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This guide will help you replace the screen inverter in a Dell Latitude D800 laptop. As in most other models, the inverter board is mounted inside the display panel and located below the LCD screen.
You will find the display panel diagram in the service manual for Dell Latitude D800.
Screen inverter failure symptoms:
1. The laptop starts normally and video works fine for a while but after some time the screen goes very dark. You still can see the desktop but it’s very faint.
2. When you turn on the laptop, the screen lights up for a moment and goes off.
3. You can light up the screen for a short period of time by pressing on the lid close switch.
You can search for a new screen inverter for Dell Latitude D800 laptops here.
By the way, when the inverter board fails, you still can use the laptop with an external monitor connected to the VGA port.
1. Turn off the laptop.
2. Connect an external monitor.
3. Start the laptop, it should detect the external monitor automatically. If the external monitor is not detected, try switching video from internal to external mode using Fn+F8 key combination.
January 1st, 2009 at 8:59 am
Slightly different issue. My laptop suffered exposure to some extreme heat. Since then, the screen shows backlight, but nothing more. Connecting to an external monitor works fine, so the video card is obviously OK.
Does this sound like an inverter issue ?
Thanks
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
Bill Lhotta,
Nope, it doesn’t. If you can see the backlight, apparently the inverter board is working fine.
Most likely yes, the video card should be fine.
Your problem could be related to the video cable, maybe lose connection. Try reconnecting the cable on both, the LCD screen and motherboard.
If reseating connections or replacing the cable doesn’t help, I guess you have a problem with the LCD screen.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 8200. At bootup the screen lights up for about 30 seconds and bounces around before going totally dark. Is this an lcd, inverter or backlight issue?
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:24 am
Otto,
Take a closer look at the LCD screen after it goes dark. Can you see a very faint image? It could be very dark and you might need a flash light.
If you can see the image, most likely it’s a bad inverter. I would try replacing the inverter board first.
If a new inverter doesn’t help, apparently it’s a faulty backlight lamp. The backlight lamp is mounted inside the LCD screen and it’s very hard to replace this lamp. When backlight lamp goes bad, you’ll have to replace the whole LCD screen.
March 4th, 2009 at 6:19 am
I have Dell Inspiron 1520. With battery power the screen is fine. When I connect the power cord the screen goes black. I can still see the image on the screen if I shine a torch on it and if I connect external monitor it shows up fine on it. Is it an inverter problem?
March 4th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Charlie,
I really don’t know what is causing this problem. A few people posted exactly the same problem about their Dell laptops but no one posted a solution.
Make sure the LCD screen brightness is set to 100% when the laptop runs from the battery. If it still works fine from the battery, I think your problem is not related to the inverter board. Apparently, there is a problem with the motherboard and connecting the AC adapter makes it fail somehow.
Enter the BIOS setup menu and find out if you can control the screen brightness from there. Play with the settings. Try reducing the screen brightness 50% for the AC mode. Does it make any difference? Does the screen still fails when you plug in the adapter?
March 5th, 2009 at 4:24 am
Thanks, your idea worked. I entered bios (F2),set video brightness for battery to max and AC brightness to 50%. This worked but screen a little to dimm, so upped the brightness in bios again to 65% anything above this did not work.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I’m nearly certain, based on this and other web sources, that the problem with my inspiron 8200 is the inverter. I’ve found a number of places that sell them online, however the 8200 was made with lcds from a variety of manufacturers and it’s been extremely difficult determining the specific manufacturer of my particular lcd (UltraSharp XGA 1600×1200 15 inch)
Is the manufacturer’s info easy to find if I were to open the lcd myself? Do you have any tips for finding this information?
Thank you for your help.
March 16th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I also have screen issues with my Dell Inspiron. split second red picture at startup and then faint image. I have changed the inverter twice, with the first one working for about an hour and then the screen going dark again. Thinking that the new inverter went bad, I got another one and it didn’t work at all. (I’m NOT assuming a bad inverter here) I’m wondering if I have incompatible inverters, they were sold on ebay for my model laptop and screen size, but I didn’t have an original part number to compare. I’m leary of trying to replace the backlight myself. Any suggestions?
