LCD Display on 8920G « The Acer Guy Forum

The Acer Guy Forum » Problem corner

LCD Display on 8920G

(20 posts)

Started 2 years ago by chakal29
Latest reply from the_tjb

Posted by: chakal29
Member

Hi i have a aspire 8920G and after 18 months i believe and the acer techs that my backlight is done. just need to confirm with someone the diagnostic, i get a very very dark image if i press FN +F6 i get a perfect image for about half a second. should i start by changing the inverter and also where can i buy a lcd screen for my beloved laptop.

Thanks in advance

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: TechieDiva
Moderator

you can try the inverter first, but I recommend having a professional repair it.

this model is fairly complicated.

as for parts, ebay.

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: Peter
Moderator

ack, that's too bad man. In order to be exactly sure what's wrong with it you'll need to take it to an Authorized repair centre. Don't know where you live but Staples can get those parts for you, the exact ones you would need from Acer. Same part # and all.

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: asht
Member

I have just the screen of my 8920 die ten minutes ago. Exactly 18 months sinse I bought the thing. Nothing like build in obsolescence! Any indication of end repair cost?

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: asht
Member

excuse grammer and spelling

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: pistolero
Member

I'm in the same boat as of yesterday. Funny thing is, the system generates a tone when the screen goes black, then I close the lid, wait for the same tone and open it up and it's bright as day........for a brief period. Sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 10 seconds.

Does this point to the CCFL Inverter? Shouldn't Acer provide a recall mechanism? I mean, these 8920s ain't cheap and should last longer than 18 months.

Word of mouth is a powerful thing. Just sayin'.

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: TechieDiva
Moderator

could be the inverter or the panel. either way I still recommend a professional to repair the unit.

three random posts on the internet should not equal a recall...just sayin'

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: ww4926
Member

Hi, add me to the statistics. My display also went dark after 19 months. Acer Canada Parts said they don't have the inverter listed yet. I've ordered one from the US and will try to find a competent shop to install it. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Posted 2 years ago #
Posted by: cyberion1985
Member

1.) I’ve disconnected all unneeded cables and accessories and installed a new INV board (stripped the entire unit & checked the service guide for a suspense switch but did not find any, if you are referring to the switch that is triggered by physical contact and turns the backlight off as soon as the units lid is closed).
2.) I’ve installed a known-good test backlight on the new and the old INV board.
3.) I’ve tested on external monitor and everything works fine.
4.) I’ve done a BIOS upgrade which did not solve the issue.
5.) I’ve tested on A/C and on battery.
6.) I’ve tested both backlights individually.
7.) I've tested the GPU in another unit and that works fine with it.

With the above troubleshooting, I came to the conclusion that either the LCD cable or the mainboard is faulty. The backlight, which is turned off and on is powered by the mainboard but runs through the LCD cable. By disconnecting all accessories, the short-out problem of any faulty component should be certain. The new INV board shows, that the original INV board is not faulty. The backlight test, shows that the problem does not reside from the LCD backlight and with external screen, it displays, showing that the GPU and the LCD are not faulty. As it is possible for the issue to be temporarily removed with the FN & F6 for a few seconds, it would most likely be the mainboard with a function failure supplying incorrect voltages for powering the two backlight.

If anyone can find the LCD cover switch//LCD suspend switch cable then replace and retest maybe that solved this issue. As I haven't located that component yet, but assured there is a system in place - It puts the LCD backlight off when the lid is closed OR it puts the unit into hibernation when the lid is closed.

As it stands, one of these might be the problem : LCD cover switch, LCD cable or Mainboard

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: Sammy
Member

It seems like tons of people have this problem but no solution. If someone fixes this please let us know!

Here's a few forums about the same problem (and still no solution):

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/25731-screen-problems-with-acer-aspire-8920g/page__st__20

http://www.theacerguy.com/forum/topic/acer-8920g-display-gone

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33963381

http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/351618-acer-aspire-8920g.html

http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/OrdinateursPortables/portable/demonter-facade-8920g-sujet_56916_1.htm

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: cyberion1985
Member

Hello again,

Acer solved this issue by replacing the LCD and the LCD cable.

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: kalamides
Member

@cyberion1985 - I went today at an authorized acer service with my 8920 and they told me too that the LCD and LCD cable must be changed. Please tell me, how much did it cost you? Thank you!

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: cyberion1985
Member

Hello kalamides,

I will try to give you an estimate price, as I requested this repair follow-up information results from Acer directly, so I have no idea what the price was.

US $
100 - 150

^^ Exclusive to labor/work done - only the LCD & Cable

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: kalamides
Member

ACER ASPIRE 8920G

LCD PANEL.TFT

LK.18406.001

LCD PANEL.18.4"WUXGA.GL.2-LAMP

Price 467 Euro without VAT

ACER ASPIRE 8920G

CABLE

50.AP50N.011

CABLE.LCD.18.4"WUXGA.2LAMP

Price 45 Euro without VAT

- so this is what I found out today. This is a lot of money for me and I this that for the others too... Anyway I spoke with a neighbor of mine that really knows how to repair laptops and I'll try to change the invertor and lcd cable. I hope this will solve the problem. I don't know why could the LCD be faulty... only the lamp goes off so... I'll return Monday with new details.

