Dell 8600 display problem.

[macten]

I've been picking up some side work doing computer upgrade/maintenance. I've run into my kryptonite, laptop display. I've just never felt comfortable working on laptop hardware outside of the basics. Anyway, Dell Inspiron 8600 boots up to a white screen. I'm thinking cable, could be the entire LCD screen has gone bad. Anyone had any experience with this? Where should I start?

 

[jarotech]

You could open the display to look at the cable on the back of the screen, it should be firmly inserted in the connector. Try with an external monitor to be sure your gpu is all right.

 

[macten]

Thanks,

It works fine with an external display.

I was looking this laptop up on Ebay to see what it was worth. They are going for 30 to 50 bucks, which is probably about what it would cost just to open this thing up and look at it. Would you even think it was worth fixing? I guess I could offer to just get any information off of it he might want..

 

[macten]

Well, I got the thing apart..mostly. One of the screw's holding the LCD in the plastic stripped out on me. It's got to be the cable or the monitor though. I'm just going to take it to him tomorrow and tell him what it would cost to fix it vs. what it's worth.