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LCD Screen problems on a Sony pcg-grt170
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LCD Screen problems on a Sony pcg-grt170 taylor.bryant 04-26-2005
Posted by taylor.bryant on April 26, 2005, 3:56 pm
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 My Sony PCG-GRT170 has what I have tentatively (and definitely
non-expertly) diagnosed as a backlight problem. The symptoms:

--Everything works fine, other than the LCD. (I am typing this right
now using the computer and an external monitor).

Prior to the LCD ceasing to work, I would occasionally have
intermittent flickering. Sony online support suggested this might be
caused by the incorrect power supply, but the model number on my power
supply is correct according to their literature.

A few days before the LCD ceased working properly, I could swear I
smelled something... well not quite burning, but maybe plastic
'cooking.' At the time I wrote this off to an incipient brain tumor,
but I thought I would include this detail.

Suddenly, it all went dark.

The screen 'attempts' to light up when I change resolutions, boot up or
switch between external and main displays using the hotkey. By
'attempts' I mean I see a brief reddish flash along the right-hand side
of the screen.

I can still see images on the monitor (i.e. the windows XP logo as it
boots up), but they are very, dim. In a dark room, I see nothing at
all.

In my initial exploratory inquiries, the inverter came up as a probable
culprit. I ordered an inverter from sparepartswarehouse.com
(theoretically new), but installing it has not solved the problem.

a) what is my best next step?
b) what is the probability of having received a bad replacement
inverter?
c) what are some costs involved? I may well just buy a replacement
laptop if the price exceeds the cost of a new external monitor.

Thanks for any insights you may be able to provide.

Taylor Bryant



Posted by Quaoar on April 26, 2005, 7:43 pm
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 taylor.bryant@gmail.com wrote:
> My Sony PCG-GRT170 has what I have tentatively (and definitely
> non-expertly) diagnosed as a backlight problem. The symptoms:
>
> --Everything works fine, other than the LCD. (I am typing this right
> now using the computer and an external monitor).
>
> Prior to the LCD ceasing to work, I would occasionally have
> intermittent flickering. Sony online support suggested this might be
> caused by the incorrect power supply, but the model number on my power
> supply is correct according to their literature.
>
> A few days before the LCD ceased working properly, I could swear I
> smelled something... well not quite burning, but maybe plastic
> 'cooking.' At the time I wrote this off to an incipient brain tumor,
> but I thought I would include this detail.
>
> Suddenly, it all went dark.
>
> The screen 'attempts' to light up when I change resolutions, boot up
> or switch between external and main displays using the hotkey. By
> 'attempts' I mean I see a brief reddish flash along the right-hand
> side of the screen.
>
> I can still see images on the monitor (i.e. the windows XP logo as it
> boots up), but they are very, dim. In a dark room, I see nothing at
> all.
>
> In my initial exploratory inquiries, the inverter came up as a
> probable culprit. I ordered an inverter from sparepartswarehouse.com
> (theoretically new), but installing it has not solved the problem.
>
> a) what is my best next step?
> b) what is the probability of having received a bad replacement
> inverter?
> c) what are some costs involved? I may well just buy a replacement
> laptop if the price exceeds the cost of a new external monitor.
>
> Thanks for any insights you may be able to provide.
>
> Taylor Bryant

The burning odor could well be the inverter board failing. Try here for
a replacement: http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/ The inverter is $73,
but you should call or email if you are not certain of the part number.

Q




Posted by taylor.bryant on April 27, 2005, 8:53 am
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I should have made it a separate paragraph, it's a bit rushed at the
end there- I actually already ordered the replacement inverter. The
inverter I ordered from sparepartswarehouse was the exact same, but
replacing the old with the new did not solve any of my problems.

Is it at all probable that I got a bad inverter? Or is my problem
something else?

Thanks again.

Taylor



Posted by Portablecomputer.com on April 27, 2005, 9:21 am
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The problem is the backlight.

We offer LCD repair service, whether it is inverter or backlight or
both. The charge is $195, provide a 6 month warranty. Here are the
details:


http://www.portablecomputer.co­m/repair/lcdrepair.asp



Posted by Guillermo on April 29, 2005, 3:36 pm
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yea, definitely it is the backlight.
You can tell because when there is some light outside, it shines and
reflects in the LCD and lets you see whats on the screen. So the LCD itself
is good, but there is no light coming from the back. If you are in a dark
room, there is no light to reflect so you dont see anything.
You will see exactly the same thing if you (in a working laptop) press the
button or switch that is pressed when you close the screen. This switch just
turns the backlight off. Now, in the luckiest case of all, your problem is
that the screen-closed-switch is stuck, but that's probably not the case
(worth to check, though)

guillermo

The problem is the backlight.

We offer LCD repair service, whether it is inverter or backlight or
both. The charge is $195, provide a 6 month warranty. Here are the
details:


http://www.portablecomputer.co­m/repair/lcdrepair.asp




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