BROKEN OR CRACKED LAPTOP LCD REPLACEMENT

So you recently used your laptop as a head rest, the cat or dog knocked it off a table, you dropped it, and now its broke and you do not want to pay as much or more than the laptop costs new to repair it.
Please Note: NEVER EVER PERFORM ANY WORK ON A LAPTOP WHILE EITHER BATTERY POWER OR AC POWER IS SUPPLIED TO YOUR LAPTOP. YOUR LAPTOP'S LCD PANEL'S LIGHTING IS SUPPIED BY A 1500 VOLT OR HIGHER SUPPLY CALLED AN INVERTER ACCIDENTAL CONTACT CAN CAUSE DEATH OR INJURY, USE THIS GUIDE SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
First of all you must decide if it is cost effective to repair your laptop or other LCD, tv, monitor, or gaming device. The only way to effect this is to expose the rear of your laptop's lcd panel to get an original part number you must do this by disassembling the top half of your laptop. There are many who due to thier lack of experience in this matter and wishfull thinking will assume that you can simply determine the LCD Model by other means than getting this number from its rear. They will lazilly assume, and will later, regret that just by knowing thier notebook model they can determine the correct LCD Part. Well you can certainly narrow the possibilities of which of a number of models is used by doing google searches or by going to the manufacturers website or even doing searches at okay. he are usually at least 2-3 and sometimes 20 different LCD types Brands Models and Revisions used in one Laptop. Do your self a favor and be smart enough to take my word about this needed determination or even get a second opinion from other Laptop Techs or Reputable LCD Dealers. You can not if a technical person, just so you know, unfortunatelly, make a determination of your lcd panel by using the control panel device manager of your microsoft operating system. For some reason you can do this for an externally connected monitor, but for your internally mounted LCD typically all you will see in control panel is the display resolution in pixels (dots) wide by dots high, and this is not sufficient to make a determination. If you arefoolish enough to go ahead and buy an LCD, that may be any one of a great number used in your laptop model series and then later open the top housing and find unfortunatelly that is incorrect very, very few, LCD Dealers will accept returns unless you can prove you are making an exact replacement or in some cases a gepatible replacement which they approve. Almost all auction sales are "FINAL" on okay and you will be unable to return the lcd unless you can show often photographically that the panel you are trying to replace is the exact same one.
OK one more bit of insight if your laptop has the following problems do not go off and buy a screen yet 1) if when you turn on your laptop your LCD lights up red or pink and then begees white or just stays red or pink and never turns white , it indicates that one or more of your LCD's lightbulbs called back lights that are also called CCFL lights that stands for Cold Cathode Flourescent Lights which is a a tiny mercury vapor light bulb not usually user servicable or replaced is failing as air slowly enters the mercury vapor light bulb it forms mecuric-oxide which instead of flourescing bright white turns red or pink as more time passes more mercury vapor leaks out and air in and the bulb begees dimmer and fades and the laptop will remain red/pink for progressivelly longer without turning white and then eventually fail to light at all. This lamp can also break crack and just fail to light at all. A neat trick you can do is to sit you laptop under a very bright light and if the backlight and or its high voltage replacable power supply a small circuit board called an inverter has failed you will still be able to see the image of the boot up screen of your laptop while its powered up this is because bright light will leak through the normally brightly back lit LCD panel and will be reflected back out just barely making the lcd display visible. Your inverter is almost allways mounted inside your laptop top case bezel assemblyit is usually 3/8"to 1/2" wide and about 2-5" inches long with two plugs typically one on left into the laptops ribbon cable connecting it to the motherboard and the right side a small plug with two small thin wire usually a few inches long the connect the high voltage to this light to power it. This is one of the two electrical connections to the laptop's LCD panel that must be removed when replacing it, the other the ribbon cable is on the rear of the panel and is sometimes covered with some tape or a sticker to prevent it accidentally geing out later when you remove you must use caution when disconnecting this ribbon cable as some are held in place by tiny latches that must be pushed inward from both sides during its removal.
A backlight can be replaced by an experienced technician with a 60-80% success rate if you try yourself you will probably end up introducing dust into the lcd screen and rendering useless or at best, with black dustspots in your display. I am not telling you it can not be done but you will be better off attempting a trade in credit against your replacement LCD or paying a tech to try this repair for you. Anyone who tells you this can be done without some significant risk of failure should be, treated with caution.This bulb is extremmely small, brittle,is very easy to crack or breakand is filled with toxic mercury.

