Is my laptop screen dead?

Ringo

Or are there things I can try to fix it?

RavynBlackheart

Yeah that's toast. If you're so inclined you MIGHT be able to find a replacement panel and swap it out but laptop screens are so fiddly that it's kinda daunting.

That_Guy

It's dead, Jim. Replacing a laptop LCD is super easy. First get on ebay and search for "Alienware XXXX LCD" where XXXX is your model number. Find an LCD panel that matches the specs of your old one. Resolution, touch vs non, glossy vs matte, 30 pin vs 40 pin connector.

Next, get your old panel out. Work some guitar picks between the LCD and the bezel and pry out. Your bezel doesn't look like it has screws so it should just pry out. Be careful not to snap the plastic. Slowly work your way around with the picks until the whole thing lifts out. There will be 4 to 6 screws holding the LCD panel in place. Remove those. There will be some sticky tape holding the connector on. Work that away with the picks, flip up the bar holding the connector in place and pull it free.

Finally install your new panel. It should go in the same way the old one came out. You don't NEED to use blue threadlocker but if you have some already, apply a small dab on each screw were the old stuff is.

Feel free to DM me and I can get on a video call with you and explain the process is more detail.

darkmayo

I swap out laptop screens all the time, they generally are pretty simple to replace. Only recently I have came across some "wonderful" ways that a company make their laptops thinner with "innovations" such as command strip like adhesives and alignment tools to make sure that you glue the screen down properly. Instead of cumbersome methods like screws and tiny mounting brackets. Just grab that little tiny black piece of the strip that is just poking out from behind the panel and then slowly pull that out (dont worry those things never snap) and then do it again to the other half of the LCD panel... PRESTO the panel is free, now just detach the cable from the back of the panel and you can start to swap it. Oh did you not completely remove the display panel from the rest of the chassis.. well better do that or the "panel alignment tool" will not lay properly on the Top Cover which will cause your panel (which you will be sticking to the top cover with very stick command strip adhesives ) to be off center. Will there be enough slack in the wifi antenna cables and the video/camera cables.. probably not so detach those from the systemboard too.. dont worry the antenna cables and connectors on the wifi card are supposed to be incredibly small.. you shouldn't have any problems reconnecting them.

anyways enough snark That_Guy is right your Alienware should be pretty easy to take apart the LCD bezel etc. Just make sure to disconnect your laptop battery before starting to do anything.

Hevach

Only complicated part I've encountered with laptop screens is where the connection is.

Sometimes the cable through the hinge is two-ended and disconnects from the screen. That's great. Sometimes the hinge has a cover that'll pop off revealing the connection point. That's good. Sometimes you've got to do a little bit of work. That's ok.

Sometimes you've got to take the whole goddamn bottom apart. I screwed myself heavily some years back underquoting a Toshiba laptop with the same problem. Turned out to disconnect the screen you had to fully disassemble the bottom of the laptop which was a goddamn onion full of screws in from both directions into different layers that you had to keep flipping over and over as you peeled each layer back revealing new screws you couldn't see before.

There's *tons* of very specific videos on YouTube, though. So protip, don't be me: look up one specific to your laptop and know what you're doing going in. Even the really complicated ones generally doable with quite basic tools.

mRahmani

Dell/AW usually has service guides on their website that give detailed instructions of each step you’ll need.

darkmayo

mRahmani wrote: »

Dell/AW usually has service guides on their website that give detailed instructions of each step you’ll need.

HP is good for that as well.. at least for the business class machines but I assume the consumer grade stuff has the Maintenance and Service Guides as well... they are all supported though the same backend system for the most part.

DELLs were great when I was taking them apart.. but its been years now so I am not sure if they are doing what HP does and slowly chasing Apple for stupid shit to adopt.
IBM/Lenovo were a pain when I did them.. similar to what Hevach was saying about the Toshiba though in this case it was every size and length of screw you could possibly think of in the old lenovo X series laptops. Just annoying as fuck.

emnmnme

I cracked the front glass on my iPad. The LCD screen is fine so I need a suggestion on where can I take this thing to get the glass replaced. There are a million third-party phone repair stores in Houston that also service iPads but I noticed one of these had a fake 5-star online review praising the food there as great so now I'm wary.

- ubreakifix wants $500 to replace the glass and the screen citing it's their policy to replace both
- The Apple store wants to sell me a refurbished ipad instead of fixing what I have

BlazeFire

I watched a repair channel on YouTube called Northridge Fix. They seem to be really good, but based in California. Would you amenable to shipping it to them?

emnmnme

I'm in a big city so I'd like to get it done locally but I will look up their website. Thanks.