HomeIn this tutorial I’ll explain how to remove LCD screen and replace inverter board in an Acer Aspire 5100 laptop. This tutorial will work for many other Acer laptops with the same body.
In my previous article I was taking an Acer Aspire 5100 apart.
OK, let’s get inside the display assembly.
First of all, turn off the laptop, unplug AC adapter and remove the battery.
The screen bezel has four screws hidden under for seals. Two rubber seals on the top of the bezel and two plastic seals on the bottom.
You can remove all four screw seals with a sharp object as it shown on the picture below. Glue removed seals somewhere on the bezel so they don’t get lost.
Remove four screws found under seals.
Start remove the screen bezel with your fingers. Proceed slowly while removing the bezel.
Continue removing the screen bezel.
The bezel has been removed.
The inverter board is mounted below the LCD screen. If you are replacing the inverter board, you’ll have to separate the top cover from the LCD screen first.
Remove four screws. Two of them securing display hinges and other two securing the inverter board.
Carefully separate the display cover from the screen and access the LCD cable connector.
You’ll have to unplug the LCD cable from the screen.
First, unglue the clear sticky tape securing the connection.
Second, unplug the LCD cable from the connector on the screen.
Now you can access the inverter board witch is still connected to the laptop by cables on both sides.
Carefully unplug cables from both sides of the inverter board.
Remove the screen inverter board and replace it with a new inverter.
Here’s how you can remove the LCD screen.
Simply remove four screws securing the LCD screen to the display hinge. Remove four more screws from the other side of the screen.
Now you can remove and replace the LCD screen with a new LCD screen.
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November 7th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Hi! Great tutorial. Made it easy to replace the screen in my acer aspire 5515.
But now I have a problem! The first time I powered the laptop after replacing the screen, the screen turned completely white for about 10 seconsd, then went to black and has stayed black since. Pitch black as if there is no power. All of the normal sounds seem to be happening when I power up.. I took the laptop apart again to see if the cables were all connected, but I don’t really feel 100% that the video cable and inverter were reconnected successfully, especially the video cable! I am also unsure if maybe the new screen I bought doesn’t work- although like I said, it did turn white the first time I turned it on.
I can either go to a local computerrepair place (would they tell me if I installed the new screen incorrectly?)buy and replace the inverter, send the screen back and get a new one, or ship the laptop to Acer (even though I think I voided the warrenty by replacing the screen). What should I do? I can’t hook the laptop up to an external monitor because I haven’t a clue about how to do it!
Thanks!
October 25th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
brady champion,
1. Turn off the laptop, unplug the power adapter, remove the battery and wait for a minute or two. Plug the power adapter and try turning it on.
2. If the screen is completely black and blank, it’s not the inverter. Could be memory failure. Try reseating both memory modules. Remove memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. It will start when you remove the bad module.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Hi ,
i have an acer 3680 with some wierd issues , it was shut down im properly with just the power button. after that when you push the power button it does start . you can hear everything running
but no display i mean black as night, im reading all the articles on here and it sounds like i have bad inverter and or lcd . I went ahead and changed the invertor. and still no display should i be looking at replacing the lcd or is there something else i should check
I tried to hook it up on an external monitor with no luck it seems i dont know what keys to push to start the external monitor . any suggestions?
October 15th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Thanks for the step by step guide. I would have worked it out for myself eventually but I would have lost patience with the screen lid without this page!
October 14th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hi, I have an acer 3100 series and that doesn’t work and wanted to know if I could take the acer 3100 series lcd and put it on the base of an acer 5100 series. They look similar from the pics I see on Ebay. Just don’t want to buy something thats not compatible. Thanks for all of your help..
Larry..
October 10th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Hello, I have an ACER Aspire 5610Z. I had it plugged in with a universal adapter on 19V, the screen went dark after a few hours and I noticed that my 2 yr old son switched the 19 to 24V! When I power on, I can see the graphics very faint in the background. What could this be? I’m sorry but I’m not computer savvy so any help would be appreciated. Thank yoU!
