Gateway Solo 5150 neon backlight replacement

[Glenn Watkins]

A friend gave me a Gateway Solo 5150 Laptop to repair. The screen is very
faint (black).

I suspect a bad neon backlight tube or inverter. I need help with the
following:

1. Disassembly of screen
2. Finding a suitable replacement for the neon tube(s).
3. How do I check the inverter ? (Just measure AC voltage across the neon
tube ?)
4. Tips for replacement

Any help would be appreciated.

Glenn
[email protected]

 

[Jerry G.]

It may be very difficult to find something generically. You should contact
their service centre to find out. They may ask you to send them the machine.
I doubt they will sell the parts directly to you. The lamp and inverter are
generally changed together.

With some of these displays, the back plain lamp is an integral part of the
display. In this case they will replace the complete panel to service it.

--

Jerry G.
=====


A friend gave me a Gateway Solo 5150 Laptop to repair. The screen is very
faint (black).

I suspect a bad neon backlight tube or inverter. I need help with the
following:

1. Disassembly of screen
2. Finding a suitable replacement for the neon tube(s).
3. How do I check the inverter ? (Just measure AC voltage across the neon
tube ?)
4. Tips for replacement

Any help would be appreciated.

Glenn
[email protected]

 

[Jason F]

Probably would be easier to just pick up a new/used display on ebay than
trying to do anything with Gateway's service department.

 

[Glenn Watkins]

Well, it turned out much harder than I thought. After removing the screen
and peeling through mega-layers, I could finally see
the end caps for the fluorescent backlight bulb but I couldn't get to it.
The final couple layers require removing a ribbon cable (unsoldering it)
and then unfolding the glass panel which may damage the many edge
connectors.

At this point I searched eBay and found many displays for sale for $100 or
less (brand new). The display screen for this model is a
LG Model LP141X2-B and apparently it's pretty popular.

I just received the OK to order one right now.

Glenn