In this guide I will disassemble a laptop LCD screen in order to remove and replace the backlight lamp (CCFL).
Replacing the backlight lamp is not an easy task even for experienced technicians. If you do something wrong you will permanently damage the LCD screen and have to buy a new one. Proceed on your own risk and do not blame me. 
Some recommendations before you start:
1. Work in a clean room. You don’t want dust and lint inside your LCD screen.
2. Make notes, so you know how to assemble your screen back.
3. Take pictures.
4. Before you remove something, take a closer look at the part and memorize how it is assembled.
5. When you are assembling the screen, remove dust and lint with compressed air. Do not use cloth.
The backlight lamp (CCFL) is located inside the LCD screen, so we are going to take it apart. In this article I’m not going to explain how to remove LCD from a laptop, it’s been covered before.
Here some examples:
Removing LCD screen from a Dell laptop.
Taking apart IBM ThinkPad display panel.
Removing screen from Toshiba laptops.
Remove sticky tape and foil from the back of the screen and glue it somewhere so you can reuse it later, when you assemble the screen.
Removing tape from the backlight cables.
On my screen the green circuit board was glued to the plastic frame with a double sided tape. Carefully unglue the circuit board. Be very careful, do not flex or bend the circuit board.
The circuit board has been unglued.
Place the LCD screen on the side and start removing the metal frame witch secures the LCD to the plastic frame. There will be many latches on all sides of the frame, you can unlock them with a small screwdriver.
Continue separating the metal frame from the plastic base.
On the following picture you can see that frame, LCD with the circuit board and screen base have been separated. Be careful, do not touch internal components with your fingers. Handle all internal components by the sides.
Place the metal frame and LCD with the circuit board aside. You’ll need them only when you assemble everything back together.
There will be a few transparent layers inside. Carefully remove them from the screen base. Do not separate the layers, just put them aside together.
Keep everything organized, so you have no trouble assembling the screen.
Start removing the metal cover from the backlight lamp (CCFL).
The backlight cover has been removed.
The backlight lamp (CCFL) cables are routed through small plastic hooks.
Unroute the backlight lamp cables.
Now probably the hardest part in this disassembly process – removing the backlight lamp and reflector. The backlight lamp is secured inside the reflector so you have to remove both and then separate them.
Before you remove the backlight lamp and reflector take a closer look how it’s assembled and mounted to the screen base. Fitting the backlight and reflector back in place could be a very challenging task.
The reflector is glued to the screen base with a double sided tape.
After the reflector has been unattached from the screen base, you can start removing the backlight lamp. As you see on the picture, I marked the left side of the reflector with a red dot so I know where the red cable goes when I assemble everything back together.
The backlight lamp (CCFL) has been removed from the reflector.
In order to access the backlight lamp leads you’ll have to remove the rubber caps from both side of the lamp. I’m not sure if you can touch the backlight lamp with your fingers, so I would use rubber gloves.
Cabled on both sides of the backlight lamp are soldered to the backlight leads. In order to access the leads you’ll have to remove the black insulator on both side of the lamp.
Unsolder both cables from the old backlight lamp and solder them to a new one.
You can test the new backlight lamp (CCFL) before you install it back into the screen. Connect the backlight lamp into the inverter board and turn on the laptop. The backlight lamp should light up.
From my experience, on some laptops the backlight lamp will not light up until the video cable is connected to the LCD screen. In this case you’ll have to assemble the LCD screen and then test it.
You can search for a new CCFL backlight lamp here.
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April 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
KDL,
What was the original problem? Why did you replace both parts at the same time? Will it fail the same way even if you install the old inverter back into the laptop?
April 1st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
have the same prob as 99, everything worked like the guide says except its bright at the bottom and dims towards the top. Im going to try to redo it and make a better connection to the 2mm thick glass(?) and see what happens but does anyone know if maybe there’s another reason…thanks again for this guide and thanks in advance for a solution….please help im sure someone will come up with this problem also
March 26th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I replaced the inverter and the CCFL on my hp pavilion zv5000.
Now, the screen is still dark, except for a light band across the bottom, lighting up the “tray” area.
Does this suggest an error in installing or reassembling the LCD?
March 19th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
What’s your take on this, I have a Presario V2000 no backlight. So I ordered a inverter wasn’t the right model, screw holes were in the wrong place but I hooked it up and it didn’t work. Ordered from another company got one with the exact numbers as the one taken out, the light flashes only on the end with the pink wire for a split sec. and that’s it so it doesn’t work, the company sends out another one and it doesn’t do anything. So I ordered a new light, it didn’t fix the problem, then I ordered a new cable and that didn’t fix it either. I can see the system boot and everything in the LCD and with a external monitor connected. I even tried a few other lights I have. and with the one inverter they all do the same thing flash or nothing. Also the 2 with the exact part number have a blue LED that lights up after getting to the windows boot screen. Logic is telling me I have 4 bad inverters, I just don’t want to believe my luck is that bad. could it be some type of voltage issue with the lights?
March 16th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
For you people doing this, make sure you preserve the rubber insulators and install them cleanly on the new tube the same way they were on the old one.
The reason for this is the backlamps and their wires have a couple THOUSAND volts pumping through them and you need good insulation to hold back the lightning. A couple wraps of electrical tape will NOT work.
The small black plasticy insulation over the solder is heat shrink tubing, available at an electronics supply store.
The fat rubbery molded slip-on pieces that go over the heat shrink are silicone, rated for thousands of volts, and are the REAL insulators. Be gentle with these, do not cut or damage them.
Monisys sells a kit that contains the foil tape and extra silicone boots if you accidentally wreck them. Just be patient and careful.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:43 am
good helping this site for like me (laptop technitions)
March 12th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Is this for all laptops? I have an Inspiron 9100 and I am not sure if it is the same. I’d appreciate it if someone would reply ASAP. Thanks.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I recently (last summer) bought a sony vaio cr320e laptop. It fell off of my couch and started displaying what seems to be the symptoms of a broken backlight (i.e. see the screen working but the whole thing is dark). I have looked all over the web for sony components so I can replace it myself without spending 500 dollars at the store where I bought it. I was wondering if you can buy a generic ccfl of the same size and diameter as what is installed and have it still work; or is the ccfl manufacturer specific. It appears to me that the real control is in the inverter and the ccfl just puts off light from the voltage produced. any help is greatly appreciated.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Can anybody how distinguish which end is the (+)positive and (-)negative end of the CCFL lamp???
The CCFL lamp I have is the 2.0mmx370mm; and both end has no marking in them to help specify which is the (+)positive and (-)negative end.
Which end is for the shorter wire???
I would highly appreciated in advance.
March 5th, 2009 at 1:28 am
thanks alots……..
nice sharing and supports