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: caesad00
Member

Same problem with my unit it failed after 18 months.
I now live in Turkey and im having to use my computer via my T.V.
acer should have recalled these laptops as so many people have the same problem!

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: NoMoreAcers
Member

Uses the same LCD & Invertor as the 8930G (invertor failed on mine after 13 months). Replaced it myself which was a complete pain as the whole machine needed to basically be stripped to remove LCD bezel. Cost me £30 for the invertor off of Ebay. LCD Panel from ebay was going to cost £129 inc delivery (for a brand new panel).

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: SIMON_SKI
Member

ok folks,

I think I have managed to solve this problem

POWER ON THE LAPTOP

whilst its booting up, you can use the FOLLOWING KEYS TO see picture on the screen:

FN + F6

Whilst its booting, also HIT F2, once your in the bios

Go to:

EXIT > LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS

EXIT SAVING CHANGES > SELECT YES

It should then reboot and ... now its working...SO FAR.

After doing this, the screen stays on, operating system loads up fine.

And I have done approx 10 restarts and also approx 5 power downs and then power on.

Hope this helps

Posted 1 year ago #
Posted by: Brolis
Member

The screen blacking out does not seem to be related to any of the answers here so far. I had the same problem. Fn F6 seems to turn the screen on...but what caused it to fail in the first place...looks like either a virus hit the Nvidia drivers, or the Nvidia drivers just decided to pack up.

I went to Nvidia and installed new drivers for my 8920 and so far so good.

Try this first before you start to shell out at sh!t-load of cash.

If you still have problems...keep pressing Fn F6 till the screen stabilizes...it will after 20 or so presses of Fn F6...then save all your data...and re-install your operating system from your 3 disks YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO MAKE WHEN YOU GOT THIS DAMN MACHINE...you will lose all your data but now you will have a clean machine...install your security system and update your Nvidia drivers and you should be fine.

Interestingly enough my system started to act up with blue screens right after I played one of the Google games...maybe the game has a glitch which affect Nvidia...go figure. Good luck

Posted 9 months ago #
Posted by: keodk
Member

I'm having the same problem with the backlight, so I've taken the laptop apart and have just ordered a new LTN184HT01 display.

What I don't get is that accordingly to previous comments in here, Acer has chosen to replace both the display and the LCD cable?

Is the cable damaging the backlights and therefore the root of the problem?

I don't want to buy the cable unless it would be stupid not to.

Hope to hear from some of you.

Rgds Kenneth

Posted 8 months ago #
Posted by: the_tjb
Member

I have had this problem as well, with it also dieing after 18 months. I have done some experiments on the this to eek out the screen, someone might fine my results useful in tracking down the problem.

First off, the LCD display, on mine at least, is working, if you get a torch and shine it at the screen, you should see the image of your desktop. The issue is the back-light. There appear to be 2 used the first to quickly bring up a visible image on the screen and provide a constant image to the user, the second one is to provide the brightness. I discovered this by trying to change the screen brightness when just the initial fading light comes on and getting no response. The main light, fn + f6, is the one used to provide the viewing light, this is the main tube and the one where I think the bulk of the problems comes from. When this first happened I could get it to work using the fn + f6 trick but after a while even that stopped working and I could not work out why as the fn + f6 option had worked perfectly before. This was in winter and it was rather chilly. I then did some research into what types of bulbs are used and discovered that they are the same as florescent strip lights. With the cold making the fn + f6 useless I thought to try heating the tube knowing that florescent tubes don't like cold starts. I used a hair dryer and pointed it at the bottom right of the screen bezel and with a couple of fn + f6 I had a bright screen after about 60 seconds of heating that area. I have used this process for over a year, but now it looks like my tube has finally given up the ghost. I get some flickering but that is all.

This is my own personal experience and the issue might differ from machine to machine.

For some lucky people, where they can see the boot sequence, but it dies at login or when windows has loaded, then it is more than likely a problem with the drivers, for those where it dies during boot, mine goes dead before the end of POST, then it is not a driver issue as the drivers are only loaded when windows loads. So far I have tried all the software fixes mentioned and a few that haven't been, and I have not found a solution to the problem. it is not a virus, it is not a problem with windows, I have done clean installs of Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Umbuntu, Red Hat, DOS 6.22 and OSX 10.6 to ensure that it was not an operating system error. I have installed official and modified drivers. I have flashed my BIOS to the latest version and every version in between. I have also replaced the power brick in case it was an external power issue.

From my experiments I am coming to the following conclusions:

1) the back-lights that they put in these are utter rubbish and must be the cheapest ones they can get their hands on.
2) there might be a power supply issue. Possible not enough power is getting to the tube to start it correctly.
3) I am not entirely sure how to go about fixing this as i don't know exactly where the problem lies. If what I suspect is true then it is a combination of power and rubbish tubes.

Replacing the tubes is not a problem, there are plenty of options for that, it is the power that is going to be the devil to track down. I will strip down my laptop at some point and do a full diagnostic and will post my findings here. I don't know when I will do this at I use my machine for work and cant afford to take it offline at the moment.

I hope this helps.

Regards Tim

Posted 3 months ago #