helping grandpa - laptop light going out?

[ColeJayStooks]

Alright, so my grandpa has an older laptop. Not sure what the specifics are, I'll be getting those tomorrow when I help him out with stuff at his house. Anyway, the point is, it seems like his laptop is having some lighting problems. You see, he will have his laptop on for whatever reason, and then the light will just go either really dim or off. I can only assume that his light is going out, because under warranty it's happened to him before but had it fixed - been a few years and isn't under warranty anymore anyway.

So I'm wondering... How hard is it to replace a light in a laptop? Is it simple enough, or does it really matter on the model? Should I just do it, or should we take it into a professional? Would there be any soldiering required?

[wardrich]

Are you talking about the backlight? Are you positive it's hardware-related and not just something to do with the software that controls the brightness of the screen? I'm going to make an educated guess and say that if it IS the backlight, and it IS hardware-related (ie: the light is dead) he'd probably be better off just accepting the annoyance and living with it. Either that or taking it in to somewhere that deals in laptop repair (since I don't really know how comfortable or knowledgable you are in the matter) and getting them to check it out. It could just be a loose connection.

[ColeJayStooks]

Yea, I'd say it's the backlight; I mean, he hardly uses it for the internet (theres another computer they use for that) and he has no reason to mess around with drivers and such.

Uhm, hey buddy, I think I made it clear we are talking about an old man here... He can't just, you know, "accept the annoyance" because without light he can't read the damn thing. Come on, common sense.

I'd be pretty comfortable in fixing it as long as I wouldn't need to soldier in stuff, I'm terrible at that. I've taken apart tons of crap and put them back together so I don't think that'll be too much of an issue.

Again, tomorrow I'll be back with laptop specs, wouldn't want to call him at four in the morning.

[finito]

You understand if I say go ahead and open it, I am in no way responsible. If it were me, I would open it up and see if I can fix it, in case I can't fix it I would take it to a shop to fix it. I am not sure where the LCD bulb is I would assume it is part of the LCD so I don't know how you will go about it.

[ColeJayStooks]

ugh YES guys, I know, it's alright, I won't hold you guys responsible, I mean what do you guys want, do I need to hand out permission slips on this website to tell me I can open something!? But yea, I'll probably do that too. Just open it now instead of looking around google. But sometimes people write their experiences of opening certain hardware, like on that benheck website, so you never know.