Dell Inspiron 1520...

[Senpuu]

So this morning hasn't gone too well. I'm not at work an hour when I get a call saying the cat has broken the laptop. It was sitting on the couch and his lard butt knocked it off when he jumped up. The hinges on both sides broke. When I went home at lunch I investigated a little... I hooked up a spare monitor to it and the computer does still function normally. The screen appeared black at first, but if I really get close and look carefully I can see facebook still on the screen. I've called around to a few laptop repair places in the area and it looks like $100 is the bare minimum for any labor at all on a laptop... which feels absurd given I strongly believe that it's a rather minor problem.

I'd love some advice on my next step or where I could find the motherboard specifications online for that particular model. I'm thinking of taking it to the one place I called that said they'd diagnose the problem for free (it's crazy how many places charge you even for that!).

 

[Lanyap]

It sounds like the fall broke the LCD internally. Normally if you can see an image in the screen like that it's the backlight burned out in the LCD panel or the LCD inverter but since the laptop fell it's more likely something broke in the lid.

When you say the hinges broke, how did they break? Did the the metal hinges break away from the lid unit or did they break away from the base? I wouldn't expect the hinges themselves broke since they are strong metal. Depending on your answer you may be able to buy a used lid unit on ebay for around $100 and replace it yourself.

I don't think you have a problem with the motherboard.

 

[Senpuu]

Yeah, the plastic broke, not the metal. I kind of just wanted to see the motherboard information so that if I took it apart I could verify and check that the connections going to the lcd lid were as they should be. I don't think there's any damage to the mobo or anything, I just wanted to have the info on hand if I did take it apart.

I'll check out ebay, but if I need to order a used part in the $100-range in order to fix it myself then I don't think my confidence in my ability to repair a laptop is going to hold and I'll likely take it to a laptop repair shop. I really can't afford this problem atm =/

 

[Lanyap]

Dell has very good service manuals available online. To check the cabling from the LCD to the motherboard you can use this section of the service manual. Perform step 1 then skip to step 7 to check cabling. Stop at step 10.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1520/en/sm/display.htm#wp1179838

 

[Emulex]

i'd bet 50% chance you knocked the inverter cable loose. this powers the CCFL backlight. seen it happen several times in hard knocks.

 

[Lanyap]

To check the inverter connections you will need to remove the inside display bezel. The service manual section to do this is linked below. The inverter is that small looking long white strip that has wires connected to it at the bottom.


http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1520/en/sm/display.htm#wp1179953