ASUS S96J no light on screen

It's been a while since I posted on this forum but I've finally come across a problem with my S96J after two years of owning it.

For the past few months whenever I open up my laptop there would be a pinkish/purple tint on the screen for a few seconds until it warms up to it's original brightness and colour. It was weird but a minor inconvienience which I didn't mind too much. But as of two days ago, whenever I open up my laptop the screen goes dead anywhere between a second and a few minutes! It usually lasts longer if I set the brightness to the lowest level but I can't really work with that. When it goes dead I can still faintly see the screen, so the problem is there's no backlight.

I've read about this problem on the forums looking for an answer, but so far there doesn't seem to be a definite solution. It seemed like most people bought a new inverter but a lot of them later said that did not work out. So I'm not exactly sure what to do and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

There can be three distinct causes to this problem:
a) the inverter has died (most often, and cheapest to solve)
b) the inverter cable is interrupted somewhere (rarer, how cheap it is to solve depends on whether the interruption is on an easily replaceable cable -- for instance in my M6Bne, the cable that goes from inverter to LCD is not separable from the LCD itself)
c) the backlight is dead (more rarely, expensive to solve; usually requires replacement of entire LCD, unless you're very good with disassembly and can replace only the backlight -- not sure if it's even possible)

If you're under warranty, send it in. Otherwise, you could start with buying the inverter + replaceable inverter cable(s) from the ASUS eStore, and see if that fixes your problem. It's not too expensive.

 

Great thanks a lot. I guess I'll order an inverter but I'm worried because a lot of people have done that but says it hasn't replaced the problem. Is there a way to find out exactly which of the three problems it is? And how do I know which inverter to get?

 

I am not aware of any easy way to determine what is the problem. Maybe if you have the specs of the inverter and are good with electronics, you may measure the output of the inverter and determine if it's working... You may even not need the specs since it only has two wires as output. I myself wouldn't know how to do it so I don't know what to advise.

Even if it doesn't fix the problem, it's a cheap part so it doesn't set you back too much. And at least you've eliminated one possible cause.

The nearest thing to the S96 inverter that can find is this: http://estore.asus.com/shop/category.asp?catid=457
(there is an inverter on the list)

I'm not sure it will work in the S96... maybe you can call them and ask?

 

I've had the exact same issue almost 2 years to the day after purchasing my laptop. If any of the suggestions have worked please let me know. Thank you

 

Okay well I was going to take my laptop to a computer repair shop or send it in to ASUS but it sounds like it'll be just way too expensive. So yes, I guess I'll just buy an inverter and do it myself as deathly afraid of damaging my laptop as I am. Now to find an inverter...

 

Couldn't I just take apart my laptop and find out what inverter my S96J has and get the same exact part?

 

I might buy a backlight as well since I'm not sure just replacing the inverter would work. I have no idea where to find one though? Any ideas?

 

Hey new update. So my mom has a useless Sony Vaio FS50 that doesn't work. Is there any possibility I can harvest the LCD screen and use it on my ASUS?

 

Anyone care to comment?

 

Okay so I got a replacement invertor board... the exact same one. I opened up my LCD screen and replaced it but accidently teared the plastic thing covering part of the inverter board. When I started my laptop up again I still had the same problem, only this time its worse because I can no longer even shine a flashlight to see what's on the screen as nothing appears at all this time regardless of backlight. So the situation is worse since I installed the new inverter... did tearing the plastic thing screw it up? I don't think any connections are loose so what the hell happened?

 

I guess that either a) the problem was not the inverter board, but with the LCD signal cable (coax), and when you shook them it got worse. That would be strange, because the lack of backlight really suggested the inverter was the problem.

Or b) in the process of replacing, you either forgot to plug in the LCD signal cable somewhere, or you messed up its connectors or the cable itself. They could be affected by fatigue due to old age in which case it may not take much moving and twisting to get them malfunctioning.

You could try reseating the LCD signal cable.

BTW, I don't think the plastic cover has anything to do with it. Unless there is now a short because the plastic does not insulate the inverter from other components.