May 4th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I have a Dell Latitude D610, Internal video top half works fine, bottom half is garbled (can see shadow image of Dell Insignia during POST). Moving screen back and forth sometimes clears it up, to this point it has become pretty bad. External video works fine, no distortion. Thought here is bad LCD cable, but in disassembling it and wiggling it around, cannot figure out where the break is (to confirm the cable is bad and replace Cable is KC404) Your thoughts?
May 5th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Al,
It’s hard to tell if your problem is related to the cable or LCD.
Did you try reconnecting the video cable on the motherboard? Maybe it’s just loose connections.
May 6th, 2009 at 4:24 am
Yep, I tried multiple times. The connectors look decent. I attempted to measure the resistance across the conenctors and found maximum of 2.6 ohms, 0.8 ohms on most pins. Unfortunately, since it is an XGA connector, not all pins are in use and therefore I cannot tell if a particular wire is totally severed or not. I’ve ordered a new cable from an ebay seller, should be here in a couple of days for a whopping 7 bucks. Hoping that is all it is. Thanks.
May 9th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Well Status update, the new cable came today, put it in and same effect. So I guess I’m looking at a bad inverter board or a bad LCD altogether. I removed the wireless card and the modem just to make sure it wasn’t causing some interference with the LCD, but no dice. Back to the drawing board on this one.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I have a Dell Latitude D800 that now has a dim display from start-up to desktop (readable but certainly not bright enough to use without getting a headache). I have done the following:
1. Tried to adjust the brightness with the fn + arrow up/down keys – no change (same dim level up or down)
2. Hooked it up to an external monitor – the external monitor displays perfectly
3. Downloaded the latest Quickset application from dell to see if it would help the fn + arrow up/down keys – no change (same dim level up or down)
4. Adjusted the brightness in the BIOS to max for battery and with power – no change
5. Did a diagnostic test on boot up and got the error message LCD Inverter Detection Test – Fail Error Code: 1000-0322
6. Swapped the the entire LCD display with a known working one – no change – (doesn’t that rule out the inverter and the backlight?)
7. Downloaded the latest video drivers – no change
Any additional ideas for troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
May 28th, 2009 at 4:45 am
I have an issue and I don’t know why it does not work. I have a Latitude D630 and had to replace my broken screen against a new one. Same model, everything the same. Installed the screen, but when I boot up my laptop, the screen stays dark. When booting, I can see the screen reacting to it, nothing comes up. The laptop works fine when connecting to an external screen, but not with the new replacement screen. Is there some kind of a key combo I need to use to get it to work? I have no idea. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Steve…
May 28th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Steve,
Did you get any image or light on the old screen?
Did you replace just the screen or your new screen came with the inverter and you replaced both?
June 8th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I have a the dell xps m1330 which was in a bag that toppled over. now the screen stays black. from a certain angle i can still see all the elements/icons very very dim but basically there is no light. i tried an external monitor as well, but this doesn’t work either so i wonder if the screen is broken or something else. thank you.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:48 am
I have a Dell Latitude C610 with 14.1″ screen. When I start the computer, the screen “flikers” and the picture becomes eratic. I usually give a little slap in the back of the top-screen and the image gets to normal. When I move the screen (or the whole laptop) the image flikers again.. and I need to move the screen foward or backward and/or slap the sreen again to fix the image. Most of the time the image stop flikering, but sometimes the image stop flikering but some of the screen dots becomes red.
