After about three years or more of laptop use, one of the components that is likely to break is something in the LCD assembly.  The LCD assembly is a collection of components that allows the laptop to display things on the screen.  The following is a list of the primary components and their purpose:

• LCD Panel – the part of the assembly that displays the images and is what people are looking at when using the laptop
• CCFL Tube/Lamp – provides the light on the display.  The LCD panel provides the image, and the lamp provides the light required to see the image.
• LCD Inverter – transfers power to the CCFL lamp

The following instructions are general and do not pertain to one specific model of laptops.  The theory still applies however.

Problem Symptoms

In problems regarding a laptop display, these are the common problems among others that are quite prevalent among laptop users.

• Black corner – on one corner of the screen, a black triangle can be seen. The mouse can be moved under it, which shows that the LCD is just not displaying that part of the screen. The black corner is also hot to the touch. In some cases, the black triangle can change size over time (on the order of a few minutes or hours).

• Dim screen – the LCD is still displaying a picture, but it cannot be seen because there is no backlight.  Shining a bright light (such as a desk lamp) illuminates the screen slightly, but not to the brightness that the screen was at before.

The first problem tends to lead to the second one.  The CCFL tube burns out and leaves a dim display.

Determining the Cause

In general, if one experiences at least one of the problems above, there is a clear hardware issue.  Some exceptions are when one has turned the brightness all the way down, but this usually isn’t the case for people.

If one simply sees a dim display, it is due to either the CCFL tube or the Inverter.  It is not possible to to determine which part is the culprit without opening up the laptop.  Refer to instructions specific to the laptop in question to open up the screen assembly.  During disassembly, take note of what screws go where.  Different sized screws get used for different places and it is very easy to forget which ones go where.

The first image shows the laptop with the cover taken off.  The second image shows the disassembled LCD assembly with the CCFL tube lying on top.

CCFL Tube

Finding the CCFL Tube on the laptop is a lot more involved than finding the Inverter.  It involves opening the LCD panel (see this website for instructions for a Dell Inspiron 1520).  Visual inspection of this part can sometimes show clear signs of damage.  Burn marks should be apparent.

If burn marks are not apparent, then the cause is likely due to the Inverter.  One can also test the CCFL Tube, by turning on the computer with everything still plugged in (but disassembled).  If the CCFL Tube lights up, then there is nothing wrong with the CCFL Tube.

LCD Inverter

It isn’t possible to test this part directly without the proper tools.  However, if one has a dim display but has checked whether the CCFL works, one can be more certain that the Inverter is the culprit by process of elimination.

The Inverter is the part in orange in the top photo.  The bottom picture shows the Inverter by itself.

Solution

Once the cause has been determined, the next step is to replace the part.  However, one has a choice:

• Replace the entire LCD assembly – costs more (~$100), but the labour is easier
• Replace the problematic parts individually – costs less (~$5 – $20), but more difficult labour

One source for parts is Ebay, but it might take around three weeks for the part to arrive.  This is cheaper than the $300 that Dell charges for shipping the laptop, buying the components and the labour.  Replacing these parts is an involved process will take at least one hour.

Here are some things to watch out for when replacing the CCFL Tube:

• It is difficult to take the part out of the LCD panel
• Watch out for dust that could get in between the layers in the LCD (will show up as black specs under the screen
• It is hard to lay out the layers flat again when the CCFL Tube is replaced so there might be some uneven lighting after the CCFL Tube is replaced

After replacing the parts, turn on the computer again and the screen should be bright again.

Link: http://www.heerengandhi.com/2009/07/29/firefox-icon-went-missing-in-windows-7-heres-a-fix/comment-page-1/

• Intel Core i3-370M Processor (2.4 GHz)
• Nvidia G310M Graphics Engine with 1 GB DDR3 Dedicated VRAM and Optimus Technology
• 4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz DRAM (2 GB x 2 slots)
• Intel Wireless 802.11 b/g/n + WiDi
• 500 GB Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) Operating System (which I upgraded to Pro)
• 13.3-Inch HD (1366×768) LED Display
• HDMI Port
• USB 3.0 port
• Bluetooth
• 8 cell 5600 mAh battery

The one thing it doesn’t have that I realized just now is that the computer doesn’t have an optical drive. I didn’t know that before. I guess I assumed that all computers except for netbooks have them. It’s not really a big deal though.Since my laptop kind of died on me earlier, there weren’t many things I could do to solve the problem. I pretty much only had three options: get my laptop repaired, buy/borrow a monitor for the duration of my stay, or buy a new laptop.

