HomeHow can I replace a damaged laptop screen myself? If you are asking yourself the same question then you should read through this tutorial witch explains how you can remove and replace cracked, damaged or broken LCD screen on a laptop computer at home, without taking it to an expensive repair shop.
Pictures show an example of the process of removing a laptop LCD Screen display. The approach is approximately the same with most notebook brands and models…We do not recommend removing the laptop LCD without technical experience. We would like to point out that you could lose your laptop’s manufacturer’s warranty if you remove the LCD.
You can use this LCD screen removal tutorial for any brand-name laptop such as Acer, Asus, Gateway, Dell, HP, Compaq, Toshiba, Sony and other less known brands. The disassembly steps will be very similar for most models.
Now, when you know how to remove and replace the screen, there is another question. How and where I can find a new replacement screen?
There are two reliable ways to search for the replacement screen:
1. Search by the manufacturer’s part number. Some manufacturers place a sticker with the part number on the back of the LCD screen. Most likely you’ll find a lot of different numbers on the screen. If you are not sure witch one is the manufacturer’s part number, just google it and see if your search returns any relevant results.
2. Search by the screen model number. You can find this number on the back of the LCD screen.
As an example, take a look at the LCD screen removed from a Toshiba laptop. You’ll see what numbers I’m talking about. K000044040 is Toshiba’s part number and LQ154K1LB1B is the screen model number.
There could be more then one LCD screen compatible with your laptop. Before you make a purchase, I would recommend contacting the seller and confirm that you are buying the right screen or ask if they can find a cheaper replacement.
Static electricity can kill your laptop. I recommend wearing an anti-static wrist strap while working with internal parts of your laptop.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
April 21st, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I see you advise that one should not attempt repair if one is a newbie. I agree! But am I correct in assuming I only need the display inverter if I can plug my spare LCD into my laptop and see a perfectly fine screen? My son threw a cellphone and the point of impact can be seen on the LCD of the laptop. It is an HPdv6000 and otherwise works fine. Thanks!
April 21st, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Ryan,
Your description is not very clear, maybe you can provide more information?
You said:
I assume your some cracked the LCD screen. If that’s the case, replacing the inverter board will not fix the problem. You’ll have to replace the LCD screen.
You said:
By the spare LCD you mean an external monitor, right?
April 21st, 2009 at 3:27 pm
By the way, you said you have an HP Pavilion dv6000 laptop.
I’ve created a guide which explains how to replace the LCD screen in this mode.
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:43 am
Sorry, I have looked through your guide, but heed your caution about being a newbie. The laptop glass itself is not fractured. I plug into an external monitor which shows my icons perfectly and this has enabled me to procrastinate getting it fixed, because our local store takes forever. My laptop screen looks like a picture of a broken Acer screen you have here on your site. The edges of the screen show icons, but then you see a black smear that looks like where I presume the phone hit the screen. Would it help to email you a photo? I appreciate your help so much!
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Ryan,
Yes, it will help. You can upload your photo to photo sharing site (flickr for example) and post a link here.
May 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 am
Will it be possible for a user not to replace a damaged LCD? I mean, can I repair it or go to some PC repair shops to repair it? I’m sorry. I know minimal things about a laptop. please help me.
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 am
Relph,
If the LCD screen has a physical damage, it has to be replaced. It doesn’t matter if you replace it yourself or take the laptop to a PC repair shop. They will quote you a new screen. It is not possible to fix a LCD scree with physical damage.
May 3rd, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Picture of the screen.
OK I hope this works. I took photos of screen. across top you see whatever IE shows; as I said before I am able to connect to external monitor and see what’s NOT appearing on screen where the big black smear emanating from the collision point. wHAT do you think? My hesitation is the local computer fixers take forever, and this isn’t something I can part with for weeks.
Thanks so much.
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Ryan,
Your LCD screen is definitely cracked and has to be replaced. This damage cannot be repaired, it’s necessary to replace the whole LCD screen.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:17 am
Can you recommend best place to buy repl part? Is it worth fixing given age of laptop? I appreciate your help so much. Will make donation to site.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Ryan,
Not really. It depends on the part you want to buy.
1. Find the part number.
2. Google the part number.
3. Buy it from a good establishes store (with phone and address).
Again, it depends on the part you are replacing and how much it is.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Hi!
My Sony Vaio’s VGN-FZ21s chip failed (as I learned a lot of models are faulty, but my guarantee is over) and the laptop itself is basically useless now. I found your tutorial on taking apart Sony very helpful. I thought if I clean it it will work, but it’s a chip.
