HP nc6400 Display Problem (hardware issues)

I have an HP nc6400 that was given to me. It is BNIB, but was put aside and never used because the display was always bad (someone forgot to warranty the unit back in the day).

Anyways, the laptop runs fine. All drivers are ok, XP SP2 installed, etc.

However, the laptop will boot and look great, but a few minutes in the display will go "black". You can faintly see the icons and desktop, but the light just goes out--if you know what I mean. My guess is a backlight or inverter, but I am far from a laptop expert and before I spend the money on the part, I'd like to hear from anyone who has experience with this (any tests I can run to tell for sure, kniown problems, etc)

FWIW, I can hook the laptop up to an external monitor and the display is great, so I know it is not driver related.

I believe it is the model with WXGA (1280x800) and not WXGA+. I assume when replacing anything, I'll need to look for WXGA parts.

It's a great little laptop and I'd like to get it working. I actually like the look and feel of it better than my Latitude D630.

Thanks and great forum.

 

I'm pretty sure it's the inverter. Try wiggling the display cable a bit and see if it comes back.

 

So basically what you're suggesting is to 1) take the bezel off 2) power the laptop up 3) wait for it to go "black" (this amount of time varies, but it always happens) then 4) wiggle the cable running from the motherboard to the screen.

If the display comes back, then assume it is the inverter?

 

Don't remove the bezel - remove the button board instead. The display cable connector is on the left. You can find the service manual on HP's site.