HELP, I managed to screw up my M6300's LCD !!! Repair or replacement ?

Hey guys, after managing to successfully fixing my FX3600M video card by "baking" in the oven last week while I was on vacation in France, once I got home, I decided to replace the thermal paste from the CPU and GPU as they seemed quite hard and non-efficient when I first opened the laptop.

I successfully cleaned and added the new one and I figured that if I already have everything opened, why not try to get rid of some dust specs inside my LCD screen - BIIIIG MISTAKE !!!

I have opened my LCD screen as per some instructions I had on dell's website and some dude's blog that opened up his Dell screen. I managed to unglue all the tape that was surrounding the edges, got the metal frame off so I could separate the actual LCD from the white background - I located the so called "dust specs" I had inside but I was not able to remove them as they seemed to be "strached" into the back of the LCD and also into the white sheet/background. Not wanting to screw anything up in there as I know how sensitive that area is ... I decided to close "her" up and leave it as is. Well the re-gluing of the tape didn't looked exactly as it was as the tape lost it's "gluing" properties but I managed to get it all done and reassembled the beast. When first powering on I noticed that the LCD was sitting lower than it should have, I could even see the light bulbs on the top and also , the windows bar was clearly lower that it should have been, I could just see half of it. Aparat from that, everything seemed fine. So I decided to reopen it and readjust the LCD's position inside the metal frame. Curiously the LCD is somewhat smaller than the frame it sits in so it could move about 0.5 cm up or down which cause the missalignement in the first place. The first time I opened it, I left the cable that goes to the circuit board from the mainboard connected to the monitor but the second time I decided to unplug it to give me more work space. It wouldn't come off very easy so I tried wiggling it a bit and I "managed" to screw up the mother plug ( the one already connected on the screen's upped circuit board ). By screwing it up a bit I mean the mother plug now has a jiggle instead of it being very steady - dont exaclty know how to put it. This is the one I am talking about:

I decided to go ahead and align the lcd anyway which I did. I must also mention I have NEVER completely disassembled the LCD from the metal casing/frame or the white background sheet. I always kept them together connected on the lower end.

Now after pluging the cable back into the not so steady plug, and reassembled the whole thing again I fired her up and SURPRISE !! My whole screen was dark, as the backlights were off but I could see the info on the screen If I pointed a flashlight to it from an angle. However I could see some backlights on but very dim in the bottom of the screen but somehow upper than they should, for example if I were to be looking at the Windows Desktop, they would be just on top of the taskbar. Also only half of the screen was visible and it had some stripes so I figured I pretty much bricked it. I am pretty sure the stripes are due to the screwed up plug, but what about the backlighting ?? From what I have seen on the web, the backlight bulbs are located in a metal case, my question to you guys is : how many of them are they in a LCD screen ? Is it just the one in the bottom part I can now see missplaced ? Or there are some top ones or maybe some side ones too ? I will go to a cell phone repair center as I know a guy there and will try to fix the broken cable plug with some hot air gun or something and I will also try to work on the thing a bit more, I mean what the hell do I have to lose ?

So anybody in here experienced with LCD repairs ? Or at least have any more info about what's inside ?? I think I will try and separate all the parts this time, completely remove the LCD from the metal case and try to reposition all the things again ... Again, what do I have to lose ?

My screen model is Samsung LTN170U1-L02 - 1920 x 1200.

If a replacement is in order I was looking at ebay of course, any words on the after-market Chinese ones ? I also found some second hand ones. I found a almost identical model but it has L01 in the end instead of L02. Would it work ? Does DELL have some proprietary plugs and makes the screens not compatible ?

So if I don't manage to fix mine, it comes down to a NEW aftermarket LCD or a USED OEM one which seems a bit difficult to find as an EXACT model. Any thoughts ?

 

tl;dr - this is why backlight swaps, etc, are a pain in the butt; it's a pain and it's easy to break everything.

Get a new LCD; you don't need to match model numbers; any WUXGA from the Inspiron E1705/9400, XPS M1710, and Precisions M90 and M6400 should work.

 

what's TL and DR ?

Do you have any idea if the used LCD needs to be from a DELL notebook or any type of WUXGA would work. Also I have read that if the laptop came with a 1920 x 1200 screen you can't fit a LCD with another resolution - not that I would want to go to a lower one anyway but just a thought.

So you're sure that any type of 1920 x 1200 WUXGA would. I will be in a lookout for one of these.

No hope of getting the old one fixed ? Any info about where the lights are situated on such of LCD ?

 

I didn't say any type of 17" WUXGA would work - I just said that the ones from the aforementioned models are pretty much guaranteed to work. Panels from other manufacturers' laptops may work, but why take the risk when the E1705/9400/M1710/M90/M6300 panels are plentiful and not that expensive.

You can use lower-res screens if you want. In the reverse case, if you're trying to use a higher-res screen, you might need to get a new display cable.

In a typical single-CCFL LCD, the backlight is at the bottom.

 

So if the backlight is at the bottom and it's the only one ... it's good news because mine works for sure, I see it lit. I just screwed up the order of sheets/LCD etc especially as I didn't open it up all the way down to the bulbs area ( I opened it up like a book from above ). Tomorrow after I will hopefully get the cable plug repaired I will make another attempt of completely opening up the screen, and I will try to arrange the stuff in there so it's all aligned - Nothing to lose actually. If only I knew more about how everything SHOULD be down there

If not ... I will go ahead and search for another screen, probably a used OEM one as I don't really trust the new replacement ones - do you know anything about them ? Quality/durability wise ?

Thanks for the answers nevertheless !!