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Howto Replace a Screen Invertor on a Dell Inspiron 1520
Posted on December 19th, 2009 13 commentsI have a Dell Inspiron 1520 which started to get a whining noise right under the DELL logo below the screen right in the middle. It would change pitch depending on how bright the screen was set at. I replaced the inverter which cost me $15 on ebay. The process was fairly simple but I took more things apart and made things generally more difficult on myself than I needed. Here is the most simple way to repair your inverter on a Dell 1520 Inspiron laptop.
- Remove the plate covering the power button and numlock/capslock keys. This can be done by twisting a screwdriver under the little slot on the top right hand side of the cover.
- Remove the frame around the screen. Do this by removing the 6 little pads and and stickers covering the screws to remove the frame from the screen. There is one in each of the corners and two near the center/top. Unscrew these screws. To remove the screen cover frame you will need to twist and pry a little bit near the hinges. Don't be afraid it does require some force.
Once it is removed it should look like this:
- With the frame off, remove the screws holding the screen to the lid. There are some that screw down from the top and other that screw into the side of the screen, just look around. Next, remove a couple screws holding the microphone/webcam board above the very top of the screen. This will allow you to safely move the entire screen and get to the inverter. Once you have done this, you can open your laptop lid all of the way so it is almost flat and move the screen and webcam board so they are flat on the keyboard. It should look like this:
- Replace the Inverter. At this point you should be able to easily get to the inverter which is between the hinges below the screen. There are two cables to unplug. One has a blue ribbon to pull on and the other a white connector to pull out.
- Once you've switched them out, put everything back together and you're done.
It took me a long time to realize that if I removed the screws to the microphone/webcam board it would move with the screen which led to lots of problems trying to get to the inverter while the screen was still attached to the lid. That is really the only trick.
Good luck!
13 Responses to “Howto Replace a Screen Invertor on a Dell Inspiron 1520”
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Thank you for this useful guide.
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WOW! Thanks for the tips! It really helped me out!
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You gave me good advice on this except for the inverter board. I have everything out but I can’t figure out how to switch the inverter to the new monitor. Or even seperate it from the old monitor even. Any idea
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This was great info. I too came to the problem as Augie did. I found that on either side of the inverter were two tiny phillips screws. One was covered in white tape. Remove them and pull up removing the inverter and the metal frame that it is attached to. Now came the trickey part. With an exacto knife I had to gently work the inverter apart from the frame. This also required a little bending of the frame. Reverse the steps (and the frame bending) when installing the board. Again, this was a very helpfull page.
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Thanks Shane for clearing that up!
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hello , i hope you can help me.
I have a dell inspiren 1521 and have you the service manuell ?
can you send my e-mail ?
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Thanks a ton for the instructions! I just replaced backlight inverter of my Inspiron 1525 and it is working great now.
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Working on a Dell Insp 6000
seems the inverter is connected to the display with some kind of glue (no screws no clips). Can not pry it away at all
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NM slide it out and replaced it
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YSDimov June 19th, 2010 at 4:26 am
i gave my laptop service to replace my ivertor, becouse i was not sure that is the problem BUT i found that my web cam and my mic dosnt work. Dou you know how to test with my self where can be the problem except the cable on the top.
Thank You
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David (UK) June 24th, 2010 at 6:07 am
Thank you to Zach and others that added comments; I’ve been able to repair my laptop for a sum of GBP £8. Quite proud of myself but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your guidance.
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@David (UK)
Where did you get the inverter from?The screen on my Inspiron 1520 is very dim – Dell support tell me a new screen is required which they would be happy to fix for £250. Thought I might try a new inverter first.
Thanks.
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I got my inverter off of ebay for something like $15. The other thing you might try is replacing the backlight which will be more expensive than the inverter, but still less expensive than £250.
