcohol might also work) and used latex gloves without talc to avoid fingerprints, have not taken a screen appart before but dissassembled an old broken one to get the back sheets and learn the pitfalls . The silver back layer does not seem to clean and needs to be replaced if the water damage is on this layer..
May 13th, 2007 at 11:19 am
My 14″ Dell Latitude CP M233XT has a 8″ screen What can I do to get a full screen.
May 16th, 2007 at 9:25 am
does anyone know the part number for a dell inspiron 510 laptop p.c. backlight inverter please?
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:55 pm
hi 1/3 part of my toshiba ps140e gose white so if u have any idea about the fault plz let me know.
i will be very thankful to u
Babu
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I’d like to replace the sound card in my Dell Latititude C400 Notebook. (The headphone jack cracked and no longer will hold a plug). I have the new sound card, but am stymied by how to get to the old one–seems like replacing it will be a piece of cake–if I can open the case.
Any help? Any postings or directions someone can direct me to?
Thanks much
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Jeff,
You can find step-by-step disassemble instructions in the laptop service manual. Download the manual and you’ll be able to remove and replace the audio board.
May 23rd, 2007 at 4:11 pm
To ch2600–
Thanks much–I had gone to Dell and found nothing–and had not gone quite far enough to actually download a manual from one of the other sites. Got a manual and now I’m one screw shy of opening the case–appears the screw is cross-threaded or something–no budging at all. Time to get a better screwdriver!
I trust I’ll get it and do the repair.
Thanks much for your quick reply.
jeff
June 19th, 2007 at 3:56 am
I need an entire screen for an inspirion 6000 , anywhere to buy a used one?
June 19th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
sharon could you email me about replacing my screen on a Hp dv8000?
I am in east end of toronto
June 24th, 2007 at 11:38 am
PLEASE PLEASE can you he
i dropped my work laptop in puddle on friday and its wasnt drying out - so followed ur and hp manual instructions to take screen apart dried various bits of lcd screen 90% sure they all back correctly as they only fit in one way and now have vertical lines across screen n no picture hooked it up to external monior and it worked ok. ple\se tell me i haven’t messed it up! and theres something i can try to put it right so that i odnt have to crawl back in to work n get b******ed
any help would be great Thanx
June 27th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Thanks very helpfull, I also tryied to fix my LCD screen for the first time. I got a replacment on ebay for a LCD 15″ dell insiron Model 5100 but the cable connections are diffrent from LCD to mother board as my old one . Any idea where I can get a cable?
Your LCD with the exception of 15 has the same conections as my new replacment…
June 30th, 2007 at 9:34 am
If you have lines across the screen the LCD is likely ruined.
See
http://moniserv.com/doc/laptopscreen.html
June 30th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I need a screen for my Dell Latitude C640. I dropped it and the screen broke. Do you know where I can find one real cheap. The computer works fine. I live in Richmond, Va. Right now it is hooked up to a regular monitor.
July 1st, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Kelly,
Probably the cheapest one you’ll find here. I just searched for “Latitude C640 screen” and found two LCDs, one for $85 and another one for $65. I think this cheap enough.
July 6th, 2007 at 3:24 am
Hi! I have successfully transferred LCD screen from Inspiron 6000 to Inspiron 6400 but I had to take along inverter and video cable. I really like this particular screen and I wonder if it likely to be compatible with other brand laptops? I plan to upgrade to a santa rosa laptop and don’t want to limit my choices to Inspiron 1520. Thanks!
July 6th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I ony Vaio FRV37 with possible moisture damage around the outer edge. I never had to clean the screen so I’m not sure if it is moisture. The damage- some spots with dark uneven middles that fade out then go dark at the outer edges - some are at least 1/2 inch in diameter. The extensive damage from right side across the top to left side and are darker at inside edge and lighter closer to bezel. All spots are very noticable on white background. I cannot find any examples of screen damage to compare. I need to know is this indeed water spots or LCD damage so I can fix it or replace it. I do have another undamage screen as replace but only as a last resort. Thanks for writing such an informative article.
July 8th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Cindy,
I don’t know. There is no way I can tell what is wrong without looking at the screen.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I’m not sure if it would even show up in a photo but I would be willing to try. Is there anyway to post the pics on here or link to them once I upload them to my laptop so you can see the spots and possibly identify the problem?
July 12th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Every body know, how I can convert my notebook LCD screen in a pc LCD ?