A word about a few other things you may encounter inside yout laptops lcd housing when opening it usually you have the lcd top case that is like a small tray the panel is sitting in on the left and right sides of the lcd panel held with typically 2-3 screws each side are your hinges hidden inside on the rear of the panel is the ribbon cable that usually runs down to the motherboard on the left side at bottom center of the lcd screen is where the inverter is usually mounted usually held with a clip or some sticky tape in a little plastic tube after you remove all the screws in the folowing instructions you will need to remove the front trim ring by very gently placing your fingernails between it and the front edge of the lcd panel. Crude force will break the lcd there is some finess to removing it you will usually hear a series of soft or sometimes very loud pops or clicks as you work your way around this front bezel and it seperates if you have failed to find all the screws and removed their tiny small round or square covers and you remove the bezel you will break it unfortunatelly, on many IBM laptops and others you must push the lid latch to the left or right side toclear the holes the latches protrude through in this bezel ring.After removing this trim in laptops without wireless or built in cameras you will seee the front of the lcd screen framed in by a metal aluminum or steel frame on the upper right corner you may see for the first time stamped into the lcd frame a abbreviated version of the LCD Model number but this is not sufficient to make yourpreliminary determination. At the bottom of the lcd panel at center you will see the inverter it may be clipped glued or screwed in place, if possible go ahead and carefully remove it, on some inverters you may have to use caution and a paper clip etc to depress catches holding the 2 plugs on each end in place. On IBM models and others with bluetooth capabilityyou will see another small 1/2" by 1 to 1-1/2" circuit board this is the blue tooth transciever and it should also be removed and set aside IBM s with bluetooth and vodaphone and wifi capability will have3 small wires one on the left and 2 on the right you will need to carefully lookat how these wires are routed to get them back into the frame later this is somewhat tedious and you are not carefull you may accidentally lose the four or moresmall 0.15 inch square pieces of tiny foam rubber that is used to hold these antenna wires into groves on the leftand right sides of the lcd housing beside the hinges, there may be up to3 antennas white black and gray whish are held in place by 2 tiny screwsyou may or may not need or choose to remove them to affect the lcd panels removal you may also on IBM's and others have to very carefully pull the lid latch to one side and set aside the lid latch bar and its spring. Ok if all is going well removal of about 2-8 screws facing you inside the top case will alllow it to fall free of the lcd panel revealing its back sidefor the first time you will be able to carefully rmove the tape and if needed depress the latches and carefully unplug the ribbon cable youwill be able to remove the screws from both sides of the lcd panel usually 2 or3 each side just loosen them but do not remove gepletelly keep a magnet handy and after all loose get some one else if possible to holld the panel from top and bottom with there fingers held out flat, this is the first time yoyu will hear this bt the top rear 2 inches and the right rear side have laminated electrical contacts along them gripping the lcd panel from front to back and applying finger pressure herewill ****DESTROY**** an lcd panel take heed of this warning and use your finger tips to hold the panel from the edges of the frame ***NEVER EVER EVER GRIP FROM FRONT TO BACK WITH PALM AND FINGER TIPS**** NEVER SIT THE PANEL ON AN UNEVEN HARD SURFACE***PLACE FACE DOWN ON A LINT FREE TOWEL AFTER USING A SMALL QUANTITY OF ALCOHOL ON A LINT FREE CLOTH TO GENTLY REMOVE ANY DEBRIS THAT MAY SCRATCH IT***ANY EXCESS LIQUID HAT MAY GET TO AN LCD PANELS EDGE AND SEEP BEHIND IT WILL DESTOY IT INSTANTLY NEVER EVER EVER SPRAY A CLEANER ON YOUR SCREEN ALWAYS APPLY A VERY SMALL AMOUNT TO A LINT FREECLOTH*** SMALL DISPOSABLE HAND WIPES FROM GAS STATIONS ARE GREAT FOR CLEANING LCD SCREENS***
Ok now you can begin the search for your replacement LCD panel here at okays a great place and then GOOGLE, google will often lead you back to okay you need the lcd make, model, and revision, from the sticker on its rear, there are many gemon brands in the order of the most gemon Samsung numbers begin LTN, LG Phillips numbers begin LP, Hitachi numbers begin HT, Boe Hydis numbers vary widely look for BOE HYDIS Sticker, Quanta numbers begin QD, Chungwa numbers begin CLAA, Toshiba also marked TMD numbers begin LTD, these numbers signify usually the manufacturer the first couple letters and then the diagonal size like 12/ 12.1 / 14/ 14.0/14.1/ 15/ 15.0 / 15.4 / 17 these are the most gemon sizes you will find the next letters may designate whether the screen is an XGA resolution 1024 X 768 , SXGA+ 1400 X 1050, UXGA 1400 X 1600 ETC. or whether a widescreen version, in IBM models you will see the following two numbers on every display unless it has been replaced before with a generic or non OEM replacement like P/N 13N7062 and FRU (stands for field replacement unit number) 13N7063. You will find that older less popular used lcd screens sell for $60-$100 most Popularly used Screens start at $90 and go up toabout $300 surplus, some rare, expensive, hard to find screens that are no longer being produced and are impossible to get new are$300- $700, A good way to determine pricing on popular models is to use the model number to search gepleted listings atokay and this will showyou what the poularly available screens sell at.