October 1st, 2009 at 9:38 am
ok well i relpaced the lcd screen and inverter with no problems at all but now my aspire 3100 is like possesed by the devil.after i did the screen my cpu fan went bad.fixed tht.then the internet decided tht it didnt want to work in vista anymore but when i boot over to my ubuntu partion its fine.now to top off the cake….i had it plugged into the wall last week and all of a sudden it lost power.no idicator lights nothing.so i did everything i could think of to get it to come back from taking the battery out to trying to turn it on without the hard drive switched chargers wall outlets the whole shebang.si i took the whole thing apart down to the motherboard to see if there was any signs of shorts or heat damage which i saw no signs of. decided to put the whole thing back together and pray.well when i was putting the wireless card back in i noticed tht there was alot of slack from the cables tht hadnt been there before i got it put bak the best i could got it to power up and everything and charge only to have the monitor no longer work grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr help
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Jillygal,
I linked to the eBay page with LCD screens under the last picture. Have you checked eBay?
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Where can I buy a screen for my acer notebook??
September 19th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Chris,
It’s either bad backight lamp or faulty inverter. I cannot tell without testing the laptop with a known good backlight lamp. A shade of pink might be a symptom of failing backligth lamp. A noise from the lower part of the screen could be a symptom of failing inverter board. It’s hard to tell which one is causing the problem.
I would definitely try replacing the inverter first. It’s not expensive and will not take more than 20 minutes. If not help, you’ll need a new screen.
This is not related to the screen failure.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:22 am
I have the problem similar to post #96 – hitting the close lid switch will bring the screen back to life with some overall discoloration (a not so nice shade of pink) then it fails. While it’s on there is a distinct buzzing from the lower part of the LCD frame until it fails. Torquing the LCD has no effect, and external monitor works fine.
In possibly related issue, prior to the failure, I noticed the bottom on the LCD frame getting very hot. I was also getting hot on the lower left area of the keyboard and to the left of the touch pad. I’ve verified the fan is running at low speed, but will only ramp up to high speed during the power up testing.
Thanks!
September 10th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Robert,
Sounds like a problem with the motherboard. I don’t know what else could be wrong.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:37 am
Hi! What a great website – I have a problem with my Acer Travelmate 7720g Notebook.
There is no backlight on the screen but the windows page is showing in the background. I have connected an external monitor and it works fine with the notebook.
I also have an Acer Extensa 5220 which is of the same design as the Travelmate. I swapped the invertor and screen from the broken Travelmate along with the LCD cable and it worked fine in the Extensa. I also tried the Extensa invertor and screen and LCD cable in the Travelmate and the screen still didn’t light up…
What could be the problem – The switch for the lid switches off the external display so I assume it is working fine…
Why would the Travelmate not light up the LCD?
Thankyou for any help!!
September 6th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I have an acer aspire 5101 which belonged to my brother. He was told the onboard graphics had failed and gave it to me for spares. However I checked the VGA output and it is fine on my PC LCD monitor. So I believe the problem lies elsewhere and the onboard graphics are OK. The screen is absolutely black, even in a dark room. No lines, nothing however close you look. The only clue is that upon power-on there is a very clear (but not bright) flicker of light on the screen and at the same time a sound (very quiet) like a “pink” – a bit like the sound of a filament light bulb failing. Could you point me in the right direction… thanks, Rob
September 1st, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Hi.. my inverter did not come with the covering(light grey one).. is it ok to use the inverter without that covering?
August 31st, 2009 at 4:05 am
Hi,
Thanks for the great info!…I’ve ordered an inverter and I’m just waiting for it to arrive. I had a quick question though…why do I have to remove the LCD cable? Silly question maybe, maybe I should assume that the inverter has 3 connections…1 one each side of the inverter and another that goes somewhere in the middle for the LCD cable…correct?
Not having removed the inverter yet, I can’t see what else may be behind the inverter that may be connected to it. (ie. the LCD cable)
August 30th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Hi, and I must say thanks for such a great site! I have a query and wondered if you could help me with some advice before I buy a new inverter?
I was using the wife’s laptop yesterday (Acer Aspire 5100, 15.4″ screen) when all of a sudden the screen went blank. I restarted, the PC boots into windows fine but nothing on the screen.
So I hooked up the PC to the LCD TV via VGA cable; the PC outputs just fine to the TV. Even when I clone the TV display and laptop display, there’s nothing on the laptop screen.
While WIndows is running, I looked very closely at the PC screen and I could see, very faintly, the outlines of the backdrop. Holding the screen under a bright light meant I could also see edges of the pop-up windows etc.
In your inestimable opinion, would this rather sound like more of a problem with the inverter than the screen itself? I’ve seen some quite cheap inverters for the 5100 that I could pick up but didn’t want to waste money on one if it’s the screen which is up the spout.
