# Broken laptop screen **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-laptop-screen/421076 "2007-09-30T22:29:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-laptop-screen/421076/1 "2007-09-30T22:29:43Z")
My loptop screen is broken - I’m guessing I put too much weight on it. The laptop itself is fine (I checked by hooking up external monitor) It is well outside of warrantee. I figure I have these options: 1)Get it repaired 2)Get a replacement panel and replace it myself 3)Get a new laptop. I’m leaning towards option 2. It doesn’t look THAT difficult [http://www.screentekinc.com/lcd-removal-instructions\_en,compaq.shtml](http://www.screentekinc.com/lcd-removal-instructions_en,compaq.shtml) Uless I fry the laptop, I can always get a cheap monitor and use the laptop as a desktop Brian ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-laptop-screen/421076/2 "2007-09-30T23:34:41Z")
[QUOTE=N9IWP] My loptop screen is broken - I’m guessing I put too much weight on it. The laptop itself is fine (I checked by hooking up external monitor) It is well outside of warrantee. I figure I have these options: 1)Get it repaired 2)Get a replacement panel and replace it myself 3)Get a new laptop. I’m leaning towards option 2. It doesn’t look THAT difficult [http://www.screentekinc.com/lcd-removal-instructions\_en,compaq.shtml](http://www.screentekinc.com/lcd-removal-instructions_en,compaq.shtml) Uless I fry the laptop, I can always get a cheap monitor and use the laptop as a desktop Brian [/QUOTE] Hang a hard disk off of it and make it a home server. It’s got a built in UPS and can be used as a print server too. ---
**Author:** ![Suda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@Suda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suda)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-laptop-screen/421076/3 "2007-10-01T02:50:51Z")
Try turning it on normally (no external monitor plugged in) and look really closely at the screen in good lighting conditions. If you can faintly see the display then the actual LCD is still ok and just the backlight or inverter is damaged. The inverter is cheap and easy to replace, you just take off the the top casing of the screen and unplug the old one and plug the new one in. Of course if the screen is actually cracked or something from the weight, then yeah you’ll have to replace it. Its pretty straightforward to do, especially if you follow instructions for your specific laptop. I’d suggest checking e-bay for a replacement monitor too, you can get broken laptops for next to nothing with screens that work fine. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-laptop-screen/421076/4 "2007-10-11T03:18:28Z")
The backlight was definitely OK. I found a refurbished screen online (1 very small scratch at screen bottom) and put it and now I have a working laptop again. (I ordered a new screen but none were in stock so I got the refurbished. It took some digging to even get that) Brian ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-laptop-screen/421076/5 "2007-10-11T13:17:53Z")
Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-laptop-screen/421076/6 "2007-10-11T13:59:03Z")
Nice one. I was going to suggest sourcing a second hand screen out of a spares/repairs laptop of the same make and model(or range) on eBay - most often these aren’t any good for this because the screen is the bit that’s broken, but some of them have intact screens and are dead for other reasons such as motherboard failure or something.