Comrades, I fear my p6860fx is nearing doom

I think I got this bad mamajamma back in 2007 so it's not unusual for my rig to start showing signs of old age.

I guess the only issues aside from the replaceable parts (replaced some memory and the cd drives when they ceased working, and the ac adapter isn't connecting properly X% of the time) the only thing I'm really concerned about is the screen.

It's nothing crazy, I was just playing KotOR II and the screen's brightness turned lower than I can ever manually do so. I can still hear fine and see the very faint twirl of the lightsabers, but it would be one confusing game having to play blindly. However, it comes back on.

I guess I just don't know what's up with it and what to do to fix the monitor.

Anyone know more about it? OR Anyone know a closely priced upgrade for a new gaming/video editing laptop? (I can't find anymore of Gateway's P series)

 

I think Obi Wan Kenobe would disagree that the game would be confusing playing blind. Fighting blind was part of his training regimen... LoL

Could be your backlight failing. If that's the case, you may be able to find one on eBay. Just make sure it's the right model for your particular laptop. It's not the easiest job in the world to replace, but if that's all that's wrong, it's worth it in my opinion.

 

Should I try to replace the backlight or just replace my screen? It seems that one is cheaper than the other.

 

I would replace the entire LCD... Just in case...

That's what I was referring to was the entire screen, just in case it's a cabling issue. I've been stuck a few times just trying to replace a transformer or something small only to end up doing everything cause the cable was busted... Now when I run into an LCD issue, I just replace the whole thing. Less headaches.

 

Yeah, I'm not too trusting of my wiring skills to just do the backlight. I guess I'll wait till my paycheck rolls in. Those screens run around $110 on ebay...Or should I just buy a really awesome monitor?! lol, I'll probably end up with the LCD replacement.

 

Isodrix, there are plenty of guides on the interweb on how to replace a backlight / inverter (could be eitehr) and as long as you take your time and be patient, it isnt toooooo bad. I had to replace one last year myself. the backlight will run you about 7 - 15$... so it may be worth at least trying it if the alternative is $110 for the entire screen.

Good luck,
Demon

 

A good point...

I'm gonna take apart my baby, blow out the dust, and reconnect the inverter.

I'm gonna use this as a basis on how to open up the monitor once I actually get to that phase: How to replace broken LCD screen in Gateway M-series laptop >> Inside my laptop

To arms!

 

Just a word of warning here. I was faced with a similar issue on my P6860. The screen turned pink for a few days until it finally did the same thing yours did -- I could see the pixels still drawing the pictures but only barely since the backlight didn't seem to be working. Generally speaking, that pinkness is indicitive of a failing backlight bulb. However, picking the right sized replacement bulb and disassembling the screen seemed tricky. Since I found a cheap new inverter online, I decided to try that route first.

However, in the mean time, a friend spilled wine on her 14" laptop which toasted it and gave me a chance to test her lcd panel in my laptop -- same symptoms: I could see the picture but no backlight. So it might be a problem with the GPU. I think if I were you I would try the GPU baking thing before doing anything. It didn't help me since I had already baked my GPU/mobo 3 times previously. However, eventually you will probably need to bake yours anyway as it is an extremely common problem with the nVidia GPU's in our laptop.

 

Damn it. So I hooked up the new screen, but it glitches out with green and gray lines on start up. I can see colors and words for a few seconds then it's just black. There's backlight on, but the screen is just black.

Ive tried redoing the process but no dice. Does anyone know what to do? I'm down in the dumps over this. Im typing this up from an iPod.

Update: Nevermind, I had to use some strength to get the lcd wire connected properly. Now if my screen still blacks out, I'm guessing it's the inverter or the GPU is really aging now. THANK YOU COMRADES!

 

Does anyone know where to get inverters? I can only find 4 used ones on Google...I'll just buy a used one.

Would anyone be interested in purchasing a used 6860fx? I'm looking to move on to a new monster.