Sony Laptop LCD Problem

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hey Fellas. I own a Sonly PCG-NV170. About a year and a half ago
one day I came home and the lcd was dead. Not really dead, you could
barely make out the images. Like the back light was out. I sent it to
Sony and they gave me a quote that was too high so I turned it down.
Recently, I've started thinking of trying to fix it myself. I did some
research and decided it was probably the lcd inverter that went bad -
so I bought a new one on Ebay (used). I just put it in, and have the
same behavior. Grr.

Question: Am I an idiot and it wasnt the inverter at all - and the LCD
really is bad - or did I get a bad used inverter? Based on the
behavior I have described, can anyone offer any advice?

I'd appreciate it greatly.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

What figure did Sony quote you? A failing backlight is most likely the
culprit. This happens with great regularity on laptops. This should be
fixable for about $200.00.

"SomaAddict" <dragon5619@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1124406083.596682.114060@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Hey Fellas. I own a Sonly PCG-NV170. About a year and a half ago
> one day I came home and the lcd was dead. Not really dead, you could
> barely make out the images. Like the back light was out. I sent it to
> Sony and they gave me a quote that was too high so I turned it down.
> Recently, I've started thinking of trying to fix it myself. I did some
> research and decided it was probably the lcd inverter that went bad -
> so I bought a new one on Ebay (used). I just put it in, and have the
> same behavior. Grr.
>
> Question: Am I an idiot and it wasnt the inverter at all - and the LCD
> really is bad - or did I get a bad used inverter? Based on the
> behavior I have described, can anyone offer any advice?
>
> I'd appreciate it greatly.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

About $600. They said they would have to replace the entire LCD. I
was under the impression that the backlight was the inverter? Are they
two distinct things?

 

[TC]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Backlight is a fluorescent tube integral with/ or separate from the display
and inverter is the device that provides the high voltage to run that tube.
Terry

"SomaAddict" <dragon5619@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1124407205.163873.84850@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> About $600. They said they would have to replace the entire LCD. I
> was under the impression that the backlight was the inverter? Are they
> two distinct things?
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

The backlight is a teenie florescent (sp) light that literally lights the
screen from behind. They go bad. I agree with the other poster that this
is a suspect part in your case.

If you decide to not fix it, I may be interested in buying it. Reply to
bobkos at earthlink dot net.


"SomaAddict" <dragon5619@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1124407205.163873.84850@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> About $600. They said they would have to replace the entire LCD. I
> was under the impression that the backlight was the inverter? Are they
> two distinct things?
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

No way to know, but your thinking -- even if it ended up being wrong --
was sound. The inverter is indeed the most likely cause. In this
instance, the 2nd most likely cause is the actual lamp itself.


SomaAddict wrote:

> Hey Fellas. I own a Sonly PCG-NV170. About a year and a half ago
> one day I came home and the lcd was dead. Not really dead, you could
> barely make out the images. Like the back light was out. I sent it to
> Sony and they gave me a quote that was too high so I turned it down.
> Recently, I've started thinking of trying to fix it myself. I did some
> research and decided it was probably the lcd inverter that went bad -
> so I bought a new one on Ebay (used). I just put it in, and have the
> same behavior. Grr.
>
> Question: Am I an idiot and it wasnt the inverter at all - and the LCD
> really is bad - or did I get a bad used inverter? Based on the
> behavior I have described, can anyone offer any advice?
>
> I'd appreciate it greatly.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

The backlight is not the inverter. The inverter is merely a power
supply for the light bulbs.

If you removed the LCD panel, you would find two electrical connections
to it. There is a signal connection to the LCD Panel itself, a cable
with a large number (20 to 40) of conductors. Seperately, you would
find a 2-conductor cable (often pink and white) going from the LCD panel
to the inverter, which is a separate PC board. The two wires (heavily
insulated) are simply the two ends of a thin flourescent lamp tube
powered by the inverter (a few laptops have two such tubes in their LCD
panels, with two separate connections to the inverter). Although the
lamp tube is physically "inside" the LCD panel, logically it's a
separate component, and normally it is separately replaceable (the
difficulty of this varies from no-tools trivial to literally impossible
without return to the LCD factory or service center, where it has to be
done in a clean room or at a laminar flow worstation).

So there are logically 3 components, the LCD panel, the lamp(s)
(physically inside the panel) and the inverter. And in almost all
cases, the lamp can be replaced separately from the LCD panel (again,
with varying degrees of difficulty, and in a few cases it cannot be
replaced separately but those cases are VERY few).



SomaAddict wrote:

> About $600. They said they would have to replace the entire LCD. I
> was under the impression that the backlight was the inverter? Are they
> two distinct things?
>