Repairing my laptop was definitely the first thing I tried. I researched on how to fix it, but I couldn’t even get the screws out to even peek at the insides. Right now, I still think that the problem inside the computer is just a loose connection. Unfortunately, I can’t confirm that. I could let Dell fix the computer, but my warranty expired a long time ago. I also bought the computer from Canada and would have to go through lots of red tape just to get it repaired by Dell Europe.

The next thing I tried was to find someone who had an extra monitor I could borrow. Since all my friends in Germany are all interns or thesis students, they all had only a laptop and not an extra display. Although, I did manage to borrow one for like a week until I had to return it. I could have bought a new monitor, but then it would have been really been difficult to bring home a 20 something inch screen (if I’m buying a monitor to keep then I wouldn’t buy anything smaller). I didn’t feel like buying a cheap one and just leaving it behind when I leave Germany either.

In the end, I ended up buying a new laptop (with much financial assistance from my parents). I figure my old laptop is getting old anyways (2007), and for the past year and a half it had been failing to keep up with my intense computer usage habits. When I return to Vancouver, I’ll get this laptop repaired and then my parents could use it (or my brother if he decides that he needs to bring a laptop somewhere).

After almost four years of using my Inspiron 1520, its age finally caught up with it and its light literally went out.  The backlight refuses to turn on now.  I came back from Berlin last Monday and found my computer in this state.  I left it off during that time too.  During this time, I had trouble doing any blogging and uploading any photos.

Google told me that the problem lay with either a loose connection, the inverter or the lamp.  I tried to check this out myself and open the computer case, but the screws refused to budge.  People online somehow got theirs open, but I couldn’t.

Unfortunately, my warranty expired so I’d have to pay to get this computer fixed.  I looked at my options on the Dell site and the North American Dell Support refused to help me and kept referring me to the European side even though I bought my computer in Canada (I really don’t know what these guys at the call centers are doing).  After about three calls to the support line, I finally found someone helpful and she told me that I had to change my laptop registration such that it showed a European location before I could get it fixed.  An alternative option would have been to send the computer back to Canada to get it fixed.

What I did instead was just buy a new laptop.  My laptop is already super old and already can’t really keep up with my tasks anyway, so I suppose it’s time for an upgrade.  What surprised me was that laptops in Germany (from their Best Buy/Future Shop equivalents anyway) cost so much more than in North America.  In fact, it was cheaper for me to buy my computer in Canada and get my parents to ship it to me rather than buying it locally.  I’m sure there are cheaper places, but I don’t exactly know how to look through all these German websites.  Another added advantage in buying from Canada is that I’d have a computer with the US Keyboard layout rather than the German one.  And in the future when my laptop needs repairs, it’ll be easy.

In the meantime, I’m using a 17 inch LCD screen that I borrowed from a friend.  This will suffice until my new computer arrives.  No more shining a lamp at my computer screen and squinting my eyes to see the screen anymore.  I also don’t need to be using my phone to go on the internet at home either.

According to the writer of the guide, undervolting simply reduces the voltage applied to the processor.  Since all processors have a different voltage requirement, they all use one standardized value which is most likely higher than the amount that the processor itself requires.  By reducing this excess voltage, the power dissipated by the processor will decrease, and thus reduce heat and increase battery life.  It should also be noted that this process will not impact performance since the performance of a processor is governed by its clock speed.

By doing this, I’ve reduced the temperature of my laptop by about 12-15 degrees Celcius.  The laptop’s keyboard and touchpad are no longer warm to the touch and the side heat vent no longer feels like burning.  Definitely a major improvement!

