My old Dell Inspiron 6000 LCD went black :(

I bought this in 2005 and used it since then. One day I left it on and went away for couple minutes and the screen turned black when I came back. I thought it was in hibernation but after restarting, the screen is still black. I can connect to my LCD TV via VGA cablle and see it fine. If I turn off all the lights and shine a flashlight into it, I can see the desktop with all icons on it in super dark background. I don't smell anything burning. So my question is what's really wrong with it? My guess is either the blacklight or the inverter. If so how hard is it to replace it on my own and where is a good place to order besides Dell?

Thanks everyone.

 

Bad power inverter. Funny thing is, I work in a PC repair shop and in the past week, we have serviced six Inspiron 6000's for the same exact issue.

Here's the part:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-US-LCD-Inverter-Dell-Inspiron-6000-1100-6400-Series_W0QQitemZ190283904850QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item190283904850&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A15|39%3A1|240%3A1318

It's a pretty easy swap, you should be able to do it yourself.
Here's the service manual:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6000/en/sm/index.htm

The inverter is mentioned here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6000/en/sm/display0.htm#wp1006390
It's the little board right below the LCD panel.

 

Thanks. But could it be the backlight instead? Can I tell if I take it apart? The inverter is pretty cheap on eBay but the backlight is more expensive.

 

It could be the backlight, but 80% of the time it is the power inverter. You buy the inverter, and if it doesn't fix the problem then you consider if you want to buy a new screen or not.

 

Looks similar to my screen problem on my I6000 about a year ago. Though my screen didn't just went black. It had about 2 weeks some pinkish tints before it went completely black. I was just out of warranty so dell tried to sell me a €660 replacement screen. Bought me a studio for €50 more :-D
If it is indeed the inverter and it's so easy to replace, maybe I will still fix this..

 

My 3 years old i6000 screen was also getting a little too dark. Luckily there's plenty new surplus around on ebay to choose from. If you go that route make sure to get LCD panel + cable + invertor so that you don't run into compatibility issues.

 

Success!! I bought a used one from eBay by bidding and got it for around $5 shipped. It took me an hour to open and put everything back. The one listed above by Hep! is probably exact one but I didn't buy from that seller. My old one was made by Sumida, model LTN154x-B2. The one I bought, although works, has the small screw hole at corner instead of half way. There's a small metal bracket that holds the inverter by glue on back and one single screw. I have to skip this screw because the hole doesn't line up. The whole bracket is secured to your LCD panel by 2 hooks and 2 more screws.

 

So everything's working now?

Also don't worry about the screw, the double sided tape will be plenty.

 

hELP --- i have a e1505 bought 3/2006. my screen just went dark also. I can hook it up to an external monitor and all is fine. one other issue though --- the 1,2,q,w,a keys are not responding to keystrokes. all others seem to work fine. both problems showed up at the same time. Im wondering if they could be related. perhaps one of my kids dropped the laptop and took out the invertor/backlight and damaged the keyboard?????

i ordered my laptop with the WSXGA+ screen. (higher res. i think) If the invertor is bad, does the same invertor do all e1505 screens??

thanks for helping

 

Just do an ebay search for e1505 + inverter. You will come up with several hits. It doesn't matter what resolution the screen is, since all the inverter does is transfer current to the screen and backlight. Give this a try first. If it doesn't fix your problem, you can buy a new backlight, but it's EXTREMELY tricky to switch it out. I tried it with detailed instructions and still failed. You can still give it a try, because if you can do it, great, cheap solution. If not, you'd still have to buy a new panel anyway.

I'm not sure about the keyboard issue. Is it possible a liquid got spilled on it and caused problems with the inverter and keys? You can get a new keyboard on ebay too, for pretty cheap.

Good luck!

 

i think it must be the inverter. the screen has worked periodically yesterday after i tried to reconnect the keyboard. its now dark again but that leads me to believe it isn't the back light. ill try a new inverter and keyboard and post back my results.

 

Hi Hep,
I have the same problem with my dell inspiron 6000.When I power it ON it boots and the screen stays for a minute flickers and goes black but the laptop is still on and i hardly can see any images.
I tries the bios setup and also the safe mode but the problem exists with the other two modes as well.
If this is really the problem with the LCD inverter do you suggest me to buy the one in the link in your previous post or does the specification of the inverter depends on the resolution of the laptop monitor?
But they don't give any warranty on the product so how do I trust this?
I would appreciate your suggestion on this.
thanks

 

Sorry to bump an old thread but,

I loyallyed followed your diagnostics on my Dell 6000. I just installed the new LCD inverter last night and the screen is still %80 dim/ dark. Whats next? Do i literally need a new LCD ?

 

Yep, (assuming you've triple checked all the connections) then it's an LCD.
It's unfortunate that it wasn't the inverter since inverters are so much cheaper, but screens aren't bad.
Bliss Computers is where I buy all of my laptop LCDs, they're like the cheapest prices on the net and best of all, they're NOT ebay.
Let me know if you need any help.

 

Thanks alot HEP! !, I really appreciate your opinions, and help.
Thanks.