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!
January 4th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Hi – I’ve been experiencing problems with the backlight on my Acer Aspire 5732Z. Looks like pretty common symptoms.. backlight seems to be out, image does show on screen with a flashlight, external monitor display works fine. The laptop display has been getting dimmer these last few months, then a couple of weeks ago it went out. During troublshooting, it would come on from time to time, but only for a second or two at most. Then a couple of days ago, it came back on and stayed on. Interestingly, it was back to its normal, full brightness. Beautiful display. That lasted for a few hours, then the display went dark again. (can still see image though with flashlight.) Based on your experience and what you’ve seen, can you give me your opinion on whether it’s the inverter or the backlight lamp? Thanks so much for any thoughts you could provide.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:27 pm
Just one more comment.
The pictures I refer to are the pictures at this excellent page. Pictures are not numbered but I counted from the first and down. Hope this clarifies. My CCFL had also a thin transparent O-ring on the center. I guess it has some protection function or just for centering the tube so I transferred it to the new CCFL but now I have a brighter spot there. Not that disturbing though.
December 23rd, 2011 at 11:13 pm
Hi Marc,
The manual for T43 should be found here:
http://download.lenovo.com/ibm.....9t2393.pdf
If not, google T43 hardware reference manual
The manual only include pictures how you take your T43 apart but not how to take the LCD assembly apart. They assume you buy a new LCD assembly as a whole and replace it and that is the safe way to go. You might anyway need it if your surgery fails. However, if you are prepared for the more expensive solution, then you can always try.
I’m not sure, but possibly the T42 and T43 have more or less identical displays. My display had the Samsung LCD with 1400×1050 dots. The reflector is just thin metallic so you might be able to bend it back even if it’s not perfect. I was able to change my CCFL without removing the reflector as I took it out where the plastic light leader goes in (was removed). Yes, there are many steps that can go wrong in the disassembly so that’s why I added my own experience and thoughts. I bought the small bag with tape (never used) from LCDparts where I also bought the CCFL and a spare cable (wrong type). I don’t think you can find a new reflector unless you can get a destroyed LCD and can take it from there. Try contacting your local computer repair shop and ask if they have one for you, or it might be possible to do your own reflector using aluminium foil and tape. Could be worth trying.
Good luck Marc.
December 21st, 2011 at 1:33 am
Bo in Finland, 2 questions if I can. My machine is a T43, and I did find the hw maintenance manual online, but that does not include picture like the ones you are referring to. Can you advise where I can find the detailed pictures you are referring to? Also the metallic reflector is somewhat bended after I dismantled it (not read your stuff upfront
. I noticed it was glued with double-sided tape to something, but not sure whereto. Where did you get the very thin double-sided tape, and do you know if the metallic reflector can be purchased online (tried to find but could not)?
Thank you!
December 18th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
My own story
The owner of this site has my permission to reuse any part of my text in the above document if he so wish.
First few words of warning.
This is difficult to do even for an experienced technician.
I succeeded after few trial and errors and it took me one full weekend. Buy also the inverter and try that first, it’s really worth a try.
Patient: Thinkpad 42
Symptoms: Black screen but you can see a faint picture if you light the LCD with external light.
The external monitor port works well.
There can be a very short blink at start-up when the backlight tries to go on few seconds after pressing the on button.
Bought
CCFL tube, preferably ready soldered with correct cables although I did not find soldering was tricky. (I have quite much experience of hand soldering so the ready made could be your choice)
Inverter
extra bag of silicon isolators, tape and foil (I never used it but it’s good to have if you need)
Tools you might need
Canned compressed air or the kind of good quality handpump for removing dust from photo gear or film
Sharp knife or scalpel
Fine and strong pincett (tweezers)
Soldering Iron good quality
Extra solder flux for the CCFL cable in case it’s partly destroyed as mine was
Dust free room if you have
Good rubber gloves for handling the screen layers
Good quality sharp side cutter for cutting the CCFL to correct length without shocking/cracking the glass as some more heavy duty side cutters can do.
PH0 and PH1 (Phillips) cross head screwdriver
A good microscope or magnifying glass
Plenty of space
A camera with macro to take pictures of your steps so you later remember how to assemble things. One problem I found was that it takes many weeks to get the spareparts and then you have forgotten what screw should go where.
Making notes is important too.
Picture 1
I basically followed the IBM hardware manual for all disassembly until I had the bare LCD screen as can be seen in the first picture. It’s possible to disassemble only the LCD and leave the laptop as it is but remove the battery and AC-power first.
