Replacing a cracked LCD on a laptop?

[MobBoss]

Just as the title says. My wife accidently broke my daughters LCD laptop screen. It appears the laptop still functions and runs ok, its just that the screen has a series of cracks all through it. Short term solution: kid will use my spare 19 in monitor for now.

longer term however:

Turns out LCD monitors are not covered in the limited warranty.

Cost of replacement at Toshiba runs somewhere between 150 and 600 bucks.

Laptop only cost 600 or so brand new.

Found a store online that sells replacement LCD screens. Cost for this model is just over $200 bucks.

Found some 'how to' links online, and the procedure of taking the front and back screen bezel seems straightforward, and then hooking up the new power and data feeds.

My question is has anyone around in here done this before? Level of difficulty involved? Seems like all you really need is a small phillips screwdriver and maybe a small blade.

My level of expertise on this stuff is pretty good, but I havent tried anything quite this involved on a laptop before. I build all my own computers, and have taken minor things apart like keyboards and such, to refurbish.

Advice anyone?

Thanks.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Ive done it several times on my old Dell. Got a nice 1400x900 screen on it, an upgrade from the 1024x768 it had. Its fairly straightforward, just make sure to not lose any of the small screws. Pretty much all you need is a decent set of small screwdrivers, which can be had for 10$.
Go slowly, make sure you keep track of all the parts, and most of all, make sure youre properly grounded.

 

[Turner]

I've taken apart several laptops at work trying to learn how to do precisely this. My advise is, if you don't have experience with it, don't even mess with it. The first two I couldn't get put back together (although that may be because I didn't pay as much attention as I should taking it apart) and while it's fairly routine for me now to completely break down a laptop, I would still rather not do it if I don't need to do it.

So the way I see it your options are to pay someone to do it. Which will be expensive. Or keep it tied to the monitor. After all, it works, right? So long as you have an external monitor you're okay. And yes, I understand that as a laptop it's supposed to be portable, and how portable is it if you have to drag an external monitor around with you? Or hit ebay and find the identical model laptop and swap out the hard drives.

Can you do it yourself? Yeah, you can. But be very methodical about it. Take good notes and/or pictures so you know what it's supposed to be like. But also keep in mind the minute you crack that case you've voided your warranty.

 

[MobBoss]

I've taken apart several laptops at work trying to learn how to do precisely this. My advise is, if you don't have experience with it, don't even mess with it. The first two I couldn't get put back together (although that may be because I didn't pay as much attention as I should taking it apart) and while it's fairly routine for me now to completely break down a laptop, I would still rather not do it if I don't need to do it.

So the way I see it your options are to pay someone to do it. Which will be expensive. Or keep it tied to the monitor. After all, it works, right? So long as you have an external monitor you're okay. And yes, I understand that as a laptop it's supposed to be portable, and how portable is it if you have to drag an external monitor around with you? Or hit ebay and find the identical model laptop and swap out the hard drives.

Can you do it yourself? Yeah, you can. But be very methodical about it. Take good notes and/or pictures so you know what it's supposed to be like. But also keep in mind the minute you crack that case you've voided your warranty.

Well, its only a limited warranty with only a few months left on it to be honest. I dont think I lose much if I void it at this time.

Nice hint about switching out the HDs. Thats not a bad idea either.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I thought swapping out the HD's would hurt Windows, because it's tied to a certain mobo? Or does it matter if it's the same model?

 

[Turner]

Well, its only a limited warranty with only a few months left on it to be honest. I dont think I lose much if I void it at this time.

Nice hint about switching out the HDs. Thats not a bad idea either.

By all means, if you're not worried about voiding your warranty, then go for it. Go slow, take plenty of notes, and if at all possible try to find a site online where someone takes it apart and shows you step by step what to do.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Better yet, Toshiba should have a repair manual for the notebook. Find that, and you're golden. It will list out how to replace all parts of the notebook.

 

[MobBoss]

Found a couple of tech websites that linked to this video. Seems pretty comprehensive. http://www.screentekinc.com/lcd-removal-instructions.shtml

 

[Gelion]

I've done it four months ago without a problem. I have an HP. It works almost 100% fine. In fact I am writing on that computer. My previous hardware experience involved adding hard drives to stand alone PCs and replacing power sources. It is little experience, yes, but changing PC hardware was not a new thing to me. If it is your case as well I advice you to do it only if you find a good guide and follow instructions precisely. It is doable. If you decide you need it I will try to look for the online instrucitons I used.

P.S. You do need small scale screwdriver (the kind you'd use for your glasses) and something to use as a blade. I used a bigger screwdriver for that role.

 

[Turner]

Depends on the toshiba. Toshiba's are very easy to take apart. That's what I learned on at work, and all I've needed for the S1, M2, M2V, M3, and M5 lines has been a philips head screwdriver. And something to pry with, if needed.

 

[Gelion]

How did it go, MobBoss?

 

[Grisu]

I once replaced the display of my wife's Dell when its backlight broke (I at first pondered just replacing the backlight, but that seemed too much of a hassle).

According to Dell, replacing the display would have cost around 600-800.-- :crazy:

In the end I bought a display (with even higher resolution than the original) for roughly 150.--

fitting it in the case was a piece of cake