Link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html

Computer Specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 Processor
2 GB RAM @ 667 Ghz
Intel GM965 Chipset
nVidia GeForce 8600M GT
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g

Installation

I was lucky enough to only need the Retail Snow Leopard Disc (10A432) and the myHack Installer 1.0.1.  I pretty much followed METHOD 2 in this guide (method 1 didn’t really work out for me, but it might have had something to do with the disc restoration part of the guide):

http://prasys.co.cc/2009/08/installing-snow-leopard-for-osx86/

For the myHack installer, check the box for the kext that says something about PS2 in it.  It will enable the laptop touchpad and keyboard.  Also, read the description for each kext to see if you need it or not.

When I used method 1 in the guide, I had some trouble with an installation error that said “Could not verify BaseSystem.pkg” or something along those lines.  That error appeared at about 10-15% installation progress.  It went away then I used method 2.  I did read somewhere that it may have had to do with the restoration in Disk Utility.  Either way, it worked the second time around.

Once SL was installed, I ran the myHack Installer on my drive to get the Chameleon Bootloader on there so I wouldn’t have to use my USB to boot all the time.  Also, be sure not to install GraphicsEnabler as it will prevent your computer from shutting down completely (more on that later).

Graphics

Since my laptop uses an nVidia card, there is an issue that prevents the computer from shutting down completely if the “GraphicsEnabler” option is used in the myHack Installer.  I believe NVInject, NVKush, and NVDarwin all suffer from this same problem.  What happens is that when the shut down command is invoked, the computer’s screen will turn off, the HD will turn off, but the power stays on.  When the nVidia graphics kexts aren’t used, this problem goes away.

I’ve tried generating an EFI String and loading that with EFI Studio, but it didn’t do the job.  The resolution is still 1024×768 and I have no QE, CI or OpenGL support.  What I did later on was install PC EFI to see if that would fix things (I didn’t really know what I was doing here at this point).  That didn’t really work, but I did later find out that EFI Studio allows me to add boot flags.  I added “Graphics Mode”=”1280x800x32” to the boot flag so now it boots with the proper resolution.  It gives the proper resolution, but still no QE/CI or OpenGL.  This guide has information on how to test for QE (Quartz Extreme) and CI (Core Image): http://prasys.co.cc/tag/enable-qeci/

Another thing I tried was to modify my DSDT to get my graphics card working using this link: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/01/advanced-dsdt-fixes-nvidia-graphics.html.  I managed to get the card recognized using the DSDT code, but when I got rid of the graphics kexts, and the boot.plist options as specified in the guide, I lost my graphics acceleration.  I know my DSDT code is working here still since System Profiler tells me what card I have with the exact same names that I gave in the DSDT.  It seems that having graphics acceleration and shutdown/restart working properly just isn’t meant to be.

The tradeoff:

I either could have proper graphics acceleration and no shutdown, OR I could have shut down and no graphics acceleration.  Graphics is the clear winner here, but I still hate having no shutdown.  I have not found a fix for this.

Power Management

There was a problem with high CPU temperatures with the laptop.  I installed the VoodooPowerMini kext located here (http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,1095.0.html)

Audio

After looking for various kexts, I found that VoodooHDA worked for me.  It can be found here (http://www.kexts.com/view/70-voodoohda_(32–_64-bit,_recompiled_by_prasys).html).

Wireless

Works after installation.

USB Ports

They work since it can recognize my mouse and USB drive.

Battery Indicator

I used the VoodooBattery kext located here (http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,1092.0.html)

Card Reader

I don’t use this so I didn’t install the kext for it.  It can be found here: http://www.dailyblogged.com/retail-snow-leopard-installation-guide/ or SD Card Fix (more direct).

Touchpad

I had an issue where I couldn’t tap the touchpad in order for it to “click”.  I fixed this issue by installing the VoodooPS2Controller kext (check the Trackpad option during the installation) (http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,235.0.html).  Then I installed the preference pane (this allows configuring the Trackpad through System Prefs) here http://www.dailyblogged.com/retail-snow-leopard-installation-guide/ (command -f to find it).  I opened System Preferences and pressed the Show All button, and I saw a “Trackpad” option, so I opened it and the option was there.

Webcam

Works after installation.

Conclusion

Everything I listed here works except for video and the card reader.  There are other things like Ethernet, but I don’t really use it.