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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
February 28th, 2010 at 4:37 am
Hi cj2600, Thanks for the reply.
My laptop is working fine (video) when connects to external monitor.
Thanks,
KiranKumar
February 28th, 2010 at 4:31 am
Hi cj2600, Thanks for the reply.
My laptop is working fine with external monitor.
Thanks,
KiranKumar
February 27th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
KiranKumar,
I’m asking if the laptop works fine with video on the external monitor.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Hi cj2600, Thanks for reply.
cj2600: Disconnect the AC adapter, remove the battery and wait for a few minutes. Now plug in the AC adapter and try turning it on again. Will it start?
KiranKumar: I tried the same but no luck.
cj2600: Can you start the laptop with video on the external monitor?
KiranKumar: When I connect the laptop to external monitor it is working fine?
Thanks,
KiranKumar
February 27th, 2010 at 11:22 am
KiranKumar,
It sounds like you might have two different problems.
I’m not sure why the laptop will not turn on when you press on the power button, but turns on from the remote.
Disconnect the AC adapter, remove the battery and wait for a few minutes. Now plug in the AC adapter and try turning it on again. Will it start?
Can you start the laptop with video on the external monitor?
February 27th, 2010 at 11:08 am
Hi, The site is very good.
I am using the HP Pavillion dv2840se laptop from past 2 years. i never face any problem till now.
Two days back I shutdown the laptop normally after my work. After 2 hours I tried to start the laptop but the power button and HP quickplay buttons are not working. So I tried to start the laptop with HP quick play remote. From remote it is starting but my screen is black. I noticed that if i look at my screen from an angle with an external light, I can see the icons and everything. What may be the problem.
Thanks in advance,
Kiran
February 21st, 2010 at 12:40 am
Hi,
I have an HP DV1016AP laptop that dates back from december 2004.
While it is still running fine, the image is getting uncomfortably dim.
I assume that it may be the backlight bulb getting too old…
what should I look for before spending money to replace this bulb? Could the dimming be caused by something else?
In fact, it is not so dim I cannot work, but dim enough that working in low light conditions, or for long periods of time is uncomfortable.
I noticed this when I worked simultaneously on anoth laptop and noted its display was considerably brighter.
Thanks for your input and advice.
Jean
February 10th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Jason Fason,
You can search on eBay.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
gfrobe,
You are correct, if the external video works fine, the problem is not related to the video card.
You’ve done everything correctly and I think replacing the LCD screen would be the next logical step.
I don’t think so. You replaced the video cable and reseated connectors. I don’t think this is connection related issue.
Most likely it’s either bad backlight or failing LCD controller board. In both cases the LCD screen has to be replaced.
February 8th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Hi all. I’ve got a Compaq NX7010 with a flickering screen. I used to be able to tilt the screen a bit and the problem would fix itself but eventually it’s gotten worse. I had a pinched LCD wire and thought that was problem but replacing it did nothing. I then tried changing inverter but again, no luck. I’m assuming I might need to change LCD but am a bit nervous about shelling out the money if that isn’t the problem. I don’t have any pinkish tones and the screen itself, even when flickering, is quite bright so I’m questioning whether the backlight is the problem.
Have hooked the laptop up to an external monitor and all is fine so I’m ruling out the video card.
What say all the experts out there? Does it sound like a new LCD will fix the problem or could it be something else, i.e. maybe connection between motherboard and LCD?
Thanks.