July 18th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Is a laptop with a crack lcd(accident) still safe to operate?? The computer still starts and operates as normal.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
My dughters Inspiron 6000 has the black screen problem with (very) faint image. How can I tell if it’s the backlight or inverter which is bad and can the backlight be changed on this model without the horror story above ? Thanks for any help you can give, a local repair shop is quoting £180 for a fix !
July 21st, 2007 at 7:29 am
So, I disassembled the screen, and found that there are blotches on the two layers nearest to the screen.
I would say it is mould: roundish, separate a.s.o.
Could someone advice on how to clean these transparent layers, please.
Another problem I have is that one of the sreens just does not work, that is to say the backlight is fine, but no image. I am sure that the inverter and the cable to the screen is OK, as they work properly with another screen.
Can I try to repair this. If yes, where to start with the diagnosis?
July 21st, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Jocelyn,
Yes, it’s still safe to operate but the crack will not go away by itself.
July 21st, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Paul,
You cannot tell without testing the laptop with a known good inverter board. If it doesn’t help, probably you have a faulty backlight lamp. The service manual for your laptop has step-by-step instructions for taking apart the LCD assembly. Replace the inverter board first, you can find a new inverter here for about USD35.
August 4th, 2007 at 11:52 am
dear sir
my laptop is (Dell D600) P_4
my problem is that my laptop is ded.
the battery charge is full.
2nd that when i connect the laptop with power charger.the charger is auto off.
plz tell me this problem.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Hi, I would appreciate any help.
I have an ACER TRAVELMATE 2300. In the “screen” are appearing some “thin” lines (vertical), different colors (green, red, blue)
Which could be the problem?
I know that the monitor is very delicate so I am worried that this damage can be irreparable?
I would like to know if these could be problems with the video card or the LCD? and if could be easy to repair?
Thanks
August 13th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
JOHN T,
Here’s my other post:
Laptop has bad video on the LCD screen. What is wrong?
Take a look at the example 2. Does it look like your screen. If it does, most likely you have a faulty screen. You’ll have to replace the screen in this case.
Test your laptop with an external monitor. If the same vertical lines appear on the external screen, you have a problem with the video card.
If vertical lines appear only on the internal LCD screen, most likely you have a bad LCD screen.
August 14th, 2007 at 3:30 am
I dropped my laptop about couple of months ago. the top corner of frame is cracked. i turned on computer a thin line bluish/white vertical from two inches from the edge. it ran ok. its starting to get larger due to opening and closing the laptop. it is a hp new model. when i hold the screen tight the line does get thiner. please help
August 14th, 2007 at 5:18 am
hi!
I’m in trouble with a lcd:
starting the pc, nothing appears and when there is the tipical “choose user” window, the monitor is an half blue and an half sithout anything (just dark).
In your opinion is this a question of the lcd or of the inverter?
thank you,
Giuseppe
August 14th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
giuseppe,
If the LCD screen lights up and you can see an image on it, even though the image is completely garbled or distorted, the problem is not related to the screen inverter. When the inverter goes bad the LCD will not light up at all.
From your description it’s hard to understand what you see on the screen but here are a couple of hints for you.
You’ll have to test your laptop with an external monitor connected to the laptop VGA port. Set the laptop to output video on the external screen. If both internal and external screens display the same bad image, most likely you have a problem with the video card. If this defect appears only on the laptop LCD but no on the external screen (external screen works fine), then most likely your laptop has a defective screen.
August 16th, 2007 at 10:14 am
I have an HP zd7249. My screen is not functioning properly. When the computer is on, the screen is dark, but I can see that a light, which I assume is the backlight, is actually lit. From what I have read here, that would indicate that the CCFL and the inverter would be fine. I should also note that I have connected the laptop to an external monitor, and I get a perfect image. What do you think my problem is?
August 17th, 2007 at 10:19 am
I’m using a Dell XPS M140. About 8 months ago I replaced the LCD screen. Currently when the laptop is running off the battery the screen will stay lit for about two mintues and then go dark. You can still see the image in the background. When running off the AC cord the LCD will remain lit. I was wondering if this is something that I did incorrectly upon install or if I have an off setting somewhere. Thanks.
August 18th, 2007 at 1:59 am
I was running from my car to front door wile it was storming and some rain drops somehow got in the lcd screen. I have a Compaq Presario V300 made by HP and it is basically new and is a great system. As soon as I got inside and noticed the damage, I looked up on google “I got water in my laptop screen”. This was the first site and it worked great!!!! I read through and followed all directions (my lcd is connected to the laptop a little different though). It worked perfectly and I was able to get all the rain water out before it was able to dry and stain. I recommend this to anyone with the same problem. Just like the directions say, be very careful though! THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
August 18th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
MikeD,
I assume it’s not a software/settings relate problem.
