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Today I will be removing and replacing the LCD screen in an IBM ThinkPad T43p laptop. You can use same set of instructions for ThinkPad T43 and some other IBM (now Lenovo) laptops.
Failure description: the laptop starts with a reddish screen (white color appear to be pink). After a minute or two the backlight goes completely off but you still can see a very faint image on the screen if you look very closely. When you restart the laptop, the screen lights up again but a minute later the light goes off.
Solution: the laptop has a failing backlight lamp which is a part of the LCD screen. The whole screen has to be replaced.
Let’s disassemble the display panel and remove the LCD screen.
STEP 1.
Carefully remove four screw seals from the bottom part of the display bezel.
You can remove them with a sharp object.
Remove all four screws found under the seals.
STEP 2.
Remove three screws (found under seals) from the left side of the display panel.
STEP 3.
Remove four screws (found under seals) from the right side of the display panel.
STEP 4.
The display bezel is glued to the LCD screen with sticky tape. You can separate the bezel using a guitar pick (as I do) or another piece of plastic.
Insert the guitar pick between the display bezel and screen and carefully move it along the side until the bezel is separated.
STEP 5.
Continue removing the display bezel with your fingers.
STEP 6.
The screen inverter is mounted under the bezel and can be replaced without removing the bezel completely. I’ll remove the display bezel because I have to replace the LCD screen.
STEP 7.
The display bezel has been removed.
STEP 8.
In order to confirm the backlight lamp failure I did the following experiment.
I unpluged the LCD screen from the right side of the inveter board and pluged in an known good backlight lamp. After that I turned on the laptop and tested it with my backlight lamp for about 10 minutes. My backlight lamp didn’t turn off and worked fine all time. That means the backlight lamp inside the screen is bad.
If your laptop doesn’t work with a known good backlight lamp, most likely you have a problem with the inverter board.
STEP 9.
Unplug the inverter board from the video cable.
Remove the inverter board.
Do you need a new inverter board? Find a new inverter here.
STEP 10.
Carefully separate the LCD screen from the display cover. Do not forget to release the cable with night lamp. Simply pull the cable from the display cover.
STEP 11.
Now you can access the back side of the LCD screen and unplug the screen cable.
Remove sticky tape securing the connection and pull the cable connector from the LCD screen.
STEP 12.
Remove the LCD screen from the laptop.
The LCD screen has been removed.
Be careful with this piece of plastic. Try not to remove it from the display because it will take some time to figure out how to connect it back together.
I believe this piece of plastic is designed to prevent the screen cable from breaking when you close the display.
STEP 13.
Remove two screws securing the display mounting brackets.
Remove the bracket and move it to a new LCD screen.
Do the same with the bracket on the other side of the screen.
You can find a new LCD screen using two different part numbers from the back side of the defective screen:
1. The model number of the LCD screen. In my laptop it is N150U3-L01
2. FRU part number. In my laptop it is 92P6753.
Looking for a new screen for your IBM ThinkPad T43/T43p laptop? You can find a brand new screen here.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Netmouse,
I agree. Replacing just the backligth lamp will save you lot’s of money but you have to know what you are doing.
If you’ve never done it before you can easily damage the screen. Do it only if you have nothing to lose. You can find a new backlight lamp for about $10-15 on eBay.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:14 pm
You can just replace the backlight instead of the whole LCD screen. Replacing the whole screen is lot easier for most people, but will save you lot’s of money if you just replace the backlight.