WeaponX 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 OK, having major LCD issues on my laptop today. I have one of these no name brand (actually called Prostar) laptop that I bought a few years back. It's served me well and only giving problems here and there occassionally. Well, this one takes the trophy.The screen is flickering light to dark background...I can still see as I'm typing this. It's just going into a darker contrast and back to normal. Then it will go completely black on me. Sometimes it comes back...when it doesn't, I close the lid and open it back up again. Again, sometimes this works, other times I have to shut and open the lid several times before it opens back up. The strange thing I noticed when it turns all black is that there are times when I can actually see the images in the back (just too dark to look at it normally). But most of the times it's just plain black (blank screen).Does anyone know what part is bad? I tried to take apart the darn thing myself and see if I can maybe reseat the LCD cable but this doesn't sound like it could be the issue.Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xboxrulz1405241485 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 hmmm... apparently from other posts your laptop is falling apart. I think it's time to replace your laptop. (I wish mine fell apart faster, I need a new one )xboxrulz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vizskywalker 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 Some laptops have a power connection built into the hinge. Don't know if this does, but if wiggling the monitor has the same effect as opening and closing, it could be a problem with the hinge. Try and see.~Viz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grafitti 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 I think your LCD is dying. I had this happen with a couple no-name brands, and once with a Dell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmy89 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 (edited) also, if it isn't any switches, try connecting a external screen to your laptop to check its the graphics card that doing it!just an idea! Edited January 14, 2007 by Jimmy89 (see edit history) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Markymark2 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 I agree with Vis..its prolly a trapped connection in the hinge..same thing happs to monitor cables trapped in between desks.normally you get a loss of colour in one band ..or it cuts the power off..the way to prove it would be to hook it up to a normal monitor and see if the same problems are occuring..Good Luck.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WeaponX 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 Was hoping it was just an intermittent problem, but I tried again this morning. After a few minutes the screen started to go crazy again. I took the LCD apart (boy was that a nightmare) and did find a cable or two that ran into the middle of the hinge into the logic board (most likely). I wanted to open up the entire laptop and see how it was connected, but after I got the LCD part off, I was too frustrated to continue any further.Is it worth the time to see if the LCD connector is ok? I will take the whole thing apart again if necessary. Otherwise, I was thinking of getting a replacement part (if it's not the entire LCD that's bad). I read up online about this and see people mentioning about some kind of bulb and LCD inverter. Would there be any chance that it could be the same thing here?I have wanted to get a new laptop for a while now but kept saying I won't do so until this ancient beast dies out on me. Unfortunately, it went out on me at a bad time. Need to start saving up for a new laptop now :)I can't believe this, but I resorted to using an old iMac G3 that I had in the closet to go online here. I will try using a monitor from my sister's desktop computer and see how that works out. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of screen issue at this point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WeaponX 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2007 OK, I played around with it further today. I tested it with my regular CRT monitor and tried to turn off the LCD with the monitor toggle button on my keyboard...that didn't work. So I was working on two screens. The LCD turned itself off at times and flickered here and there, then turned back on. I just ignored it and worked using the CRT monitor. After a few hours I noticed that the LCD on my laptop is not flickering for the longest time. I unplugged the CRT monitor cable and have been working on the LCD itself for the past hour or so. Any ideas why this might be happening?I was just about to go buy the LCD inverter first to see if that board might be bad.I made sure it's not the hinge or anything so I adjusted the LCD in different angles when it was flickering, but that didn't seem to help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vizskywalker 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2007 It could be a problem with the Graphics Adapter. I had a board that had a bad graphics adapter and a similar problem. If that's the problem, maybe plugging in the CRT reset something, a short maybe, and it is now fixed. That is a best case scenario, however.~Viz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