Could be a connection issue between the motherboard and the screen. First, I would try reseating the video cable connector on the motherboard, it’s easier to access this one. Second, I would check the connection between the video cable and the LCD screen. To access this one, you’ll have to open up the display assembly and take a look on the back side of the screen. Make sure the video cable is plugged in correctly, all the way inside the socket.
If reseating the cable doesn’t help, I would try replacing it.
August 19th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Hello,
I’ve cleaned my laptop (an HP nx9105), like I do as usual, with a special product for screen and pc (a foam).
Some product have entered under the screen and I have now a white light transparent stain at the bottom left corner.
Do you think I can dismount the screen to clean it ?
Regards
August 20th, 2007 at 6:51 am
>i turn on the power, the Caps-Lock and Scroll-Lock lights turn on, >and so do the power and HDD lights. about 5 or so seconds later, >the thing powers off
dear Wajih ur Rahman
im my case (inspiron 8100, same symptoms) it was short circuit on the mainboard, precisely there was very tiny coppaer braid wire which was stuck in the memory module socket and had probabyl also contact to the main board. after removing this everything was just fine again,
greeting, altaa
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:26 pm
hi,
a few weeks ago a family member left my laptop in a postion where no air could come out of the ventilators. when i discovered this my laptop was really hot. Now my laptop will begin to heat up and won’t cool down unless i shut it off. Also, my computer screen doesn’t look right. It’s hard to see, especially on darker backgrounds. how can i fix this?
August 25th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
My DV1000 screen went dark (with faint images of the screen) 2 weeks ago - I ordered a new inverter (from invertercentral.com) that was supposedly compatible with my DV. Replaced the inverter and found out that the old one didn’t have the exact same number as the new one.
The screen powered up, worked fine for about 2 days - now back to dark/faint.
Is this an inverter problem (still)? or is this a backlight problem? or neither? What should I do?
August 26th, 2007 at 8:37 am
How do you access the motherboard to install a CPU? Any ideas?
August 26th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Melissa,
First of all, clean the heatsink/cooling fans with compressed air. Spray air inside the air intakes on the bottom until the cooling module is clean. It’s possible that your cooling module is completely clogged with dust and the laptop overheats because of that.
You said the screen doesn’t look right. Does it happen only when the laptop is hot? How about video on the external monitor, it looks bad too?
August 26th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Jeff Trost,
At this point it’s hard to tell which one is causing the problem. Your laptop worked fine for 2 days after you replaced the inverter board, so I would try replacing the inverter board again. It’s possible you purchased a defective inverter board.
Make sure the lid close switch (button witch turns off the backlight when the display is closed) is clean and it works when you press on it with your fingers. A dirty lid close switch might get stuck inside and the backlight will not turn on even after the display is open. Clean the switch.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Joe Clatch,
On witch laptop? Take a look here - laptop service manuals.
August 27th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
How I will replace the LCD backlight of my laptop DELL inspiron 510
Thank you.
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Hello, I dont know if this is the right post to ask questions, but this is the problem:
Laptop was working fine until one day LCD screen shows Solid white color. I checked external video and everything was perfect. How could I fix this?
September 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I have question about removing all the films fron an Inspiron 6000 LCD screen and replacing them. First, is there anywhere I can get new film sheets? Second, when I put everything back together, is there a schematic on the placement of the film sheets and/or does anyone know what order they are supposed to be in? This is a used laptop that I aquired and someone has already taken the LCD completely apart. All the parts are there and there are no visible scratches or anything like that but I notice that the clear plexiglass panel is thicker on one edge than the other. I am going to assume that that is because it sits on the backlight but I really want to know before I start in on this. I have the film sheets (Background?) laid out like they came to me but if I could find a schematic showing which one goes in first, second, etc. I would be in heaven.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Ivan,
It’s possible that the video cable got pulled from the connector on the back of the LCD screen and is not making a good connection with the screen. Reseating this connection might help, I would try it first.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Jon,
You can get them from another screen, I don’t think you can buy them separately.
Yes, I believe these transparent layers has to be placed in the order they were removed. If someone has already taken the LCD screen completely apart and didn’t assemble it back the way it should be, probably your are screwed. I think you’ll have to find a new screen.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Hi, I have a problem with my laptop, recently I turned on my laptop and the screen stays plain white, I could hear the sound of windows started, but it stays white, if I remove the power cable, the screen will start dimming, on the other hand, I tried to test the LCD screen on my brothers Identical laptop and it WORKED wonderfully, when tried to put it back to mine, it’s WHITE! this is frustraiting! anybody please help me..