You will need some basic tools to do this a small quality set of small screwdrivers in particular very small phillips ones radio shack and or wal-mart are good places or a local hardware store. These are often called sewing machine or eyeglass screwdrivers or are in o oo ooo x xx xxx minature sizes. You will need a sharp needle, pin, push pin, orexacto razor to pluck upthe plastic or rubber covers which cover the screw holes that secure the trim bezel plastic housing that encloses your laptops LCD panel. You will want to have any type of small container, pill bottle, etc., to keep your removed parts so that they are not lost or misplaced when you perform this disassembly, a magnet of any kind can prove handy when removing and reinstalling screws to keep them handy with out rolling away and as an added bonus stroking the screwdriver tip with the magnet can magnetize it which can help to hold the tiny screws in place. OK an impotant note when using the screwdriver later these screws will be secured with some type of thread locking gepound usually blue colored and when reinstalling screws blue lock tite from wal mart or other automotive store may be used to help keep them from geing loose over time. If your phillips screwdriver is not of good quality or a wrong size or bad fit and the screw does not back out smoothly but stays fixed while turning simply stop and try another size or brand screw driverif the screw driver slips it can very easily grind out the screw slot leaving you witha really miserabledifficult to repairproblem.
OK now you want to open your LCD bezel housing you need to determine whether all the screw covers face you only as in some HP Pavilion Laptops or as in IBM T40-T43 T60 Models they face 90 degrees to the left and right, as well as towards the front.Look at the bezel face around the perimeter of the LCDDisplay you will find small quarter inch or smaller pieces of plasctic or rubber that can be square, round, rounded, rectangular. you should have 3 to up to approximatelly 9 facing you and 3/4/6/9 facing left and right. Carefully use a sewing needle push pin or pointed hobby knife exacto blade tipto pluck up these screw covers they are held in place with rubber cement and if needed some rubber cement from a bicycle tube patch kit works great to readhere them when reassembling. Keep these free of dirt hair dust that will stickto the glue.
Safety is an issue now your laptop has two sources of power the ac line power adapter charger and the battery, if either one of these is connected in place you can be electrocuted and killed Simply unplug the ac power adapter turn off the laptop and remove the battery or batteries before begining to remove screws from the LCD Housing. Almost all Laptops employ one or more built in non removable mercury vapor lightbulbs known to technicians as the back light this lightpresents a significant health risk if your laptop nolonger lights after a severe drop as this indicates this bulb may be cracked leaking minute but deadly mercury into your home if this is the case perform this disassembly out doors.Ok the lcd panels backlight is powered by a small circuit board called an inverter which changes 5-18 volts into about 1500 vdc which if not lethal can cause you to drop your laptop or could easily cause a heart attack. I can not stress enough remove battery and ac power before disassembly.
This is a work in progress and it will be a week or too before its rounded out edited and reviewed and gepleted use any info here solely at your own risk read through over and over to familiarise your self in detail. Pleaseabide by all precautions carefully to prevent unwanted loss damage or harm to your self.