November 19, 2009

How to replace a Laptop Screen


How to take an LCD screen off of a laptop and reconnect a new one.
When the screen on a laptop breaks, it can be a very intimidating problem indeed for those who have never taken a laptop apart in the past before, In this Instructable i hope to dispel a part of that mystery in an effort to empower you so you can repair your own laptop next time it breaks.

Things you will need
a small phillips head Screw driver
a few small cups or containers (for the many screws on your laptop)
a small flat head screw driver (for the plastic clips on the top bezel)
and a Replacement screen ( the most expensive part, but if you look in craigslist you can get a broken laptop with a working screen fairly easy and replace your broken machine with the working parts from the other broken laptop) or you can go through your laptop manufacturer to order a new screen. (usually not cheap)
One more note. by perfoming these actions you will be voiding your warranty assuming you have any left on the machine. if you do have a warranty on the machine, just send it out to the Depot and get it fixed for free. if you have no more warranty then forget the above and get ready to get our hands dirty =D the laptops already broken any way what more can you do to it =P also, before touching any circuits or any thing its good to ground yourself to dispel any static electricity you may have on you. so touch some bare metal Or if you have it pull out your anti static strap and make good use of it.
step 1pulling screws




start by flipping your laptop over and Removing the Battery and every screw on the screen side of your laptop (remember to pull the screws that are hiding Under the battery as well)
Then you will remove a keyboard screw which is normally in the middle of the laptop (it will commonly have a small image of a keyboard near it to make things easier for you)
the last thing we will do is disconnect the Wireless antenna wires.
On the HP dv9000 series the wireless card is kept under the same plate as the Memory which makes things easy for us since it gives us a little more room.
locate which little plate is hiding your wireless card (it doesn't hurt to open them all up and see what's under them all any way since this is a learning experience)
once you have located the card with the black and antenna wires snaking away from it Note which wire goes to which side of the card (I'm not sure how important it is to re attache them properly since their just clipped wires and they don't close any circuit but its good to re attache things the right way the first time haha)
OK now were ready to go to the top side of the laptop.

step 2speaker bezel removal and annoying plastic clip step.




ok so with the computer off and battery pulled out of the unit, Press and hold the power button for 20 - 30 seconds to dispel any remaining power in the capacitors and then take the Speaker bezel off of the unit with your Flat head screw driver.
take your time and you wont break any of the plastic clips. we do want this unit to go back together when where done.

step 3screen screws and wires



Once you have removed the speaker bezel you will see (in my case) a total of 6 wires coming from the bottom of the screen and feeding into the laptop.

from left to right
Video cable, (the cable which controls all aspects of color and brightness on the lcd ..backlight and such) next will be 2 thin wires which control the 2 mics located by the webcam on this monitor
on the right side of the screen you have your wireless antenna wires and the webcam conroller wire, your replacement screen should have all of these in it already.
so you can simply disconnect the wires from the laptop and leave them attached to the screen.
if you do not have these wires coming from your new screen be concerned, you may have the wrong screen or simply a lesser model.
you can consider taking the laptop screen apart and running them up the sides (it can be quite a hassle unfortunately but is certainly do-able)
But back to it, go ahead and pull out the 2 - 3 or 4 screws connected to the Hinges of the laptop screen so you can lift it GENTLY from the laptop.
now with the monitor out of the way (but still tethered to the laptop through the antenna wires)
we can remove the Keyboard to do this, on the top of the keyboard you will notice 3 to 5 screws on the top of the keyboard go ahead and pull these and keep them seperate
(they will be a different color so they wont be to hard to keep seperate but it makes things easier if were dividing screws from the get go any way) then gently lift the keyboard slightly and pull upward (toward the screen) Then tip the keyboard so you can see underneath it and disconnect the cable attaching the keyboard to the laptop. dont be rough with this cable, it will only cause problems and more money if you break the keyboard cable while trying to fix your laptop screen... you might just throw the entire thing across the room in frustration =O haha we dont want that.

step 4snaking the antenna's



first thing you should notice after pulling the keyboard off is the track of the wireless antenna's
(its the only reason were going this deep atleast)
so go ahead and release the wires from their little track and clips, and then gently snake the antenna ends through the whole which allows them to connect to the wireless card on the bottom of the laptop. Be sure to remember how it snakes through if yours has any unexpected twists or hooks because you will need to put the new antenna wires back through this same way in a second.

step 5throwing it back together.

once you have got them out, go ahead and move your broken screen away, far away but dont trash it later, the components on it may still be usefull. then grab your new monitor and begin by snaking the wireless antenna wires back through and latching them into place. replace the Keyboard back in position, Don't forget to reconnect the wire under the keyboard.
screw that back into place. (this is where we start counting screws.. we dont want to have any left over so hopefully you did a good job remembering where they all go)
reattach the video, mic, and webcam wires to the laptop, then Screw the laptop hinges Back to the laptop. grab the laptop bezel, snap that unit back into place, and close the laptop, flip it over, and begin replacing all the screws... Do you have any left over? Congratulations you win!
lide that battery back into place (oh connect the wireless antenna wires if you havent, just press them back into their sockets) And thats all it takes, Your done and done. flip that sucker back on and see if you got swindled and bought another broken screen or if you forgot to hook up a wire properly =P haha if it turns on fine, you were successfull pat yourself on the back and wait for something else to break so you can take your new found confidence and fix her up again =D
hope you enjoyed my first instructable, hope to submit more and better ones in the future and i hope it was informative and helpful.
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