September 9th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Rebel_X,
Your LCD screen works fine with another laptop, so there is nothing wrong with the screen. Apparently, you have a problem either with the video cable or the motherboard/video card.
Test the video cable from your laptop on your brother’s laptop. If the video cable is fine, I would suspect the motherboard/video card.
September 10th, 2007 at 7:30 am
The lid catch on my Compaq Evo N600C is broken; I have obtained a damaged N600C screen with a good catch system. However, I cannot discover how to separate the screen form the bezel so I can remove the catch system. I have removed all screws I can see, but the top left and left side will still not separate.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Gerald Millward,
Sometimes HP glues the LCD bezel to the screen with double-sided sticky tape. In cases like this I usually insert a piece of plastic (guitar pick, credit card, library card, etc…) between the bezel and the screen and move it alone the side to separate both parts. Be careful with the screen.
September 14th, 2007 at 9:49 am
I have a Dell Inspiron 9300. The screen would appear fine when only when pressure was applied.
I took it apart and found the problem. On the left side of the LCD (screen facing you, back behind you), it has some flexible circuits that connect with the white tape. When one part doesn’t touch the white tape, the image is dark (or has vertical lines). Applying pressure connects the circuit to the tape.
OK, so apart from sticking my finger on the screen while I work, how can I ‘reconnect’ this?
Marc
September 15th, 2007 at 10:59 am
I was able to follow your directions and repair the inverter on my Toshiba Satellite P30. Your information was perfect. Thank you for allowing me to have the information to repair my laptop myself!!!!!!
September 15th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Mark,
This flexible circuit has a lot of very small connectors. I’m afraid you cannot fix it at home. Maybe you can put a piece of eraser between the screen and the screen top cover, so it always apply pressure on the screen? It’s just a wild suggestion but it might work.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Hello,
I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 with a wsxga+ lcd that is cracked and displays weird colors when turned on. I have tried it with an external monitor so I know the video card still works. Here’s the question: my buddy has a screen from a Dell Inspiron 1520 with the same resolution and he is willing to let me have it cheap. How can I find out if it is compatible? I don’t want to bother him and have him ship cross-country if it won’t work. I have conflicting answers from others who say it will work no problem and also that it won’t work because of the inverter. I’ve searched everywhere I could think of to no avail. Since you sound extremely knowledgeable, What do you think? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I doused my Inspiron 6000 with water and had water between the laminaire of the LCD. I tried all the stuff recommended by others, but in the end I did the exact same thing you did, except I cut the sealing tape and applied new when done. Mine is now as good as new.
A couple of tips. You need the right tools, and patience. Dont try to get along without a good quality 0 and 00 phillips, aluminum foil tape and mylar tape. To clean the various layers I used eyeglass cleaner wipes, and changed them often. The alcohol in them kills any organisms, and they are lint free. The LCD itself is relatively simple, and more durable than everyone seems to let on. Take your time and roll the layers over as you clean them so you dont mess up the order. An ice tray will allow you to sort the screws. Make sure the LCD is properly supported all the way across its surface on a book and soft cloth, and dont do this when tired or upset. By the way I cleaned the LCD panel too, and it caused no damage whatsoever. Good luck to all. JimA
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:32 am
I have a toshiba portege a100 12.1 inch laptop with a cracked lcd. Is it possible to use the lcd from an m100 12.1 inch and transplant it into the a100?
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I had a sploshy screen on the bottom right corner of my Laptop, due to spilling fluids on the laptop, it showed up as super bright patches on the LCD.
even though it was a Toshiba, I followed your instructions and cleaned off the fluids from the back of the backlight material and when I re-assembled it, the patchy bits were gone!
My first time taking apart an LCD too.
Thanks dude, you Rock! (great “How To.”)
Now my screen is clean and clear again!
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Rodney Calkin,
Can you open up both laptops and compare cable connectors on the back? If both connectors are similar this replacement might work.
September 24th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Both the cable connectors are the same. 20 pins. However, I have not purchased the screen from the m100 as I do not know if it will fit. The A100 has 2 circuit boards attached to the screen and the M100 screen only has 1. I am asking so as to know if if should purchase the M100 screen online from auction.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Hi i have a dell D600 latitude and the front cover is very badly scratched when you removed the lcd could you have easily removed the front lid cover as i want to change mine to a nice new lid/cover but i dont know how to go about it is it easy to change the fron cover can you advise on how i could do this please many thanks
September 27th, 2007 at 4:53 am
Rodney Calkin,
I don’t know if the screen from M100 will work on A100. I’ve tried to research online but it looks like both screens have different part numbers and they might require different video cables. If I would be you, I would search for the original A100 screen replacement. Find the part number on the back of the LCD screen and search by the part number. It will help you to avoid unnecessary waist of money.
