Diagnose broken laptop display?

June 1, 2007 11:51 AM

How broken is my laptop display, and is it worth fixing?

My laptop was overly compressed in a suitcase, and now the display is broken. When the display is on, there is a line that arcs in a semicircle across the screen. Near the top of the line there is a black circle about an inch in diameter - in the black circle nothing is displayed. At the edges of the line and the circle the display looks like it has bled - the colors look funny and there are streaks. A friend suggests the waveguide/light diffuser is broken; is this right?

What is wrong with the display? How can I find out how much it would cost to replace?

For extra bonus points, is it worth it to fix or should I get a new laptop? It is a 2-year-old IBM T43.

posted by betterton to computers & internet (4 comments total)

First response: Call your insurance company.
posted by chuckdarwin at 12:09 PM on June 1, 2007

This is what broken LCD screens look like.
It won't get better, although you could plug a monitor into it and still use it as a desktop.

I personally would get one off of eBay , though I doubt most people would.
They are pretty easy to replace. You probably could get one for under $100. You can also get a repair manual there to show you how to do it correctly.
posted by MtDewd at 12:27 PM on June 1, 2007

I was going to tell you to can it, but if you can find a screen, IBM..err Lenovo makes the service manual available on their website. Additionally, you should be able to call them up and get a price for a new part, but it'll probably be ridiculously expensive. They're really good about that stuff. If you put your serial number into their website, it will tell you the part number of every part that is in your machine. The service manual should have information about any changes in the part numbers due to supplier changes and what not.

It's probably not worth having someone else service, but if you can do it yourself, that would be the way to go. It's not that hard, it just requires some time with a screwdriver in disassembly (and not a lot of that if it's like the ones I've had to work on) and pulling out a ribbon cable from the motherboard to disconnect the screen. Looking at the service manual is free in this case, and is incredibly detailed.
posted by wierdo at 5:13 PM on June 1, 2007

T43's are tanks. Buy a new screen from Ebay, even if you do it just to sell the working laptop.
posted by SirStan at 10:57 PM on June 1, 2007