[mdlug] Laptop repair question

[Aaron Kulkis]

Garry Stahl wrote:
> Robert Adkins wrote:
>>>  My niece handed me her Sony VAIO (can't remember the model 
>>> number), and I confirmed that the backlight isn't working. 
>>> You can, in bright light, sometimes see a shadowy image, but 
>>> that's it. Things show up fine on an external monitor, though.
>>>
>>>  Now, a little Googling has shown I can get a replacement 
>>> CCFL bulb for ~$12, or a whole screen for $90-$100. I'm 
>>> pretty sure the backlight is the only real problem; the LCD 
>>> panel itself seems to be working okay.
>>> I'm reasonably sure I can disassemble and reassemble it, but 
>>> I'm not sure what's involved in replacing the bulb; I haven't 
>>> done that before.
>>>
>>>  Has anyone carried out a similar repair? Any tips or suggestions?
>>>
>>>     
>> 	You should only have to replace the bulb. Often times those are just
>> held in place by a few screws or clips and connected to the power source via
>> a plastic connector and sometimes they are soldered into place.
>>
>> 	It will take you anywhere from 2 to 3 times as long to complete as
>> you initially believe it will take.
>>
>> 	While performing the job, get yourself one of those little pill
>> boxes with 7 or more cups. To help in putting it back together, maybe create
>> some rough sketchs of the laptop showing the position of which screws and
>> then which of the bins you put those screws into. If you don't... You're
>> going to stand an inordinately high chance of ending up with more screws
>> left over than you should.
>>   
> Download the service manual.  This are invaluable when taking a laptop
> apart.
> 

ABSOLUTELY.  I had to fix a noisy fan on my HP laptop.

I didn't get very far without the service manual -- only
about 5-minutes before I was completely at a loss as to
where to even find more screws to continue disassembly.
(and this in a 120 minute procedure!).

Once I had the manual in PDF form, it was a cut-and-dried
process of merely looking at the illustrations and following
the procedures.