September 27th, 2007 at 4:59 am
J Nye,
There shouldn’t be a problem replacing the front cover, I believe you are asking about the palm rest. Here are instructions for taking apart your laptop. Go to the palm rest part.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:15 am
I have a cracked screen on my dell d410. I was able to replace the lcd, but when i booted up, the screen showed white. Is there something wrong with the inverter or video cable?
September 27th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Gary,
How about the original cracked screen, was it white too? Even though the screen is cracked you still can see part of the image, right?
Test the laptop with the cracked screen again and see if you can get image. If you get it with the old (cracked) screen but not with the new one, probably your new LCD is bad and you’ll have to replace it.
It also could be just a bad connection between the video cable and the screen. Reconnect the video cable on the back of the screen, it might help.
October 4th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Thank you so much for your detailed instructions on taking about the lcd..Dell didn’t send any instruction with the replacement and this was my first time attempting this…I was able to follow the instructions without wrecking anything….and now my user is happy happy happy!!!! Thanks again~!
October 6th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
See photo at this link
Disregard the blurry picture. That’s my lack of photography skills. Instead, please tell me what’s making any LCD I connect to this laptop display images (including BIOS screen) 4 times. Despite the bad photography, the 4 images are perfect representations of the 1 image that is supposed to be seen on the display, i.e. no blurriness or dimness. External monitors show the 1 image perfectly.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
[…] removed the screen bezel and connected my test backlight […]
October 18th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
this might be the wrong place, but you guys seem to know about this stuff, but … is it possible to rip the lcd off a dead laptop and with some messing about, get it to act as a standalone lcd vga monitor ?
October 18th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
roy,
I doubt that you can do it, at least I don’t know how.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I have one Dell Latitude 600 and one Latitude 610.
I want to use my D600 screen on my Dell 610 (D610 screen has 3 cracks over it, that’s why I want to change screens). Every thing looks the same when I take it apart, except one thing. The cable from my D600 has more wires connected to the screen. The socket itself looks the same, so I can move the cable from D600 to D610 or vice versa. But when I boot the D610 with the D600 screen, I have tiny colourful strips all across the screen. It doesn’t matter witch cable I use, same result. The screen cables has a tag, the D600 has CSSWJ.Wanshih REV.3A 04/03/15 DD0JM1LC0000 and the D610 CSFFOL.Foxconn REV.3A 06/01/03 DDJM5BLC107. Can I do anything to make this work?
October 24th, 2007 at 9:46 am
i spllied something on my lapop now it goes on fer a few seconds then turns off
its a dell latitude c610 that i bought off ebay it works fine (except for three spots of discoloration on the screen) but i digress
i spilled a small amount of diet coke on it towards the left side of the keypad. now when i try to turn it on all the lights come on for about 5-8 seconds then they turn off and no activity on the screen.
Can anyone tell me how to fix this or what to look for when i take it apart?????? chris_currie1@hotmail.com
October 25th, 2007 at 2:15 am
my laptop is Compaq tha problem is if i power my laptop lose tha power then i power again he lose again in your experience what tha probem of my laptop
October 25th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Chris,
Can anyone tell me how to fix this or what to look for when i take it apart?Look for corrosion on the motherboard. Apparently the motherboard has been damaged by coke.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Problem: LCD Blackout.
I don’t even get a ghost (faint) image. But the external monitor works just fine with the laptop. Its an Inspiron 2200 (2years old).
When the laptop is switched on the LCD shows a dark gray light (for less than a second) and then turns black. Earlier it used to flicker and come back but one day it just went black and is same since then.
Since there is not even a ghost image, culprit should not be either a bad inverter or CCFL backlight. Am I right?
Now, assuming that I am correct in the above assumption, it could be the video cable or the LCD screen/circuit itself. I have removed and replugged the video cable but nothing happens. Is there a way I can guarantee a faulty video cable without trying another one? (i suspect the answer to be no)
Now the final question, I am willing to buy a new LCD screen for my notebook and its available on ebay (and a few other sites). But is it possible that its not the fault of the screen at all? Could it be the circuit on the motherboard between the video card and the LCD connector on the motherboard that is breaking the signal? I ask because if this is the case then even buying a new screen wouldn’t help.
Waiting for a response with a half-dead laptop