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.
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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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.