Screen inverter board
Laptop inverter boards (also know as LCD inverter, FL inverter, screen inverter, backlight inverter) come in different shapes and sizes. On the picture above you see some typical looking inverter boards found in laptop computers.
The inverter board works as a power supply for the backlight lamp mounted inside the LCD screen. The inverter board converts low voltage DC power (few volts) supplied by the motherboard to high voltage AC power (few hundred volts) needed for the backlight lamp.
When the inverter board works properly, the backlight lamp gets power and the LCD screen lights up. As a result, the image on the screen is bright.
HOW INVERTER CONNECTED TO LDC SCREEN
On the picture below you can see a typical laptop display assembly which includes the LCD screen, video cable and inverter board.
One side of the inverter board connects to the backlight lamp and another side to the video cable (LCD screen cable).
HOW INVERTER MOUNTED INSIDE LAPTOP DISPLAY PANEL
In most laptops the inverter board is mounted below the LCD screen as it shown on the picture below. You can get an access to the inverter board when you remove the screen bezel – a plastic frame around the LCD screen.
TYPICAL INVERTER FAILURE SYMPTOMS
Usually inverters fail in one of the following ways:
1. When you turn on the laptop, the screen lights up for a short period of time and then goes dark. You still can see an image but it is very dark, almost invisible and definitely not usable. When you restart the laptop, the screen lights up and then goes dark again. The laptop works fine with an external monitor.
2. Your laptop turns on but the screen remains dark all the time. You still can see a very dim image outline. The laptop works fine with an external monitor.
3. The laptop screen works fine for hours or even days, but sometimes it goes very dark as it mentioned above. When you restart the laptop, the screen works fine again.
Inverter failure symptoms are very similar to backlight lamp failure symptoms and in most cases you cannot tell which one is causing the problem until you replace either the inverter board or the backlight lamp. From my personal experience, inverter boards fail more often than backlight lamps. If you have to guess, replace the inverter first.
Laptop parts | Repair Man | 
December 26, 2008 3:14 pm
440 Responses to “Screen inverter board”
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Pages: « 18 17 16 15 14 [13] 12 11 10 9 8 … 1 » Show All
October 7th, 2010 at 9:55 am
adrian,
Take a look at this tutorial for HP Pavilion dv7 notebook. The inverter should be located on the bottom of the display assembly.
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-lcd-screen-inverter-board-hp-pavilion-dv7-notebook/
I don’t sell any laptop parts.
October 7th, 2010 at 9:46 am
I have an HP Pavilion dv7 3079 wm that will start for about a second and shut off. I have got the front screen bezel off but there isn’t an inverter there!? Where the heck is it located. I’m not sure how to proceed. Thanks for your time. I forgot to ask if you carry this part as well..
October 6th, 2010 at 12:18 am
hi,
my dell inspiron 1526 has a power and initialize the touch screen control panel, volume, play, rewind and forward but the screen has no response, would it be the motherboard? i tried to disconnect the lcd cable from motherboard and still the panel initialize? im thinking it was the motherboard? is it right?
thank you -
pit
October 5th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
MK,
First of all, test your laptop with an external monitor. If external video works fine, your problem is inside the display panel.
It could be bad connection between the video cable and motherboard or LCD screen, bad video cable or failing LCD screen.
1. Try reconnecting the video cable on both ends. This might help.
2. Try moving the video cable while the laptop is turned on. If moving the cable affects image on the screen, probably it’s bad cable. Try replacing the cable.
3. If reconnecting the cable doesn’t help and moving the cable doesn’t affect image on the screen at all, probably you have a problem with the LCD screen. Replace the screen with a new one.
October 5th, 2010 at 8:15 am
lining on a prayer,
It’s possible. Can you see a very faint image on the screen when the PC is turned on?
If yes, probably it’s either bad inverter board or backlight lamp failure.
Unfortunately I cannot help you with the disassembly instructions because I’m not working on PCs like that.
September 24th, 2010 at 2:54 am
Hi,
My laptop (Presario CQ40) screen flickering with several lines & its sometimes shifted up & down a few times too.