faulty.lee 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2007 If your CRT is working, that rule out the possibility if connection to the video section (some notebook has detachable "video card")When your LCD is flickering or turning off, is it the backlight that's off or the whole screen?If it's the LCD itself, then very likely is the connector from the LCD to the mother board, or sometime, it's connected through another small detachable board. That's the most common failing part. You can check it by taking out the keyboard or remove the cover above the keyboard, some model let you do that, so you can inspect the connection or do something else inside.If it's the backlight, and it dim then turn off, it's not the connection anymore, very likely it's the onboard filtering capacitor. Are you still using the battery? I notice that the capacitor die faster if the battery is taken out, and operated on AC adapter for a longer periodI've repaired a few notebook, most of it due to capacitor problem. Replacing the capacitor will need to take out the whole board.Good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WeaponX 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2007 In most likeliness it's not completely turned off. I remember seeing a dim background (just the light is off and hard to see unless it's tilted at an angle). Is this an actual capacitor on the logic board or are you referring to the LCD inverter board?Not using battery. My battery died out on me after a little over a year and I have been using just the AC adapter for the laptop all these years (been a good 3+ years). If it's nothing too complicated, I should be able to repair it if I know what's wrong.The problem has returned after a little while. The thing is flickering now as I am typing this. Really starting to get on my nerves. I want to fix this problem instead of buying another laptop. If anything, I will be going for a desktop this time since I don't really need a laptop anymore. Mainly needed it for college back then... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
faulty.lee 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2007 In most likeliness it's not completely turned off. I remember seeing a dim background (just the light is off and hard to see unless it's tilted at an angle). Is this an actual capacitor on the logic board or are you referring to the LCD inverter board?Not using battery. My battery died out on me after a little over a year and I have been using just the AC adapter for the laptop all these years (been a good 3+ years). If it's nothing too complicated, I should be able to repair it if I know what's wrong.The problem has returned after a little while. The thing is flickering now as I am typing this. Really starting to get on my nerves. I want to fix this problem instead of buying another laptop. If anything, I will be going for a desktop this time since I don't really need a laptop anymore. Mainly needed it for college back then... Usually the LCD inverter board doesn't have big capacitor, but I might be wrong. if you know how to solder, just look for bigger cap on the board, something more than 47uF, then get another one, solder parallel to it. If that helps, then you can replace it. if not, you'll have to try the same for those on the motherboard. Hopefully those cap on your motherboard or inverter is not solid type. Solid one is harder to replace.Running the laptop without battery can kill the cap very fast, as it doesn't have anything to buffer the voltage fluctuation other then the cap itself. I did that with my laptop before, after a few month, i start to notice slight flicker at the lowest brightness. Since then, i kept the battery inside (my battery is still working). Dead battery might not help.I won't be able to reply after this, going outstation for a few days. So, good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WeaponX 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2007 I don't recall seeing any big capacitors inside before. The ones that I could see all look good though...none are swollen that I can see. How do I know which one is the capacitor to replace? I'm new to soldering but don't mind trying it out since I have the tools around.I'm still looking for a place to buy the LCD inverter board since I read on many sites that it should be the first thing to try. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WeaponX 0 Report post Posted January 20, 2007 OK, I found something that doesn't look so good on the inverter board. I'm attaching it to this post here (sorry about the image, don't have a digital camera at hand so had to use my camera phone). Is that the capacity you were referring to or are these capacitors suppose to look exactly similar to the ones found on motherboards? That black piece shown in the picture seems to be missing two HUGE chunks of wiring inside. It has two gaps there and the only thing remaining in those gaps are one wire on each section. This is definitely not normal right? I guess that rules out the backlight...I need to find this part as soon as possible but can't find any place that sells them for under $90 or so. I didn't know that this piece cost so much. The part number for the inverter is 71-4200R-D02 and I tried searching high and low on eBay and Google to no avail.I'm still new to soldering but do they sell that burnt out piece separately so I don't need to shell out a lot of cash for the inverter board? I might as well try replacing that part if it doesn't cost me an arm and leg for that piece also.EDIT: I guess they call that piece the transformer from what I just found out online. Anyone know of a place to get this specific transformer and replace it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
unimatrix 0 Report post Posted January 21, 2007 Goto Barnes and Noble or Boarders, grab a cup of coffee, and see if you can find the Apple technical manuals and repair study aids. Then look up iBook/Powerbook repair. IIRC there should be a list of parts and manufactures for the listed items. Then you can go only and see if you can pick one up for cheap. Then again, this is starting to kind of sound familar like a logic board issue I had once... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