At this point it’s good to clean carefully the whole LCD assembly and particularly the edges around the LCD so no dirt or dust is sucked in later when you disassemble it.
The cleaner the better. Mine was quite dirty when I started.
Picture 2
I removed all sticky foil and tape see on the second picture.
It’s possible to only remove half and leave the largest parts untouched.
Here I used the sharp knife to open a corner and then used a small pliers to carefully lift the tape/foil.
Picture 3
My T42 had a short cable so there was no tape holding the end.
Picture 4
Yes, I agree with the text.
Unscrew the board (2 screws) using PH0 crosshead driver
I used a small screwdriver to lift the circuit board as close to the glue-strip as possible
while holding down the plastic frame that bends. The glue stayed at the pcb in my case and there are two such strips at the bottom end.
Never try to remove the circuit board completely from the LCD. Trust the red text or you have trouble.
Picture 5
Picture 6
I agree.
The metal frame will follow the LCD layers with the circuit board attached.
Picture 7
Use rubber gloves to avoid fingerprints and dust on the layers.
Picture 8
This is a critical step
Once you separate the layers the dust is your enemy more than ever.
Use gloves as it’s impossible to hold thin flexible layers at the edge only.
Keep the rest (bottom part) laying down or leaning to some support if its on the side as in the picture.
Picture 9
Yes keep it leaning to a wall or other support to minimize dust exposure. The circuit board will just stay as in the picture as it’s still attached to the LCD-layer. Never try to remove the board. I did not count but what you see in this picture is maybe three layers.
First the protective layer you normally can touch on your screen (now against the wall)
then one or two LCD layers that are almost transparent (against the camera)
Be careful so it’s not falling.
Picture 10
Don’t use bare fingers as in the picture. I did and got hard to remove fingerprints.
I could move 3 more layers at this point but only after removing two metallic clips one at each side.
These layers has a small ear at each side near the clips that also has a small hole for a pin to better orient it.
I used a tiny screwdriver to carefully lift the clips near the small locks (2 locks each). They did bend a little but came off fairly easy and I could bend them back.
The remaining thicker and harder light layer has two small plastic ears holding it in the plastic frame. Bend the frame carefully outwards to release the light layers ears.
Make note how this layer is laying against the CCFL in the bottom end and surrounded of the metallic reflector. When you assemble this again it’s important that the metallic reflector is outside of this layer on both sides. The light from the new lamp enters the edge and goes inside the thicker layer and distributes evenly under the LCD.
I made a mistake here and had to repeat the whole thing as I only got light at the bottom of the LCD.
Imagine the reflector as a U where the lamp is in the bottom and “pressed” by the light-conductor layer and inside the sides of the U.
The thicker layer is easily very static so don’t try to wipe it with anything. Use compressed air to remove dust.
Finally there is a thin white plastic reflector that should just reflect all light through the front. This reflector is not allowed to be above the CCFL as it will then block the light.
Picture 11 … 16
Now it starts to be easier
Just remove and replace the faulty lamp.
Be carful with the cables so you don’t destroy the isolation. Remember, this is high voltage.
I did not have the black shrink tube, only the white silicon end holder and I think this made it easier to assemble (not so thick).
Picture 17
Here you see the small reflector that must be surrounding the thicker layer with the lamp inside.
Picture 18
Good idea to mark and for a while I thought it is important how the CCFL should be oriented (+/-) as the original had a dark dot at the pink wire. I could not find any dot on the new CCFL and it
worked so I guess it’s not important how to “polarize” it. What is important is to cut it to the same length as the old CCFL so it fits inside the holder in case you solder it yourself. I cut it as close as I could to the original length with the sharp end cutter and resoldered the old cables.
Here I had a problem as the white end was partly destroyed near the solder as it had been bent few times too much.
Maybe by me or from the factory. This also means that if you solder you should orient the soldered cables so you don’t need to twist them later and as they go in the same direction out from the holder. Check this before you try to reenter the white silicon ends.
Don’t solder too near the glass and not more than 1-2 sec to avoid cracks in the glass.
I forgot to wear rubber glows at this point but maybe it’s not that bad. It will get hot but not like a car lamp.
As I had to cut 5mm from the white cable I also had to peal off the isolation that was more difficult than I thought.
