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Obtaining Used LCD Parts?
davebarz asks: "With LCDs having already passed several generations and become affordable for the average user, one would think the biggest question would be which LCD to buy. But what about for geeks with no budget and no desk space... for instance, college kids? As friends' LCD monitors stop working due to particular components such as inverters or backlights, it's hard to resist trying to take their panel off their hands and try to fix it for oneself. There's nothing difficult about changing backlights or inverters, but after getting just such a monitor from a girlfriend, I've found that it's nearly impossible to find parts. The actual LCD panel works fine, so why throw out a $400 monitor when all it needs is a $30 power inverter? So, my question is, to where should one go to find out exactly what part one needs and then buy a suitable replacement? Specifically, I'm in the market for an inverter for a Gateway FPD1730. The inverter appears to be an Ambit model, but they're no help since they're exclusively OEM. Can Slashdot provide me with any help?"
I do this all the time and my primary suppliers are eBay and lcdpart.com One thing to watch out for which has ruined a couple screens for me is the thin ribbon connectors whill break off if bent too many times. If those break off, you're completely screwed. So don't bend them more then you absolutely have to.
EarthLCD. http://www.earthlcd.com.
One-stop LCD buying shop.
If that doesn't work, enter in the LCD panel part number into Froogle. Usually it can be found, just depends on how much you want to spend.
As I walk through the valley of death I fear no one, for I am the meanest sonova bitch in the valley!
Of course once you have become an OEM you'll need to figure out what to do with the 1000 part minimum order you just got ;-)
I hope you were trying to be funny, since most OEM suppliers would not sell a part developed for a specific OEM to anyone else, at least that's how it works in my business.
BMight want to check out www.eio.com too. They deal with some spare parts and offer diagrams and the likes. Might get lucky.
Last week my dad called me and said his laptop screen went out. I don't usually mess with hardware so I told him to take it to Best Buy and have them look at it.
He took it in - they said the LCD was bad and it would be about $600 to replace. He called me and I told him not to do it and I'd look into it.
I figured I could get a new LCD for less than that. I googled and came across http://www.screentekinc.com/
I called them and the salesman told me it was probably not the LCD and that I should check the inverter first. He told me one place to get parts was Bliss Computers
I didn't have the laptop on hand, didn't have part numbers, so I checked e-bay and found an inverter there for $40 (including shipping). Another LCD site had instructions on removing the bezel.
I took my time since I'd never done this before and so it took twice as long as it should have. In 10 minutes I had fixed it.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
That's where a dremel... err.. creativity, comes in.
After my post above- I tried another route. I googled 'Gateway FPD1730'. That got me a hit with a list that had two part numbers - LG708G and LG708K (the second for the TFT model I think). I googled on LG708G and got the ambit part number 6633TZA013A. I googled on that- along with AMBIT and that got me two links that sell the part:
lcdpart.com (which has already been mentioned)
moniserv.com looks like it is the same price from them.
I checked ebay real quick but didn't see anything-- but I really didn't look too hard.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?