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Do you want to know how to take apart the display panel and replace the inverter board on a Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 series laptops? Check out these instructions created by Krazykwok (1.34MB pdf file).
This is not hard to do at all, $40 and 20 mins of work might save you quite a lot of money. Don’t be afraid to pull the frame, it can’t get worse than not having it fix. Pull out the battery if you want to but I didn’t, so that’s why you see me disconnect the power panel connector below. All you need is a good sets of little screw driver from Walmart. You will need a good and solid quality philips head mini screw driver for the 2 screw on the inverter.
These disassembly instructions should work for many other Dell laptops, because they all engineered similarly.
If you are taking the laptop apart to replace the inverter, you don’t have to remove the keyboard bezel as the author of this guide did. It’s not necessary to disconnect the video cable from the motherboard, simply remove the battery.
For the display panel disassembly, follow these steps:
1. Remove 8 screw seals from the LCD bezel.
2. Remove screws securing the LCD bezel to the LCD cover.
3. Remove the LCD bezel.
4. Remove screws securing the inverter board. Remove and replace inverter.
The author spent about $40 for a new screen inverter. You can find it for about $20-25 here: Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 screen inverters.
You may ask. Why would I want to replace the inverter board? Let me explain it in a few words.
The inverter board works as a power supply for the LCD screen backlight lamp. When inverter dies, the LCD screen becomes very dark. The laptop still works and the image is still on the screen but you barely can see the desktop because the screen is very dark. You’ll experience something like this guy with his IMB laptop:
I could get the screen to come back on momentarily by toggling Fn-F7 a few times, but after about 10 seconds it went blank again. After rebooting, same thing — 10 seconds and blank.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that I could actually see the windows very, very dimly on the screen.
Check out my previous post for more information about troubleshooting LCD screen backlight failure.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I wanted to give you my sincere thanks for this site and for the information within it. I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 and I love it. My son was on it one day when the screen went blank. I panicked because I have never opened a laptop for repair but I am very comfortable with desktops. I took it in to a local PC repair shop and the guy told me the estimate for repair would start at $250 and could go up if they found other problems. Well I came across your site and was able to correctly diagnose the problem. Your instructions to replace an invertor were clear and consise. I was able to not only crack open the laptop I actually did the repair step by step with your instructions. I cannot say thank you enough, I made the same mistake you did with the incorrect invertor size but I followed your instructions and my Dell is now working great. Thank you again for the priceless information and the confidence I now have to fix my own laptop!
July 31st, 2008 at 9:11 am
I agree, this is a GREAT site. My Inspiron 8600 went “black,” just as the site said. $120 purchase of a new screen w/ inverter off of Ebay, I followed the instructions (OK, I had to replace the screen),and now the laptop is running great.
This solution beats spending $1600 for a new laptop (where you’re forced to take Vista & Blu Ray at a high price).
August 24th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Dell support was kind of helpless as they couldn’t diagnose the problem but had me purchase a new video card. I’m glad my second guess was right. It wasn’t easy to take these pictures one-hand with my heavy dSLR while working on it. But it’s well worth it, save me and you lots of money
September 9th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I am trying to replace mine. My dell inspiron 8600 laptop. I have all the problems described.
I can dimly see the windows logo in the background and one time dell support had me reboot but then it went black again. How would i know the right size of the inverter to buy?? Dell support keeps telling me that i need to buy a new screen and i know thats not the case. ITS too much money!!! Please help me
September 9th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Deegirl,
Could be bad inverter (replace inverter) or bad backlight lamp inside the LCD screen (replace screen).
They tell you to buy a new screen because it comes with the inverter board. I believe they don’t sell these parts separately but you can find them on eBay (I linked to various inverters in the post).
Take a closer look at your original inverter board. Most likely it has the part number stamped somewhere on the inverter. Search for a new inverter by the part number from the original inverter.
September 26th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Well, I’m off to EBay to get my inverter! Thanks much for this, what a money/frustration saver! Best regards.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:17 am
[...] Related article for Dell Inspiron 8500/8600: taking apart display panel. [...]
December 1st, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Took your advice and ordered an inverter off of ebay for about $30. I’ve had my Inspiron 8600 for about 5 years so it’s been a great laptop! My inspiron 8600 laptop screen has been “dim” for few months now and I had been just hooking up to an external monitor until I read your article. Took apart the bezel carefully and replaced the inverter. Now, it’s great! Thanks! I was going to throw away this laptop before I found your article!!