What is the main cause? Pls advice.
Thank you for kind help.
September 13th, 2010 at 7:06 am
I have an all in one Vaio desktop. When I turn it on the screen is black. But when I press the monitor button, the screen shows up perfect but only for 4 seconds. Computer otherwise runs fine. Can download programs, have a DVD movie run etc. I just can’t see the screen unless I repeatedly hit the monitor button. Like to repair it myself if it is an inverter, that is if I can figure out how to open the Vaio case …. a massive feat on its own.
Question: Does this look like an inverter problem?
September 7th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Kristi,
Install the cracked LCD back into the laptop. If the cracked screen still works, but the new one doesn’t work, there is a chance your new screen is bad OR you didn’t connect the cable correctly.
September 7th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Hello, I just replaced a cracked screen, that had a properly working inverter. After puttingin the new screen its dark. What gives?
September 7th, 2010 at 7:08 am
MevaD,
I think you have two different problems.
By replacing the inverter board you fixed the backlight problem and now you have another one.
First of all, test your laptop with an external monitor. Find our if external image also has same problem.
If image on the external monitor is fine, most likely you have one of the following:
1. Loose connection between the video cable and motherboard/LCD screen. Try reconnecting the cable first.
2. Bad video cable.
3. Bad LCD screen.
If all screens in your laptops are compatible, you can use a known good screen from one laptop to test another laptop.
August 25th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Hi,
Panasonic CF-W4. Typical inverter fault – dim screen. Replaced with inverter from a CF-T1. Screen lights up fine but display has lots of rapidly moving lines on it. Tried inverter from a CF-W2, same result.
Does the inverter have to be the exact same one that failed, or do I have a different problem?
CF-T1, W2 and W4 all have 12.1 inch screens with a native resolution of 1024×768.
Any help gratefully received.
Thanks
August 11th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Saxum,
Could be software problem.
What if you enter the BIOS setup menu and try using the brightness shortcut in BIOS? Can you change screen brightness when the laptop booted to the BIOS menu?
August 8th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Repair Man,
The screen will no longer respond to the brightness commands / key board short cuts. The slider will appear, and I can adjust to max and min brightness with no change.
I installed some generic ATI drivers and was able to get the video card to work at the screens native resolution and full brightness. However, the laptop screen will not respond to any brightness commands – a minor annoyance. I’ll take a full bright screen to a dark one any day! I am guessing the inverter is responsible for adjusting screen brightness by varying the amount of voltage to the backlight? Or I might have two problems that arrived at the same time – faulty inverter and a faulty graphics card. However, the Dell gives no option for replacing the card without soldering skills (I am told). Thanks for the help.
Saxum
August 7th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Saxum,
Weird problem! I’m not sure what’s going on here.
Can you boot the laptop in normal mode and before it hits the welcome screen, reduce the screen brightness via keyboard shortcut?
Will it stay on in normal mode with reduced brightness?
August 3rd, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Hi.
I have a Dell e1505 that I just replaced the inverter on. On boot up the screen lights up just fine, initial windows loading pages are lit, but once I hit the welcome screen, the screen goes dark with the faint images of the user logins.
If I boot into safe mode – the screen works fine. If I uninstall the ATI x1400 video card drivers – the screen works find, but at a lower resolution.
Question: Could this be a faulty inverter? Does the inverter process commands from a video card to determine the brightness of the screen? Is this a sign the inverter is not functioning properly?
Thank you – awesome site here.
Saxum
July 29th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Marcia,
It’s hard to tell what is wrong.
If moving the display panel temporarily fixing the problem, it could be just loose connection somewhere inside the display panel. I would try reconnecting the video cable on the motherboard and back of the LCD screen first.
You can disassemble the display panel and try moving the video cable while the laptop is turned on. If moving the cable affects image on the screen, it’s possible you have a bad cable.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Michael Ecker,
Are you sure the new screen is identical? It’s possible the new screen is not compatible. Maybe the backlight lamp inside the screen is not compatible with inverter board.
