Anyone every replaced a monitor on a laptop?

[Mr. Plow]

I've got a Dell Inspiron 9400. All of a sudden, I'm starting to have color distortion with my monitor. I took a screen shot, sent it to another computer and the pic came out fine......so I know it's not the actual computer.


Essentially, on my desktop I've got Red & Blue circles - starting small in the middle of the screen and getting bigger as they get closer to the edge of the monitor. Right now, looking at the Chiefs Planet bar across the top of this screen, the red appears to have little black lines in it.

Any suggestions?

[DaFace]

Before you replace the monitor, you should probably rule out the possibility that your video card is causing the issues. I THINK that you should be able to test it just by plugging in an external monitor to the back of your laptop and seeing if it looks OK. If you plug it in and it looks fine, I'd bet the screen is your issue.

As long as you're not afraid of taking a few things apart, replacing the screen won't take too much. The trick is just making sure you get the right part. Once you figure out what you need, just dig around on eBay and you'll probably find some for decent prices (probably in the $150 range). The actual replacement will involve removing the keyboard and a few screws, but that's about it.

[Mr. Plow]

Ok. Hooked up a monitor. Looks good on the thing. So, now I get to look into replacing my laptop monitor. Damn.

[chasedude]

You may look into replacing the inverter circuit. This actually controls the power sent to the screen. I've replaced this in laptops that the screen started going out. The screens usually last longer than the inverter circuit does. It's not too hard to switch these out.

Here's a site with a inverter for 40$, could be worth a try.

http://laptopparts.vivotechnology.net/Items/inv-dl-004?gclid=CJ7gh7zlgJMCFQezsgodLg_lFQ