December 1st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
For those who have bought an inverter for the Dell Inspiron 8600, what size did you get? I want to order the inverter before I take it apart.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
i bought the inverter from the recommended link off ebay. when i installed it the screen didnt light up, with a flashlight on the screen i can tell the computer is working just no light. with the old inverter the screen will light up for a split second then go dim again when i press and release the screen up down plunger. is my lcd bulb blown or did i get a faulty inverter???
please help
December 18th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
adam,
It’s hard to tell. It’s possible that your new inverter is defective but could be bad backlight.
I guess you’ll have to replace the inverter again. If you still have the same problem, most likely it’s the lamp.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
thanks for the quick reply. are there any step by step for the lamp replacement???
thanks
December 19th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
adam,
It’s not easy to replace the backlight lamp. You can try but there is a chance to damage the screen. But who needs a screen without backlight? LOL
Instructions here: How to replace laptop backlight lamp (CCFL)
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 am
Here is my blog of the replacing the lamp inverter in a Latitude D800.
You can see how ugly that replacement was. I own an Inspiron, so I expect to one day do that one. So thanks for the pointers.
FWIW, the Dell service guides online are quite good.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:43 am
Rich Andrews,
Thanks for the link, nice job.
I mentioned your instructions in one of my posts here:
How to replace screen inverter in Dell Latitude D800 laptop
May 14th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
So I took off the bezel and see the inverter but I absolutely cannot seem to unscrew it. Is there some special tool I need? Looks like a shallow Phillip’s head screw nothing I try works, using smalles I have from an eyeglass repair kit, it fits in slot but won’t turn it, just stripping the soft head of the screw.
Thanks
December 31st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Thanks a lot for your instruction manual with pictures. It really helped me when i was trying to replace the bezel of my laptop.
Thanx again..
January 6th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Hello,
Now my Dell 8600 Screen has gone Black, During start up the Dell post screen is visible for a second, then black again. The external video connector works flawlessly as does Windows XP so I suspect the inverter. I took it all apart to inspect cabling (My unit was made in Ireland and came with a wooden type top finish) all looks good.
The Inverter on my model is differnet from the images posted here, it seems to be hidden under a thin metal bracket secured by 2 of the tiniest micro philips screws I have ever seen, also the inverter itself is secured by yet another screw on this bracket, All screw drivers I have tried won’t fit. (There were no screws left & right of the Dell logo on the bezel – only rubber mats in a fake hole) and to be honest the bezel over the inverter always looked a bit ‘unsecured’. It looks like a little liquid may have gotten into it.
I need to know the correct model of the inverter as it seems this model 8600 has a number of different inverters) it is certainly thinner that the images shown here,
Any Idea’s?
January 16th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Hey,,
Is there anybody out there?
an update: after finally getting the Inverter ‘off’ the screen, It was glued into a silver bracket! Anyway, I tested a few inverter’s and got mixed results, with one The screen came back to life but would flicker (As the voltage on this inverter is too low) I had the lamp tested and it was fine.
This will be the last ‘Hell’ machine I purchase.
Thom.
January 18th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Thom,
Are you sure the baclight lamp inside the LCD screen is good? How did you test the lamp?
January 19th, 2010 at 5:50 am
Hello,
The Machine has sprung back to life. I replaced the Original inverter with a secondhand one from an Inspiron 6000. It had the same model No. and came with a Samsung screen. (My 8600 Screen is by Samsung) The design of my 8600 is alittle different from the American made 8600. A guy that I know in a local computer shop hooked up a voltage selector to the screen cables and was his opinion that the lamp inside the screen was fine.
The little thin hibernation ‘Stick’ near the power button can be problematic over time as it can also make the screen go black when it gets stuck.
January 14th, 2011 at 9:43 am
Awsome….7.99 and my wifes laptop is back in business. This site will comtinue to help people…nice job
February 16th, 2011 at 10:17 am
It may be to late to help most of the folks above but this happen to my 8500 turns out it was the mechanical switch located on the board right below the screen. If you look closely these dells have a push pin that tells the monitor to go into sleep mode, what happen with mine was that this pin would get caught never release hince the black screen. Try that before going through anything else. Good luck
April 26th, 2011 at 11:00 am
Excellent site, thanks for the great info.
Would it be possible for you to explain how to change the lcd hinges on an Inspiron 8500? From the pic It doesn’t look like it would be that difficult, but before I attempt it I just wanted to know if there are any tips that could help me out?
Thanks again,
Brian