Anyway, I have HP Pavilion dv5020us – my first laptop. Works fine, but the screen is cracked. You can’t see a thing. That is why I bought Sony. Now I’m thinking about selling Sony for parts and if enough money is gathered buying a new LCD for HP (they cost around 150$ – that’s reasonable). But it would be ideal to use good Sony LCD to fit in HP. I browsed and googled the net to find is this LCD compatible, but there is absolutely no info about that. I read that fitting the wrong display can permanently damage it. This I do not want.
Sony has 15.4″ WXGA (1280×800) X-black LCD with double lamp while HP had 15.4″ WXGA (1280×800) display.
Can you by any chance help me or maybe you know any useful pages I can check? Thank you.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:21 am
hi
my Laptop screen dv 5000 hp has being giving me a different colour should i changed d screen or can u tell a page to check on how to resolve this.Thanks
May 28th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Hi,
Somehow I broke my friend’s laptop screen and now I have to either repair the damage or give him my brand new laptop. Please find the snapshot on the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bhushansc007/Laptop#
In the previous posts, as you have said to Ryan that the screen is broken and ‘whole LCD screen needs to be changed’, what do you mean by ‘whole LCD screen’? how much does it cost?
Also, if you look at the 4th and the 5th picture in the link, we can see the icon on the desktop clearly along with the mouse pointer. Taking into consideration all this, how much will it cost me to get all fixed?
I have also seen a ‘Laptop Screen’ for $72 on a website with the same specifications as those of this Gateway Laptop (15.4″ 1280×800 WXGA). Do you think is that what I need?
Thanks a lot in advance.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Bryan,
In this guide I’m replacing a broken LCD screen in a Gateway laptop. Take a look at the guide and you’ll get the idea how to do it.
Sounds like that. I would suggest removing the broken screen and looking for the screen part number. After that you can search for the replacement using the part number. Again, read through the guide I linked at the beginning of my comment.
May 29th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Hi,
I asked a local technician and he has said that he can fix the thing in about $230. Shall I go for it or order the screen and try to get it done at home? Looking at the delay in getting the screen at home and risk of doing it on my own, what do you think? I have no previous experience of doing such things with laptops.
May 29th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Hi,
I also have one more concern. The broken laptop screen was actually hit from behind, i.e. not on the surface on which we see picture, the other side. Is there anything called backlight behind the screen, which might also have been damaged? I can see some flickers at the top left corner of the screen.
Thanks in advance.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Bryan,
This is up to you. Loos at the instructions and decide if you can handle this repair yourself.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Bryan,
The backlight lamp is a part of the LCD screen, it’s mounted inside the screen. When you install a new screen you get a new backligth lamp.
There are no parts behind the LCD screen.
August 1st, 2009 at 8:12 am
hey laptop tech.
thanks for passing on all the knowledge. i really do appreciate all your efforts.
several people have asked about LCD compatibility between different laptop and LCD manufacturers. the following parts vendor’s site lists parts by number, with compatible parts by other manufacturers, and the laptop makes and models where the parts were used. this might be helpful.
http://www.usedpchub.com/uph/category/297/LCD-Screens.html
August 5th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Hi
I’ve taken on you guide to replace my screen on a E System 4115C Laptop but have come across a problem.
After swapping the screens i tested everything was ok before re fitting the plastic casing and after a couple of attmepts (powering on and off), the screen came to life and also on an external monitor i connected to it.
I refitted the casing and now when i power on nothing appears either on the laptop or on the external monitor. The power light comes on and the HD light flashes acouple of times on the laptop but that’s it.
In your experience are you aware of replacing a laptop screen leading to such problems.
Any Help would be appreciated
Thanks
August 29th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
i have hp pavilion zv5000 and the problem was on the inverter.the computer became dim/black and i can’t barely see the windows whenever i open it.i know the problem would be on the inverter,for now,i am using my lcd tv as my monitor on my laptop.i disabled the lcd monitor on my laptop since its very dark. is it okey if i remove the lcd monitor of the laptop and just keep my lcd tv as my monitor to my laptop?
September 16th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
My LCD screen on my dell inspiron laptop is busted and I can’t use it. Is there any way to hook up laptop to the TV if LCD screen is busted? I can’t navigate my laptop visually on the screen and I will be replacing the screen, but in the meantime I still need to be able to use my computer? Any advise? Please help! Any advise is much appreciated.
September 19th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Ellen,
Do you have VGA port on your TV? I think you should be able to use a VGA-to-VGA cable.
Connect the cable and turn on the laptop. Switch video from laptop to TV with Fn+F4 keys.