Can I replace my broken laptop screen?

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

The screen on my laptop has been broken by it being picked up by the top of the screen. As it looked totally unrepairable I have taken to it with a screwdriver and carefully managed to remove it. That was the easy bit, my question is, can I just buy the relevant screen and fit it back in? Any advice on how the little connector goes back, that looks like the technical bit as the screen seems to just stick on and the surround just snaps on.

 

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Does this help.

 

 

[corsechris]

As long as you can get the right part, it’s usually a pretty simple procedure. If you can find a youtube video of the teardown For the exact model, even better, as sometimes the fixings get hidden in interesting places! Sometimes you can also get lucky and be able to download the service manual which will give full instructions.

 

When stripping it down, make a careful note of which screws go in which holes. The manufacturers can have a nasty habit of using different length and size screws and you need to make sure they go back in the right holes.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Have done it in the past. As said above, watch out for minute differences in screws, keep them to the position they came out of, and, critically, watch out for ribbon cables! There can sometimes be more than one on individual components and some are very fine, Be buried under a component, and tear very easily when lifting a part out of the way, without expecting the additional connections. (My old business partner wiped out an expensive Vaio the hardware like this. But that was in the days before strip down videos on YouTube!)

[aeg]

What numpty picked it up by the screen is what we really want to know?? 😮 other forum members are just to scared to ask 😘

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

I have taken it apart as shown in the photo. It was glued on with like a very sticky version of blutack. There were no screws. It is the connecting pin that looks a bit scary, about a third of the way along the bottom of where the screen would be (in the photo). There is nothing to get hold of in order to push it back together, do I need a special tool?

 

I will take a closer photo tomorrow. 

 

@aeg I have carefully worded that bit to save anyone any embarrassment, you are causing a stir on our sofa😄 

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

C'mon Julie tell the truth, you threw it at Glen didn't you? 😂😂😂

[corsechris]

I’ve done a variety of Acer, HP, Toshiba and IBM laptops in the past and all had the screen assembly screwed in place. Holding it in with sticky pads seems a bit cheap!

 

Before going too much further, I’d get the replacement in hand to make absolutely sure what you are dealing with. I can’t recall one I’ve done where the connection was done in the lid, they’ve all been done on the mainboard after gaining access by removing the base or top of the main case. It could be you’ve separated it at a point never intended?  I’ll watch that video and see if it helps, I could easily be talking nonsense here having not done that specific model.

 

Actually, they look slightly different, what’s the exact model number you are working with?

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

Thank you for all your replies, well, except for Mr Hurdsfield, who is just plain naughty 😄 It is a Lenovo Ideapad 330S and it is less than a year old. I have taken a photo of the connector pin, as you can see there is no length of cable like the one in the video. Maybe it  all has to come apart further in order to free some cable up. I think I might be out of my depth in putting it back together and need to go to a laptop repair shop, he just makes it look so easy on the video. 

 

This is the connector on the screen

 

 

This is the connector on the mother board, showing no spare cable and no way of holding anything while it is being pushed on.

 

[corsechris]

Just watched a short video on replacing it. Indeed, it’s just stuck in, no fixing screws, and it also looks like that's all the cable you get too.

 

That closeup looks as if there is some damage to that connector. Hopefully the cable end is OK or it’ll likely be needing a new cable as well.

 

Glad I never had to work on a Lenovo, doesn’t look like they intended it to be repaired!

 

ETA. Forgot to say, probably a good idea to take it in if confidence is waning, so easy to make these things worse if you are in unknown territory. In the past, I’ve watched on in horror as supposedly trained and experienced techs have brutalised delicate bits of laptops and left them bruised, battered and broken. Sometimes only specific knowledge and experience of a given task will do the job so it’s smart to ‘know what you don’t know’.

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

Yes, very good advice, so I have been to my local repair shop today and they have quoted me £110 to supply and fit a new screen. I had previously looked on Amazon and the screen is £42, I wasn't even confident that I could buy the correct screen so I have instructed them to proceed with the work. The screen is not in stock so it will be next week before the job will be complete. I will update this topic then and maybe we can all learn if Lenovo are repairable 😃

 

Thank you for the advice.

 

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

An update as promised. The laptop has been repaired by the local repair shop at the quoted price of £110, suggesting that there were no nasty surprises lurking around. I was worried that the pin was damaged or that I may have caused some other issues, but, no, all was well.

 

So we have learnt 2 things, 1. Lenovo are repairable and 2. always pick your laptop up with 2 hands, it's not a spanner 😀

[Rory's Dad]

Glad it all worked out Julie 🙂. Weren't Lenovos IBMs once upon a time?

[dhutch]

15 hours ago, Julie Hall - Peak District AO said:

An update as promised. The laptop has been repaired by the local repair shop at the quoted price of £110, suggesting that there were no nasty surprises lurking around. I was worried that the pin was damaged or that I may have caused some other issues, but, no, all was well.

 

So we have learnt 2 things, 1. Lenovo are repairable and 2. always pick your laptop up with 2 hands, it's not a spanner 😀

Good work! #repairnotreplace