I was using my computer one day when all of the suddent the screen went really dark. I can still see stuff on the screen but its extremely dark. I've been calling around and computer repair stores say they cannot replace the backlight and if the inverter is bad, HP does not sell replacement inverters for the LCDs on their notebooks. I really do not want to buy a whole new LCD for my notebook, its just way too expensive.....any ideas??

Is it hard or risky to replace the backlight or inverter yourself? AND How can I test if it's the inverter that went bad or the backlight?

3/13/2006 4:55:26 PM

I did it once on a girl's laptop. Dell was charging $500. She said she wouldn't be mad if I broke it because it was as good as broken to her so I figured "why not?" It was easy as hell and worked flawlessly. Took me maybe an hour and that was mostly because the screws were so tiny.

3/13/2006 5:04:27 PM

Replacing the inverter isn't too bad if you're familiar with laptop repair, and they're not even all that expensive:

http://cgi.ebay.com/15-4-LCD-INVERTER-ZT3000-ZV5000-ZV6000-R3000-R4000_W0QQitemZ6858799303QQcategoryZ51159QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Replacing the backlight is a bitch though. Doable, just labor-intensive and extremely delicate.

3/13/2006 5:05:47 PM

Any other thoughts?

3/15/2006 4:23:50 PM

I can repair it for you, just be aware if its the backlight it will be more expensive labor wise.

3/16/2006 12:04:13 PM

If it is the inverter, you need to find out where it is on your model. We have a lot of HP inverters in stock, but they are mainly for n800 and n1000's.

I am an HP tech and have done a lot, just need some patience.

3/16/2006 12:29:41 PM

i'm about to replace the backlight in my hp 15" lcd monitor...i'll let you know how that goes

3/16/2006 1:28:20 PM