Suggestions for fixing old (386) laptop screen?

[Fort Apocalypse]

Have any suggestions for fixing an old (386) laptop screen or could tell me what's wrong with it? It is a black and white screen and if you look at it from a really heavy angle you can see what is supposed to be on the screen but from straight-on it is black. If you press on the screen you can sometimes see text/etc under it.

[Video]

EEW, is it supposed to be backlighted? If so, is it actually lighted? or maybe that's burned out. Replaceing the light in one of those is rather expensivve, and generally not worth it...though alternate options like LED or flatlites work

 

If it's not backlit, or the backlight is working, then it sounds like a contrast issue, like it's turned all the way up. If it was an older LCD handheld, I'd say maybe you could clean, or replace the screen controll pot, but I don't know how this works on a laptop.

[Fort Apocalypse]

EEW, is it supposed to be backlighted? If so, is it actually lighted? or maybe that's burned out. Replaceing the light in one of those is rather expensivve, and generally not worth it...though alternate options like LED or flatlites work

 

If it's not backlit, or the backlight is working, then it sounds like a contrast issue, like it's turned all the way up. If it was an older LCD handheld, I'd say maybe you could clean, or replace the screen controll pot, but I don't know how this works on a laptop.

It is the kind where (when it worked) if you looked at it from some angle other than straight on it would look black on white instead of white on black. Was that backlit?

 

If I could fix it easily and cheaply, I'd definitely do it. Is there a good place to by new replacement parts (generic) that might work in old laptops?

Edited May 17, 2009 by Fort Apocalypse

[triverse]

EEW, is it supposed to be backlighted? If so, is it actually lighted? or maybe that's burned out. Replaceing the light in one of those is rather expensivve, and generally not worth it...though alternate options like LED or flatlites work

 

If it's not backlit, or the backlight is working, then it sounds like a contrast issue, like it's turned all the way up. If it was an older LCD handheld, I'd say maybe you could clean, or replace the screen controll pot, but I don't know how this works on a laptop.

It is the kind where (when it worked) if you looked at it from some angle other than straight on it would look black on white instead of white on black. Was that backlit?

 

If I could fix it easily and cheaply, I'd definitely do it. Is there a good place to by new replacement parts (generic) that might work in old laptops?

You may want to watch ebay (they usually have stores on there that have parts for older laptops). Not saying you will definitely be able to get the part you want or at the price you want since it is a rather obscure item.

[Keatah]

Sounds like you *might* have a power supply (internal to the lcd panel drivers) that is causing 'messed-up' biasing. I would just go to flea-bay to get a used part or something.

[triverse]

What brand and such is the laptop? I have a bunch of the older ones here at my house (they do their job well when I need a text editor or something low power). I may have one like yours.

[Fort Apocalypse]

What brand and such is the laptop? I have a bunch of the older ones here at my house (they do their job well when I need a text editor or something low power). I may have one like yours.

 

Ultra 386SX-20. The battery pack on it died long ago, but the DC power supply works fine (still does) as does the floppy drive (the CMOS/whatever settings don't hold so I don't use the hard drive). Started letting the kids use it years back and we were just hooking it to the wall. About a year or so ago the screen stopped working (but like I said, if you hold it from an extreme angle you can just barely make out what should be displayed- black on black. It used to be white on black if you looked at it straight-on and would kind-of alternate white on black to black on white holding it from different angles.

 

Don't feel like you have to provide any parts. I was just curious whether there was something I could take apart and perhaps check a connection for or replace something that was low-cost. Thanks!

[triverse]

What brand and such is the laptop? I have a bunch of the older ones here at my house (they do their job well when I need a text editor or something low power). I may have one like yours.

 

Ultra 386SX-20. The battery pack on it died long ago, but the DC power supply works fine (still does) as does the floppy drive (the CMOS/whatever settings don't hold so I don't use the hard drive). Started letting the kids use it years back and we were just hooking it to the wall. About a year or so ago the screen stopped working (but like I said, if you hold it from an extreme angle you can just barely make out what should be displayed- black on black. It used to be white on black if you looked at it straight-on and would kind-of alternate white on black to black on white holding it from different angles.

 

Don't feel like you have to provide any parts. I was just curious whether there was something I could take apart and perhaps check a connection for or replace something that was low-cost. Thanks!

I will look and see what I have, if I have one like yours if you want it you can have it (just cover shipping). If I have one, I would rather see it get used rather than sit in my spare room.