Backlight or inverter? ... Hey guys,My church has a Dell Latitude D505. Recently, the screen stopped displaying anything, but it still works fine with the ...

ec4912 · 03-13-2007, 08:56 AM

Hey guys,

My church has a Dell Latitude D505. Recently, the screen stopped displaying anything, but it still works fine with the projector. I checked it out, and the image is actually displayed, just very faintly. Also, I noticed it's upside down.

I'm a n00b when it comes to this LCD stuff. A new screen costs around $200 on eBay, but I did some searches here and read about it possibly being an "inverter". That's like $12. How can I find out if the backlight or inverter is bad? I don't want the church to spend all that money unless it has to.

Thank you for reading.

Yoob@NBF · 03-13-2007, 11:01 AM

The inverter is the cheapest component you can test without investing real money. For a problem tha tcould be potentially solved with a 12 dollar investment you would be silly not to try it. If it doesnt work then its 12 dollars lost but you wouldnt have to consider investing 200+ dollars for a new screen if it turns out that it didnt fix the problem either.

ec4912 · 03-13-2007, 11:43 AM

Good enough man. Thanks. I'll give it a try.

ec4912 · 03-29-2007, 12:16 PM

Just wanted to say I got the inverter yesterday for $30 (15" is more expensive for some reason), and it fixed it! Thanks for the advice, I saved a lot of money.

MrEvil · 03-29-2007, 01:34 PM

Generally speaking if it's a problem with the backlight of the LCD itself you'll see irregularities in the backlight when the screen is on. Think about Fluorescent lights that are about to burn out in an office. They flicker and stuff just before quitting rather than just *POOF* out like an incandescent. If the backlight doesn't work AT ALL then it's generally always the Inverter. I had a CCFL in my computer case do that to me after being left on too long.

Yoob@NBF · 03-30-2007, 09:21 AM

Glad to hear your problem was solved (Phew I guessed right)

03-13-2007, 08:56 AM	#1
ec4912 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 263 Credits: 1,585	Backlight or inverter? Hey guys, My church has a Dell Latitude D505. Recently, the screen stopped displaying anything, but it still works fine with the projector. I checked it out, and the image is actually displayed, just very faintly. Also, I noticed it's upside down. I'm a n00b when it comes to this LCD stuff. A new screen costs around $200 on eBay, but I did some searches here and read about it possibly being an "inverter". That's like $12. How can I find out if the backlight or inverter is bad? I don't want the church to spend all that money unless it has to. Thank you for reading. __________________ Dell Studio XPS 13 \| Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53 GHz) \| 4 GB RAM \| 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G \| 13.1 in LED Hypersonic GX8 \| Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Extreme Edition \| 1 GB RAM \| 128 MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo \| 15" UXGA \| 2 x 7200 RPM 60 GB HDD RAID 0

03-13-2007, 11:01 AM	#2
Yoob@NBF Formerly DELL-Machina Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 8,246 Reviews: 1 Benchmarks: 3 Credits: 725	The inverter is the cheapest component you can test without investing real money. For a problem tha tcould be potentially solved with a 12 dollar investment you would be silly not to try it. If it doesnt work then its 12 dollars lost but you wouldnt have to consider investing 200+ dollars for a new screen if it turns out that it didnt fix the problem either. __________________ HP Blackbird 002: Phoenix 2009 Gaming Beast Core 2 Quad 9450 @ 3.6Ghz \| 24" WUXGA HP LP2475w S-IPS \| 4 GB 800Mhz \| 2x Geforce GTX 260 216 SLI \| 640GB x2 RAID0 + 3TB \| 16x DVD+RW \| Win7 x64 Ultimate HTPC: Atlus 2009 HTPC Phenom 8650 X3 \| 46" Panasonic TH46PZ85U 1080P \| 4 GB 800Mhz \| Radeon 4850 512MB \| 750 GB \| 16x DVD+RW \| Win7 x64 Ultimate Alienware M15x: ValkyrieTwo 2009 Road Warrior Core i7m 720 \| 15.6" WFHD+ 1080p LED \| 4GB DDR3 1066Mhz \| Geforce GTX 260m 1GB \| 120GB Vertex SSD \| 8x DVD+R \| Intel 5300 B/G/N \| Win7 x64 Ultimate

03-29-2007, 12:16 PM	#4
ec4912 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 263 Credits: 1,585	Just wanted to say I got the inverter yesterday for $30 (15" is more expensive for some reason), and it fixed it! Thanks for the advice, I saved a lot of money. __________________ Dell Studio XPS 13 \| Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53 GHz) \| 4 GB RAM \| 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G \| 13.1 in LED Hypersonic GX8 \| Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Extreme Edition \| 1 GB RAM \| 128 MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo \| 15" UXGA \| 2 x 7200 RPM 60 GB HDD RAID 0

03-29-2007, 01:34 PM	#5
MrEvil The Dr House of PC repair Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Amarillo TX Posts: 4,451 Credits: 148	Generally speaking if it's a problem with the backlight of the LCD itself you'll see irregularities in the backlight when the screen is on. Think about Fluorescent lights that are about to burn out in an office. They flicker and stuff just before quitting rather than just POOF out like an incandescent. If the backlight doesn't work AT ALL then it's generally always the Inverter. I had a CCFL in my computer case do that to me after being left on too long. __________________ Notebook Forums' resident Dell/IBM/Sony field service technician. My Notebook: Dell Latitude D820 \| Intel Core Duo T2500 \| 2GB DDR2 \| 15" WSXGA screen \| nVidia Quadro 120m \| 250GB Hard Drive \| Samsung DVD-RW drive My Netbook: ASUS Eee(vil)PC 1000HE upgraded to 2GB of RAM running Windows 7 My Desktop: Intel Core 2 Quad QX9300 @ 3.5Ghz Liquid cooled \| 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR 1066 \| ATi Radeon 4870 \| Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB \| ASUS Maximus Formula motherboard \| Vista Ultimate x64

03-30-2007, 09:21 AM	#6
Yoob@NBF Formerly DELL-Machina Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 8,246 Reviews: 1 Benchmarks: 3 Credits: 725	Glad to hear your problem was solved (Phew I guessed right) __________________ HP Blackbird 002: Phoenix 2009 Gaming Beast Core 2 Quad 9450 @ 3.6Ghz \| 24" WUXGA HP LP2475w S-IPS \| 4 GB 800Mhz \| 2x Geforce GTX 260 216 SLI \| 640GB x2 RAID0 + 3TB \| 16x DVD+RW \| Win7 x64 Ultimate HTPC: Atlus 2009 HTPC Phenom 8650 X3 \| 46" Panasonic TH46PZ85U 1080P \| 4 GB 800Mhz \| Radeon 4850 512MB \| 750 GB \| 16x DVD+RW \| Win7 x64 Ultimate Alienware M15x: ValkyrieTwo 2009 Road Warrior Core i7m 720 \| 15.6" WFHD+ 1080p LED \| 4GB DDR3 1066Mhz \| Geforce GTX 260m 1GB \| 120GB Vertex SSD \| 8x DVD+R \| Intel 5300 B/G/N \| Win7 x64 Ultimate

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03-13-2007, 11:43 AM	#3
ec4912 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 263 Credits: 1,585	Good enough man. Thanks. I'll give it a try.

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