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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February 7th, 2010 at 2:49 am
I do not have a solder. So where can I buy a ccfl with the ends already connected?
February 6th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Nice A very helpful page thanks for the info
January 31st, 2010 at 6:05 am
Steve, test the inverter first. Get a new one or a known working one and put it in. Installing a new inverter is much easier. You have to remove the inverter anyway in order to replace the backlight, so might as well replace the inverter first.
I do have my own question. I have to replace the backlight and am thinking of buying a ccfl with the ends already connected because I have no soldering experience. Any foreseeable problems with that approach?
January 25th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Hi How can i tell if its the back light or the inverter that is the problem? my screen is ok for a few moments and then goes real dark after initial start up and stays that way. please help
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Thanks very much for your helpful and clear guide. My first effort was disappointing, as the replacement lamp (pulled from a matching screen) is not as bright as it should be. I also got a few specks of dust on the reflector/screen, thanks to the reflector layers sliding out onto the table during handling. Next time, I think I’ll tape/glue the corners of the reflector layers.I also have a bright band across the bottom, beside the lamp, probably due to not reassembling the lamp/wires in the reflector exactly right. Also, I may design a holder for the LCD, layers, etc., to minimize dust getting onto things and to keep things in correct order/orientation. Next time will be better. Thanks again.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:15 am
Great advice from those that took the time to post their experience.
1. I found that using a razor blade to remove the boot was much safer and easier.
2. Using rubber gloves saved the screens from hand prints.
3. Investing a few dollars more for the repair kit is highly advised.
4. I have found that replacing the screen inverter at the same time will also save you time and money. The root cause for a black screen can be either the CCFL lamp or the inverter. Some would argue this, but without an inverter tester, you won’t know until you replace the bulb.
5. The white tape that keeps the backing secured on the screen does not stick very well once it’s removed, even as careful as you are. Buying a small roll is advised, but not necessary. The kit does not include the white tape.
6. Test the CCFL backlight before you install it back into position. Extreme care when putting the top metal bracket back over the lamp, and most of all, read what the other techs have posted. Use notes, it can be easy to install the the screen upside down. Will that make a difference? I did not find out.
December 24th, 2009 at 2:33 am
WARNING FRAGILE, FRAGILE, FRAGILE, this CCFL is much more fragile than you’d even think! Obviously it looks fragile but even the pressure to remove the rubber insulator could snap it. My old one showed signs that it might be repairable because there was a short on one end, but just a little scrape trying to get the melted insulator off to make a clean solder point snapped it like a twig. A little more playing with it and it snapped again just with a slight tap from my pinky finger. It’s best that I get a new one anyway cause it was a burned up mess on the end, but learn from this.. FRAGILE! Just assume that a toothpick is about 1000 times stronger.
December 19th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I just finished the repair and are writing this note from my repaired laptop. Thanks for the great guidance.
I used the repair help on “Troubleshooting laptop with backlight failure” and ordered myself a backlight with cable for the testing and could figure out quickly that the backlight was the problem.
Here are some experiences I would like to share:
1. I placed all the screws on a big sticky tape and put little paper stickers next to it with where they came from. If the location was not obvious I referred back to little sketches that I made with reference points. This was very helpful.
2. I second the recommendation of the gloves. It helps with the electro statics and more importantly you are not smudging anything.
3. Make photos and sketches of each step when you took something apart. This was very helpful in getting the things back together
4. Be very careful with removing the reflector. At the last part that needed to be disassembled I managed to brake the plastic frame at the corner. This is not critical because you can fit everything into the metal frame but it made re-assembly much more difficult.
5. The right tools are important to do the job right. Make sure that you have small screw drivers, a pair of tweezers and soldering equipment.
When I had everything apart, I found out that the problem was a broken soldering point at the backlight lamp. I was able to resolder it. I could push the rubber cover at the end of the lamp back, cut the cable, resoldered and pushed the rubber cap back. I got a backlight lamp with cable which made testing very easy but I could not fit this into my Dell 600m. The cables at both ends have not been soldered with the same angle which made it impossible to fit. I was glad that I could make my old lamp work.
6. Get a lamp without cables for the final replacement and solder them in. (Or one from a better source that fits …)
The job is quite difficult as stated before but it can be done with this good guide, the right tools, good documentation / organization of the disassembly process and PATIENCE. Overall, it took me 3.5 hours but as I said before, I took my time and “over-documented” to make sure that I get it back together. The results prove that I did it right. However, it would have been easier to get a used LCD on ebay for 60 USD. I just did it because my screen was spotless before it broke and I like to work on mechanical things on my cars, watches etc.
Thanks again for this great guide. I would not have been able to do it without it!
December 18th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Thank you so much for this guide! I just finished and the screen looks great! Just a tip for anybody considering trying this, WEAR GLOVES! I thought I would do okay without them, but ended up smudging the thing all up.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I have a problem laptop screen is dark on the right.
but when pressed on the left down corner lcd back to normal, if released back like that. What should I do thank you