After removing the isolation the copper wires was very dark with oxide and difficult to solder so I had to scrape them free from oxide as good as I could and then try again with fresh flux.
Obviously these are special cables to withstand high temperature and high voltage but not so easy to solder.
Last picture
You should definitely try to test the LCD before starting the assembly. Failing to do so and you might end up just like me and having to repeat the whole thing.
Just be careful again with the wiring so you don’t make a short or connect anything to metal by mistake.
Also the inverter and CCFL has high voltage so good distance to ground and other conductors.
You can test the laptop without battery and only AC supply and without the LCD (?).
You only need to connect the LCD cable between the laptop and the inverter (I think).
Check and double check before hitting the power button.
If you also need the LCD connected then it’s better to test after partial assembly.
Assembly
Basically the opposite order but with few remarks.
Use the compressed clean air to remove dust before you re-place any layer. Start with the white reflector layer at the bottom seen also from the backside. This layer must be under the lamp and reflector (my mistake from above).
Next the thick light conducting layer. I held it at maybe 45 deg and pushed it towards the CCFL and then laid it down so it basically opened up the “U” and slipped in.
Check for dust and then let the ears slip into the bottom plastic holder by pressing the sides of the holder carefully apart. Check again for dust and now place the three layers with ears (check that it’s in correct order) align the small holes and pins at the sides and re-place the small clips so all three ears are inside the clip. Check again for dust and now place the sensitive LCD with it’s circuit board and metal frame.
Again this is best done at the side with the circuit board at the bottom. After checking for dust start snapping the clips together carefully at the sides.
I had some problem that the top (near the circuit board) did not fully fall to place so what I did was to push the LCD from the front layer under the frame until it came in proper position for the final clips to engage. At this point it’s not so critical anymore so the whole assembly can be handled more “roughly”.
Connect the LCD cable and secure it with the tape.
If it was not possible to test the CCFL before, then this is the time.
Check now for dust/dirt/light etc.
Rest should be easy if you managed so far.
Good luck with your “surgery”!
Bo in Finland, now typing this on a brand new HP EliteBook 8540w with poor keyboard. The space bar works 9 times of 10 and F5 works almost before I think about touching it.
Happy to have my old Thinkpad back.
ps. Thanks for good and clear instructions that made me dare to try.
December 8th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
@ Marco,
Probably this is not the CCFL related problem. The screen lights up, so the screen surgery was successful.
If all you get is solid white screen, it means the screen is not getting data signal from the motherboard.
Did you transfer the video cable too? Or the screen was working fine with both cables?
Check connection.
Check out this post: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....t-working/
December 8th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
I have a Dell Vostro 1510 and a Dell Latitude D830. The Vostro had a cracked screen. The Latitude had a redish screen tone. I used Latitude D830 for parts and replaced the screen on the Vostro. It worked just fine but the same problem persisted, a redish tone while booting up and a clean image after 2min or so. I figured it was the CCFL so I took the risk and tried changing it without reading your instructions yet. I could not pull the CCFL out of the frame so I used the Vostro origal screen frame. I then mounted the Latitude’s screen with the “Do not touch” sticker onto it. It all went fine. I turned on the laptop and all I got is white light. I have no image. Both screens are identical on the cable plugs. I could swap screens back and forward, so I know compartibility is not a problem. It worked before. Is the CCFL not a good match for this good working screen? The external monitor works good too, before and after the screen surgery.
December 7th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
@ Taz,
1. Probably the backlight not seated correctly.
2. It’s possible you damaged the LCD controller board (it has sticker “do not touch”).
I think the best solution now will be buying a new screen.
It’s difficult to replace the backlight lamp perfectly even for an experienced technician.
December 4th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
I replaced the ccfl on the lcd panel for dell 600m. However, I messed up something because I habe two issues:
1. Display has shadows i.e. not same brightness. Generally darker than normal. The area where the bulb in has areas of bright light but not everwhere. Did I place the filters wrong way or the ccfl bulb not seated in correctly? Doesn’t make sense why it is diagnolly darker.
2. The right side has image cutting off. It is straight. So in Windows the X to close windows in IE is partially shown.The area after the cutoff is white.(Straight and consistent). I opened the lcd few times and All filters seem to be straight.
Any help will be apprecited.
November 14th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@ NomadicWolf,
You can find a good seller on eBay. Just search for “laptop CCFL bulb” and then select a reputable seller. Check out their ratings/reviews.
It’s safe to buy from a reputable seller on eBay.