August 9th, 2009 at 8:01 am
i have a acer aspire 5570z and when i start it up its shows a white screen and it doesnt go away is it the inverter
August 29th, 2009 at 6:31 am
I have dell inspiron 1520. My backlight started dimming from the left. Yesterday it turned completely black . I turned off the laptop and turned it ON after a while and it started again good. The display then again started fading from the left and started dying. Closing the lid also did recover the display sometimes. On less brightness, it works for long hours and doesnt go blank, but still the display on left is dimmer than that on right and the dimming gradually increases as long as I keep my lcd ON.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:46 am
Sumukh – Your LCD backlight is going bad. You’ll need to replace the screen. Try to find one with an inverter that matches the screen for dell. Dells are very specific and require specific inverters. If you get a new screen, with no inverter, use the original inverter. Thanks!
November 21st, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Hea there ,.. my problem is that i have DELL latitude D600 n im connected the laptop with an external monitor through a dok station …… but one day i opend it up n i have the same view on both monitors … mean i wanna work on one monitor n open folder on the other monitor but i couldnt …..
( ……….. also the reselution in the external moniotr was OMG ……… i tried the Fn tab …. wont work ……i tried to reconnect the laptop with the external monitor n turn it off n ON again … wouldnt work … i also treied to turn the laptop off n reconnect the moniotr n turn it ON again … same thing … nothin happened …. So plz is there any one can HELP …. i really need that …………………………….
thank you in advance every one
February 21st, 2010 at 9:54 am
I have Dell Inspiron 1520. With battery power the screen is fine. When I connect the power cord the screen goes black. I can still see the image on the screen if I shine a torch on it and if I connect external monitor it shows up fine on it. ( charlie had posted same thing on 04th march 2009)
I have same problem since last one year. When AC power setting in BIOS kept less than 50% then it works fine. Also I checked with friend’s AC adapter, same problem persists. It seems that, Dell has some problem with Inspirion 1520.
Please suggest what to do.
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Ajaya,
What do you mean by AC power setting in BIOS kept less than 50%?
Are you talking about LCD screen brightness settings?
March 9th, 2010 at 2:31 am
I have Dell Inspiron 1420, my computor shows green color while bootin & when i open any one application the white background turnup in pink with black dots. The display is not proper. Can any one help me?
Regards,
Dinesh
April 29th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
I have a dell lattitude d630, the lcd lights up,but no image, when I got to VGA mode, i get an image with blue lines in the back, when i open certian windows, the line disappears…if I try to switch back to LCD no luck…same issue, it stays lit up with no image
April 29th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Javier,
Sounds like the video card failure.
May 21st, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Question, i replaced my sony vaio’s lcd screen, and when i was pluggin in the inverter cable i was sure how it was suppose to connect the inverter cable, with the white cable on top or the red cable on top? and now my computer wont go past windows startup then a windows prompt mentioned if i installed something then disconnect and try again, so im thinking i might have connected the inverter backwards???
June 28th, 2010 at 11:44 am
I have the same problem as Al above:
“I have a Dell Latitude D610, Internal video top half works fine, bottom half is garbled (can see shadow image of Dell Insignia during POST). Moving screen back and forth sometimes clears it up, to this point it has become pretty bad. External video works fine, no distortion. Thought here is bad LCD cable, but in disassembling it and wiggling it around, cannot figure out where the break is (to confirm the cable is bad and replace Cable is KC404) Your thoughts?”
Al replaced his cable with no improvement.
I checked the insides, no loose connections. Putting some strain on the LCD produces some visible change in the garbled image (and sometimes even fixes it). However, playing around with the cable does not reproducibly fix the screen, so I do not think its the cable either. I was hoping someone with experience (hopefully Al) could tell me which part needs replacing. I have a 4 yr old Lenovo Z61m. Thanks!
June 28th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Kaveh,
Sounds like a problem with the LCD screen. You’ll have to replace the screen.
July 19th, 2010 at 10:18 am
my laptop screen back light comes during booting and goes off again with the desktop still appearing. from the solution and cases read i think it can be the fault of the inverter board but sometimes the desktop don’t come at all. what problem could be that?
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:19 am
thony,
What do you mean the desktop don’t come at all? The screen is completely black and blank?
