Replace LED Screen or cables???

Bongo82

Estimable
Apr 14, 2014
2
0
4,510
Hello, I'm wondering is there a way to definitely know whether I need a new screen or maybe the cables are broke??

I have a Dell Studio 1749, which I believe has an LED scree. At first I thought it could be the inverter but it hasn't got one.

The other day I was working away on my laptop and the screen just went black. This happened to me before but simply powering off the laptop and powering back on fixed it, but not this time. I'm stuck on a black screen all the time. Funnily enough this happened a few days after I upgraded to windows 10

I know it's not motherboard related as I can hook my laptop to an external monitor and it works perfect. If I shine a bright light on my laptop screen I can see there is images there but they are very faint.

Not sure whether to risk spending €70 on a new screen or just buy a new laptop as I've been having a bit of trouble with tihs laptop lately anyway, it is 5 years old in fairness but still a good laptop.

Does this sound like a new screen would work or maybe something else???
 
Solution
It sounds like your backlight is not functioning. It could be a power problem either related to a cable, connector, or board. It could also be a software issue: some laptops allow you to adjust brightness all the way down to the point of turning off the backlight.
It's probably possible to repair if it's a hardware issue. Depending on how the backlight is connected, it may not require a new screen-likewise getting a new screen may not fix the problem.

Calculagator

Estimable
Nov 18, 2014
201
0
5,110
It sounds like your backlight is not functioning. It could be a power problem either related to a cable, connector, or board. It could also be a software issue: some laptops allow you to adjust brightness all the way down to the point of turning off the backlight.
It's probably possible to repair if it's a hardware issue. Depending on how the backlight is connected, it may not require a new screen-likewise getting a new screen may not fix the problem.
 
Solution

Bongo82

Estimable
Apr 14, 2014
2
0
4,510


Now I'm not very good at the tech part of computers but I just opened it up to see what it looked like, I messed around with some of the cables to see if they were loose. Low and behold when I switched the laptop back on the screen came back on. I've no idea what I did, hopefully it's not just a temporary fix.

It looks handy enough to replace the screen if I ever have to do it. Just one more question, is the backlight in the actual screen?? I can't find anything online about it.

 

Calculagator

Estimable
Nov 18, 2014
201
0
5,110


Yes, the backlight is in the screen. It's usually located along one of the sides. They can be pretty tricky to replace. For many newer laptops you pretty much have to replace the entire screen assembly. Hopefully you just had a cable wiggle loose.