Re: [tlug] Laptop repair: backlight

[Jean-Christian Imbeault <jc.imbeault@example.com>]

I think you're right about the inverter. My laptop has all the
symptoms you describe.

I actually had another problem with screen, 3 very thin vertical
lines, so I decided to take it apart yesterday to see if it might be a
lose contact. After a bit of fiddling I gave up since nothing I did
fixed the problem. The laptop was working fine the rest of the day and
only this morning did the screen give out. I'm hoping that means my
fiddling wasn't the cause :)

I'll head off to Akihabara today and hope I can find a cheap repair
place. I unfortunately don't feel confident enough to do the repairs
myself.

Jc

On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 10:27 AM,  <jep200404@example.com> wrote:
> Jean-Christian Imbeault wrote:
>
>> I've 4 year old IBM Thinkpad ... the screen decided to give out;
>> I get a picture but it is so faint as to be useless.
>
> Does your screen emit any light in a dark room?
> If not, the backlight is likely bad.
>
> If you hold a very bright flashlight up to the screen
> so that you are pushing light _into_ the screen,
> then it will diffuse through the diffuser and
> come back out through the rest of the screen, albeit dimly.
> If you do that and if the content on screen seems to work OK,
> albeit dimly, then the backlight is likely bad.
>
> If the backlight is not working,
> I would first check the inverter
> (high voltage power supply) for it first.
>
> I would look at capacitors on that inverter board.
> If the caps are bulged[1] and you know how to solder,
> the fix is very cheap.
>
> If the inverter board is bad, you can buy replacement
> inverter boards[2].
>
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
> [2] http://www.google.com/search?q=thinkpad+backlight+inverter
>
>
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