Take a closer look at the screen, maybe the image is still there but it’s very dim?
December 7th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I have a D800 with a dim screen. I have replaced the backlight inverter but the screen still goes dark. Do you think it is the bulb in the screen that has gone bad because it would light up for a minute but then it goes out even with the new inverter inplace.
December 8th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Eric,
Yes, most likely this is backlight lamp related failure. You’ll have to try replacing the LCD screen next.
February 1st, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Hello,
I have a Inspiron 8600. The screen has a black spiderlike perminate markings on it. I bought this computer off a friend but I am not sure what happened to the screen.. looks like an impact of some sort… Should I just buy a new screen?? and replace according to your instrustions??
here is an image:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cwk8qvqiJcf_0Mul_OgGGq26YXNylX7cl-wAQh7R5YY/edit?hl=en&authkey=CM-Li6cP
Any suggestions?
Thank you
Justin
February 1st, 2011 at 10:20 pm
Justin London,
The LCD screen definitely broken and has to be replaced.
You can follow this guide for Inspiron 8600 laptop: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/files/dell-inspiron-8600-inverter-replacement.pdf
By the way, I would suggest searching for a new replacement screen using Dell part number from the back of the original screen. This way you’ll find a compatible screen and there shouldn’t be any mistake.
March 6th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Hi I have a Dell Lattitude D800,when i press power on,the screen image comes on as normal but the backlight flickers real quick (like strobes) for about 2 seconds then just goes out,when it flickers i can hear a real quick ticking noise,like the starter noise from a flouresant light ,but the laptop and screen image stays normal..any ideas ? i did keep the main ribbon plugged in to the dell screen then got a different screen and plugged the backlight in from the other screen,but the backlight on the other screen does the same,so i dont think its the backlight,so all i can assume is that the inverter has give up the ghost..
March 9th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
hi, i have a dell latitude series d800, when i start the laptop a message comes on saying –
“the ac power adapter type cannot be determined. this will prevent optimal system performance.
strike f1 to continue, f2 to run the setup utility”
if i press f1 it goes to another page with a few options on it, “start windows normally” which i have tried, “last known good configuration”, also tried, and “safe mode with networking” also tried, each one of these options restarts the laptop and it goes back to where i first began. my knowledge is limited and i have no idea what to try. any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.
March 9th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
skye,
I think you have two different problems.
1. A message about wrong adapter might appear when you are using a generic AC adapter. Are you using the original Dell AC adapter?
2. It’s possible the laptop will not boot in any mode because the operating system corrupted. Also, this could be hardware related problem but first I would try reinstalling OS. I cannot tell what is wrong without seeing the laptop.
March 10th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Paul,
You did really good troubleshooting the laptop.
If you have same flickering problem with another backlight lamp, most likely this is inverter failure.
I think replacing the inverter board should fix it.
March 23rd, 2011 at 12:23 pm
i replaced a backlight and inverter on a dell inspiron e1505. now when i turn it on i only have the top half of screen visible. the bottom is black during startup and greenish/striped when it boots up. i assume i did something wrong during install…………..
June 2nd, 2011 at 6:16 am
When I started up my laptop this morning the screen was very dark, but the desktop was dimly visible. I restarted it a few times and on the third restart it worked fine–after I had turned it over to see if there might be a problem with the opening-and-closing mechanism of the top. I think I jostled something enough to make it work again–it seems like a physical problem. Is it likely to fail again? Is this probably an inverter problem?
June 5th, 2011 at 9:03 am
@ alison,
Possible inverter or backlight lamp failure. I cannot tell without testing the laptop.
If the laptop starts failing like that more often, try replacing the inverter first.
January 12th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Does the D800 have different inverters for different resolution screens?
A WUXGA screen isn’t working as replacement for a WXGA screen.
Does it need a different inverter or video card?
January 13th, 2012 at 11:42 am
@ HC,
What is your problem. No backlight or no video at all?
It’s possible your new WUXGA screen needs a new video cable.