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    Dell XPS M1330 LCD/LED Replacement

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by imman00b, Mar 13, 2011.

  1. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi folks,

    I just bought an m1330 with a trashed screen from a friend (in exchange for 2x4GB sticks of laptop ram for his Asus u36j :p ).

    After a prelim analysis, I have isolated the "damage" to the LCD assembly. It definitely is not a gpu problem as the display out to my desktop LCD monitor is absolutely perfect. Also, I know the LCD is definitely kaput because I can see a tear in the LCD film under the main layer.

    So the plan is to get a new 13.3" LCD from ebay and replace the old one. However, I am not entirely sure whether I have an LCD with CCFL or an LCD with LED backlighting. To this purpose, I opened up the LCD assembly to get some pics.


    Label on the LCD Bracket:

    [​IMG]


    On the LCD :

    [​IMG]

    On the LCD :

    [​IMG]







    Could you guys help me find out whether this an LED or an LCD? Because if it is, I can get the following:

    13.3" led screen Dell XPS M1330 M1300 M1318 M1340 (eBay item 150575894987 end time 11-Apr-11 10:12:11 AEST) : Computers

    Cheers!
     
  2. kozzney

    kozzney Notebook Evangelist

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    It's easier to tell if you take a picture and post it of the side of the laptop with the lid closed; the CCFL screen is much thicker than the LED screen.

    Unless someone here knows the SKU numbers by heart...
     
  3. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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    My bad mate! The thickness of the actual LCD panel is approx 3-4mm. The lid's thickness is approx 5mm.
     
  4. Darkstone

    Darkstone Notebook Consultant

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    Does it have 40 pin cable, of 30 pin + inverter board?
     
  5. LordRasta

    LordRasta Notebook Consultant

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    If my memory serves me correctly, you not only have the LED screen, you have the preferred LED screen. If you really want to know, check the webam. If it's 0.3 then you have a LED. If it's 2.0 you have a LCD.
     
  6. LordRasta

    LordRasta Notebook Consultant

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    Some folks had the Samsung LED and were extremely happy with it. When I converted from LCD to LED the Samsung was no longer available.
     
  7. LordRasta

    LordRasta Notebook Consultant

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  8. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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  9. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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    I did not see an inverter board. There was a single cable that went into the LCD panel and had enough pins to fill the entire socket (on the circuit board just below the LCD).
     
  10. LordRasta

    LordRasta Notebook Consultant

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    It should work but from what I see that is a Chi Mei screen. Some were happy with that screen, some weren't. I had one and did not care for it at all. I sent it back and got the Toshiba. I still have it and no issues to report.
     
  11. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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    Any particular reasons you wanted to get rid of the Chi Mei?


    Thanks a lot for all the help mate.
     
  12. LordRasta

    LordRasta Notebook Consultant

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    It was bright, so bright that it hurt my eyes to look at it for a few seconds. The problem with turning down the brightness was it would then flicker constantly. It wouldn't flicker on the highest brightness setting but it was too bright for me.
     
  13. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks a lot for all the help mate!
     
  14. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi again...

    I just don't seem to catch a break. :(

    After I bought the screen from ebay, I installed it and it worked perfectly fine for a couple of days. Then one day, the system started behaving really erratic. Freeze ups and occasionally it didn't boot up. Then the very next day, it stopped displaying anything on the screen. I used an external LCD via the VGA port and it displayed fine! So I concluded that the LED panel was faulty and sent it back for replacement. After a lot of drama (where I was on the verge of launching a paypal dispute), I got a replacement delivered today.

    After plugging it into my already disassembled system and powering it on, I noticed that the backlight came on, but the CPU fan wasn't running (even though it was plugged in; this symptom is completely new). I reattached the cable and again tried booting with the display connected but no display... not even the backlight. Again, the CPU fan wasn't spinning. However, the LEDs and HDD were acting normally, I could see the lights and hear the HDD spin up.

    On connecting the external LCD to the laptop, I am able to get a display, it boots into ubuntu just fine. So I'm really perplexed... What is wrong with this laptop?

    On a side note, I've already spent almost 250$ on this (150$ for LED, and 100 bucks for the 8gigs of ram that i traded this for)... so am not very keen to spend another 150$ to get a replacement motherboard.

    Any advice?
     
  15. imman00b

    imman00b Notebook Enthusiast

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    Would anyone be able to venture an opinion as to what it is that is broken?