I’ve replaced many screens on Toshiba laptops but I never had a problem like that. On the other hand, finding the right screen for a Dell laptop could be challenging. If you install a wrong screen into a Dell laptop the brightness doesn’t work properly.
I think you just got a wrong screen.
July 25th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
WOW, I don’t think I’ve EVER seen such an awesomely informative site as this one! Thank you so much! My question involves intermittent video problems with my HP Pavilion dv1000 laptop. After reading all your answers, I’m still not quite sure whether my problem is A.) the failing inverter or backlight issue (since I can see words and pictures very faintly when the screen goes dark) or B.) just a loose connection or C.) damage in the hinge area (because it only happens from time to time and can sometimes be fixed by moving the screen back and forth or wiggling the screen). So, can any of these be ruled out? Or could all of these be possiblities? In any case, I guess I should start by checking all connections and wiring. But I am not exactly sure where and what to check. Do you have any suggestions or info for me, or should I just proceed to download the manual for my model and plunge ahead? Thanks in advance for anything you can provide.
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:45 am
I have a Toshiba P105-S6227 laptop and the screen developed several pronounced vertical bars. I purchased a used screen from a Dell laptop which had identical specs and connector on rear. Since installing the new screen (using the original inverter and cable as the Dell inverter has a different connector) the screen works perfectly but seems to be stuck at about 60% brightness. The laptop indicates brightness changes from 0% to 100% in the power options and Toshiba toolbar (which I tried disabling with no affect) but the visible screen brightness does not change. Could the inverter be the cause? Brightness was fine with the old screen…
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Bill S.,
Nope, doesn’t sound like inverter. A bad inverter board cannot cause multicolored static snow.
Most likely it’s either bad video cable or LCD screen failure.
Here’s what you can try.
Carefully move the video cable (without touching the screen) while the laptop is turned on. Will it affect image on the screen at all?
If image changes when you move the cable, most likely the cable is bad.
If image not affected and you get just garbled image, probably you have bad screen.
I assume the laptop works fine with an external monitor, right? If external video is garbled too, this is video card failure.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Linda Solt,
Could be bad inverter OR bad baclight lamp inside the screen.
First, I would try replacing the inverter board. If it doesn’t help, try replacing the LCD screen.
It should be relatively easy but… I don’t know your technical skills. You’ll have to remove the screen bezel. The inverter should be located somewhere below the LCD screen.
You can search for a new inverter board here. Make sure the part number on the new inverter matches your inverter.
Take a look at this guide. Maybe not similar to your laptop but you’ll get the idea: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/open-display-panel-remove-lcd-screen-inverter-sony-vaio-pcg-k-laptop/
July 19th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
How about this: I have a Dell Inspiron 1000 and the display went black on me about a week ago. I opened the screen bezel to get a part number (I assumed it was a dead bulb) and when I put everything back together and powered it up to use an external display with it, the display came on – but it was all multicolored static/snow. I just fired it up again to try and repeat the effect, and the display came on fine, but by the time it got to Windows, pixels that should have been white, in some places were pink, and the pink hue was starting to “bleed” into adjacent pixels. Bad inverter?
July 17th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
I have a SONY VGN-AR320E 17.1 Glossy screen and the problem is that the screen goes out seconds after turning on the laptop. I sounds like the inverter because after reading some of your comments, an external monitor can be used and if you take a flashlight aim it at the screen from the corner you can see everything.
Is it difficult to replace the inverter yourself? Where is the best place to purchase one?
July 5th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Steve P,
Yes, all inverters are different.
I cannot tell. You’ll have to try. I’ve done it successfully before but as I said all inverters are different.
July 5th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Pier,
This guide explains how to replace the broken hinge on a HP Pavilion dv9000 series laptop (it’s a known problem by the way).
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/how-to-replace-broken-left-hinge-in-hp-pavilion-dv9000/
The video cable is running close to the left hinge. Maybe the video cable was damaged by the broken hinge?
Your screen is still bright and you can see the lines, it means the backlight/inverter work properly. Nope, this failure is not related to the inverter.
Again, this could be the video cable failure. Test your laptop with video on an external monitor? Can you get image on the external screen?