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 … 14 13 12 11 10 [9] 8 7 6 5 4 … 1 » Show All
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:42 pm
You are an absolute champion, This had been driving me crazy since i had my brand new laptop 3 months…. i put up with it for 2 years.
Then finally it stopped backlighting at all like you said.
I was about to remove the screen completely to use it as a 65w server, and just terminal in… lmao.
Russ.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Ivana,
It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and take a closer look at the internal parts. I guess you’ll have to take your laptop to professionals.
February 19th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Hi,
I spilled water on my laptop hp compaq nx7400. Now when i try to turn my laptop on it starts normally and then screen goes blue.
Please help me. After I spilled water I dryed it with blow drier.
I don’t know much about laptops.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Tq on your advise…
February 12th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
senaville,
Nope, it’s not related to the inverter board, that’s for sure.
That means the video card is working properly.
I think it’s either failing LCD screen (more likely) or problem with the video cable (less likely).
I would try replacing the LCD screen first.
February 11th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Hi, (continue) in my case with my lenovo Y410. I already tested to hooked it up to an external LCD and the screen on the external monitor is just fine. Just for your info. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
February 11th, 2010 at 7:33 am
Hi, i have lenovo y410, the problem is with the lcd display, after it on then the dispaly start to vibrate vertically. Sometimes, the image which should at the top but it can be view at bottom of lcd display.
I’m not sure the lcd or inverter failure… Anyway how to test the inverter?
Thanks bro
February 10th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Jorge,
Can you see the entire desktop image on the working part of the screen and it looks kinda compressed, or the black stripe on the right side covers part of the desktop image and makes is unusable?
February 6th, 2010 at 1:31 am
I have an acer 5610 about one fifth of the lcd on the right is black but on an external monitor it shows it all what could be wrong?
January 27th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
robija,
It’s possible that you have a faulty backlight lamp inside the LCD screen.
You can test it with a known good backlight lamp: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2009/05/04/how-test-lcd-screen-inverter-in-laptop/
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:53 pm
when i start my toshiba satelite a135 nothing is lightin up but i see picture in the back , bought it a new inverter still nothing picture still in the backgroung… any sugestins.. thnx
January 20th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Hi Repairman, today I had removed the RAM but the problem wasn’t rectified, so I took out the Inverter and replace it with another one from a different model Toshiba laptop and the screen lights up just perfect but I didn’t leave it hooked up long enough to observe the cd drive cause of the fear of ruining that one. I also did the procedure vice versa and it was indeed a bad inverter cause the known good laptop screen stayed blank. my inverter has 7 pins and the other one has 6 hence the reason that I had removed it quickly.
January 20th, 2010 at 12:03 am
bill,
You’ll have to test your laptop with an external monitor. If the same problem appear on both internal and external screen, your problem is related to the video card failure.
If red tint appears only on the laptop screen and external video works perfectly, most likely this is the backlight lamp failure. The lamp is mounted inside the LCD screen and very hard to replace. It means you’ll have to replace the entire LCD screen.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Michele,
Find the inverter part number and google it or search on eBay. Buy from a reputable place.
The part number will help you a lot.
You can find the part number in the maintenance and service guide (can be downloaded from HP website).
January 19th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
vinz,
Did you test the laptop with an external monitor? Can you see the external video?
January 19th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Sam,
You said the screen is dark, but the image is still there, correct?
Most likely you damaged the backlight lamp.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
C,
Most likely this is not related to the graphics card failure. A failed video card would affect image on the entire screen, not just a part of the screen.
Just in case test your laptop with video on the external monitor. If the external video works perfectly and there is no pink glow/splash/tint, the problem is not related to the graphics card.
I think it’s either failing backlight lamp inside the LCD screen (more likely) or failing inverter board (less likely).
From my experience, when the inverter board fails, the backlight lamp stops working completely. In your case only one part of the screen is affected, so I assume this is the backlight lamp failure.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
JahJah,
First of all, I would check laptop memory (RAM). Most likely you have two memory modules installed and it’s possible that one of the modules failed.
Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each RAM module separately in each slot.
I believe when the drive is working the light is always amber, it never turns green. Isn’t it?
Remove the DVD drive and turn on the laptop. Maybe the DVD drive is bad and shorting the whole system somehow. Just a guess.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Hi! I have a Toshiba A135 S2266 laptop. The powers light on the computer itself comes on and the fan starts up just fine but the screen stay blank both internally and externally and the light on the cd drives is amber instead of green. The cd drive will not open when the eject button is pressed, it only open when i put a pin in the little hole on the side. Could this be a problem with the motherboard, memory or inverter. I have opened it and double check all the wires and the MB, they look fine and have no burnt scent. Please help me, i’m in dire need.
January 19th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Hey guys,
Can someone help me with my laptop problem? I’m wondering if this is a graphics card problem or a screen inverter board problem.
On the side left of my laptop screen and sometimes on the left half of the bottom screen, there’s a pink glow/splash/tint. It’s gotten longer over the past week.
January 18th, 2010 at 1:56 am
Hello there.
thank you for a very informative site.
i dropped my laptop a few weeks back and I’ve had the dark screen problem ever since.
I’ve tried reconnecting the cables for the FL inverter but I don’t have good results. Display is fine on an external monitor.
I just want to know if it is possible to pinpoint the broken hardware (inverter or lamp) by the way it messed up i.e me dropping it.
I would also like to know how compatible inverters are. The one i’ve got is j9084 1.00
Toshiba satellite.
Thank you again mate.
Sam.
January 9th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Hello!my acer aspire 4715z laptop shows blank screen after power on..everything is fine except the blank display..however,there are still back lights that light up in the monitor..what this could be the problem?thanks for the help..
January 4th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Thanks for all of the images and instructions. From the looks of it, my HP Pavilion dv6565 has a bad inverter. Where would you recommend purchasing a replacement part?
January 1st, 2010 at 3:32 am
Hi-I have a HP DV6000. The screen has a pink/red tint from the moment I turn it on, even before Windows loads. Do you think the backlight or the inverter or LCD screen is causing this problem? I reseated the display connector on the motherboard but that didnt fix the problem. Thxs. (BTW, the image is clear not fuzzy).
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:52 pm
alright i just replaced the lcd screen on my laptop which is a dell inspiron 4150 the inverter is working but there is no pictureand a blank screen but there is glow in the back