Many, many thanks for your advice!
August 28th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Anson,
You’ll have to test the laptop with an external monitor.
If external video works fine and this problem appears only on the laptop screen, it’s possible that you have one of the following:
1. Loose connection between the video cable and motherboard/LCD screen. Try reconnecting the cable.
2. Faulty video cable. Try replacing the cable.
3. Bad LCD screen. You’ll have to replace the screen.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Hello, and thank you in advance for your help.
My Aspire 5100 has a display problem. It has always been opened up from the side. Now it seems to have a short somewhere.
After opening the lcd screen you will see light and colors nothing that you can make out. But when you pull or push the lcd from the side ever so slighty it begins to work but if you move your hand and the lcd screen moves even a little the image goes blank or you will see strange light patterns.
What could this mean?
Thanks,
Anson
August 18th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Werneck,
Can be either bad inverter or backlight. Both have very similar failure symptoms. You cannot tell which one is causing the problem until you test the laptop with a known good inverter. If you have to guess, try replacing the inverter board first. There is a good chance to fix the problem.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:52 am
So… my Acer Aspire 5102 was working perfectly yesterday, but I forgot it turned on during the night with a video playing all the time, so it wouldn’t go into sleep mode or turn the screen off by itself. When I check it at the morning the screen was blank. During reboot I got a quick flash at the boot menu, but then nothing more.
Under some heavy light I can see the LCD is working, and everything works ok plugged in another monitor. From what I read around, it’s not likely to be the backlight lamp, most likely it’s the inverter. I took it apart already and can replace it easily if I can find another one, but I’m a little afraid to buy another one without being sure.
This computer is over 2 years old, but from what I know the backlight lamp wouldn’t die suddenly like that. Any chance the problem is with it and not the inverter?
August 13th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
AH,
Have you tried using instructions I posted here? Step for replacing the LCD screen will be very similar across many different Acer laptops. Maybe some screws will be located in different spots but most general steps will be the same.
August 13th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Hi, i have an acer aspire one and the screen is damaged. I have just purchased a new screen and would appriciate a tutourial on how to remove and fit a screen to it as i am having difficulty finding out how to do this for this particular model.
Thanks
August 11th, 2009 at 10:45 am
please help i have these flat screen monitor “relisys PD-70fa” . when i used generator on the monitor it work for 30 minute and go off, if i remove the power cord and plug again it flicker and and remain blank. but when using direct NEPA light it works perfectly. pls what could be wrong?
July 30th, 2009 at 5:30 am
I have an acer 3010 and the problem that not only gives igane pressing the left superiro strongly the image would not. thanks for your help
July 28th, 2009 at 4:23 am
I replaced the screen following your instructions (it’s the 2nd one I’ve replaced) I didn’t replace the inverter board but I can’t get the inverter to fit back in – it’s held in with one screw and fits onto a little receiver at the other end. Also when I have it all back together again the laptop won’t power up and is dead – using connector that works on my Acer so not a power issue. HELP – I’m fixing this for a friend and it looks like I’ve wrecked it.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:30 am
Agree 100%. If you have a bad backlight lamp I would suggest replacing the whole LCD screen. It’s way easier and LCDs are cheap these days.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:23 am
Paul,
You may have a CFFL (bulb) issue. The replacement may have a bad bulb and when you installed the lcd was dark as you wrote. I am working on one (5100) that had a dim, almost black screen. I opened up the lcd screen to find the ccfl and sure enough it was broken.
The problem with replacing the bulb is that it was basically “soldered,” to the connectors. Now I am getting a new cover, lcd, inverter, bulbs, and wiring harnesses. The one I am getting is in good working order.
So it seems you ended up in the same situation you started in. There are lcd screens on Ebay for $69.99 + shipping. Less if you want to trying bidding on one. I would not recommend replacing the ccfl unless you are willing to risk breaking it.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:08 am
Paul,
Try installing the old cracked LCD back into the laptop. Does it light up? Can you see the working half of the screen properly?
If the old screen lights up but the new one doesn’t, most likely the new screen has a defective backlight lamp inside.
I assume you purchased a compatible screen.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:57 am
xrictod,
First of all, check the video cable connection. Make sure the cable is properly connected to the motherboard and LCD screen.
Are they very thin (1 pixel) vertical lines? It’s possible that you got a defective screen.