LCD Backlight Replacement

monitor

Backlights are one of the most common failure points on LCD panels. Even though they usually say “no serviceable parts” on the back you might still be able to fix your monitor. Jared Bouck details the removal of the dead cold cathode and replacing it with a new tube and inverter. Not quite as dangerous as opening a CRT, but you still need to be careful with the mercury vapor filled tubes.

[thanks Tom]

64 thoughts on “LCD Backlight Replacement

  1. I have a dell rackmount keyboard monitor tray for a server rack. However the monitor has gone dead and dell will only sell the entire tray and not just the monitor. so i replaced the backlight, and that didnt solve the problem, so Im thinking its the inverter, however, I cannot find the inverter for this particular monitor ANYWHERE!! Any ideas? Part: 6H507 Model: SL340. And the only numbers on the inverter are, PK07V00500, LI-1031 Rev. B, and C2920127G…Thanks for your help!

  2. I have a dell rackmount keyboard monitor tray for a server rack. However the monitor has gone dead and dell will only sell the entire tray and not just the monitor. so i replaced the backlight, and that didnt solve the problem, so Im thinking its the inverter, however, I cannot find the inverter for this particular monitor ANYWHERE!! Any ideas? Part: 6H507 Model: SL340. And the only numbers on the inverter are, PK07V00500, LI-1031 Rev. B, and C2920127G…Thanks for your help!

  3. I have a nec multisync1920nx that has bright colors. the reds are like pink, and the greens are lime. I searched the web for this problem but can’t seem to find out what is wrong with it. if anyone can help me, that would be great.

  4. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I believe Samsung has an issue with the 740N LCD, bad inverters possibly. I have recently had a failure trend develope and believe it may be a manufacturing issue. Description when my tech picks them up is always backlight is not on. Anyone come across this too please let me know?

  5. My son’s psp went blank, and would not work. I took his battery out and replaced it with my husbands for a minute, it worked but when I placed the battery back in my husbands PSP it did not work for 2 days unless I put it on the charger. Does he need a new battery or could I fix without spending the money. It is a older model PSP, not the flatter one.

  6. I am fixing a hp pavilion 5120 laptop. when i start up the computer the hp logo comes on and there is a pink tint. after about 30 seconds the backlight goes out. pc is still functioning, but unusable b/c you can only faintly see the image. i am not sure if i should change the inverter board or the bulb or both. i am more of a programmer than anything so i don’t have much experience with soldering. can anyone help?

  7. I know this topic is old, but no one seems to have explained the behavior described in many of these posts. When white images on your display appear pink, it means that one or more of your bulbs is going out and needs to be replaced. When the back light comes on and then turns back off, this is usually due to the fact that most inverters can detect a bulb that has failed or is about to fail, and is going into standby mode to prevent damage to itself. Many displays have more than one back light, so even if you see an image light up for a few seconds, that could still be just one of the two or more back lights lighting up before the inverter “sees” the problem. I have repaired dozens of LCDs, and so far have replaced many bad bulbs, but only found one bad inverter…

  8. I have a Toshiba Satellite 1805-S274. The LCD will display for a period of time and then go ALMOST completely black. I can see a very faint image on the screen. I tried the “Fn + F5” key and the screen will usually come back for a few seconds but back to the same state of almost completely black. Other sites point to the inverter board. Any suggestions?

    Thanks

  9. I have a Toshiba Satellite A135-S7403 and it had been on all day and then while I was on it the screen changed and stayed black. So I shut it down restarted it and for very brief time on the right side the screen faintly lit up the bios screen then went black.I can tell it is booting up but no screen. I took a lcd monitor and hooked it up to the vga port on my laptop. The port is sending info to the port on the laptop ok till it goes to the password then the monitor I plugged in goes black.Do I replace the inverter or the screen or wat? Any ideas?

  10. Hello. Let me start by saying I know nothing about Monitors. We have a 323T Syncmaster from my job that my boss gave me to dicker with. I plugged the monitor into my laptop and shined a flashlight on the screen and could see my screensaver plain as day. I think this means it needs a new backlight. However, I think this model is an LED LCD backlight. Does anyone know if this is an easy fix? Is this something I can change myself? What does the diode look like or are their more than one? How much would it cost to take it in and have it fixed? Any help would be so appreciated. I just want to try and save some money if I can!

  11. Hey guys,

    My monitor has been dying & naturally I tried to cycle the power until the light holds up as it usually just blinks and immediately dims on its own. This has been working but just recently the problem got worse to the point that no matter how many times I cycle the power (like 50+), the light will no longer hold up. I then got creative & tried this work-around which seems to work so far:

    Turn ON the monitor, look very hard as you try to adjust the brightness all the way down to “0%” using the monitor buttons. Then turn OFF the monitor, and then turn on back on. Bingo! That worked for me. I noticed that the brightness has an effect because after that when I tried to reraise it up to “100%” the light dimmed to black again! Still I can work with “0%” – probably better for my eyes anyway.

    Hope this keeps you guys from messing with mercury vapors.

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