Should I repair my latitude screen?

I've got a 3 yr old Latitude D505, and the screen has suddenly gone out. I don't know whether it's the screen itself or a connection. Key symptoms are (a) the screen is black, except that I can still make out the outlines of what should be on the screen, and (b) it occasionally flashes on at startup for a fraction of a second. Anyone have thoughts on diagnosis and/or repair? Is it worth trying to fix it, or should I just convert it to a desktop?

 

Broken CCFL lamp (or LED??)
If you can just about see something the lighting is broken.

If you can repare it cheaply/yourself, do it.
Else: Get a new computer, even the cheaper onces work well nowadays.

 

Definitely CCFL not LED. The question is - CAN I repair it myself? I'm good at house repairs and minor electronic repairs, but have never tried to replace computer (esp. laptop) parts. I have no idea how hard it would be to replace the lamp.

 

http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/edwin/laptops/Dell/LATITUDE/D505/D505.PDF

http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd505/sm/blue.htm


the service manual for the latitude. you should be able to find the instructions in here.

sadly i reckon, being 3 years old...sounds like your backlight has failed, or the inverter has failed.

im not sure if you can easily get the parts. buying a complete screen is going to be a bit pricey, you may want to just save the money to go towards a new laptop

even a very low end notebook would outperform it by quite a bit now

 

There is cheap CCFL's on ebay

 

im curious how to replace it. you cant replace the lamp alone right? the inverter is a seperate unit, you possibly could get that..

also it would have to be a specific kind of LCD to be compatible right? i always thought the LCD cable was proprietary.

curious because i have a dead inspiron 8600 and i was wondering if it was possible to transplant its WUXGA screen into my inspiron 1525

 

If you are good at taking things apart, it should not be too hard. Dell has the service manuals on their website and will have a step-by-step guide on replacing this.

Just wondering - will it output to an external monitor?

 

Yeah, it does output to an external - thankfully.

 

The backlight on the D505 is replaceable and goes for about $10 on eBay.

The problem is while Dell will give you directions as to how to take out your LCD assembly, they do not tell you how to disassemble that component. As others have mentioned, if you are technically inclined, you can probably figure out how to take it apart without that much problem, but it's a finicky assembly (and I say that still after having rebuilt about three of 'em).

The inverter is also replaceable (if that happens to be the problem - and I don't think it is) and goes for about the same price. It is much easier to replace - anyone should be able to figure that one out.

In the worst case scenario, you can replace the LCD assembly as a whole. That'll probably cost you something like $100, but you can source units from D505, D510, D520, Inspiron 5150 and the list goes on.

 

that is a real easy fix dell makes it retarded easy to get those things open... to me it sounds like a back light which are real cheap and easy to fix... 505 there is screws under the black rubber bumpers and the top of the screen bezel is snapped on to the back real real real easy just be careful pulling them apart.