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White Screen of Death

I bought an Acer laptop last year. It seemed like a pretty good deal at the time. It was 1000$ cheaper than other. Though, I seemed to have got what I paid for. It promptly died in December, slightly before Christmas. I sent it back ($20) to them to get fixed and they said they replaced the mother board.

Since then, the screen turns white. It just fizzles out and turns completely white. This isn’t a software problem because it happens anytime, from the BIOS start screen, to inside XP. This was only a few weeks after I had got it back from being repaired. Sigh… So I sent it back again (another $20) to be fixed. Each time I sent it, its at least 2 weeks before I got it back.

Its been pretty good since then, until this week. It started turning white again. I only got it back a little over a month ago. Not again. So rather then send it back again (For another $20 and 2 weeks) I looked at what I could do.

Looking “White screen of death” up on the internet, showed that it could be problems with the LCD boards. I was lucky enough to find a repair manual for the laptop though. The manual showed some LCD parts above the keyboard. This looked like a good place to start. Since my screen was not almost permanently white, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to poke around.

After removing a cover, I had access to the connectors. After poking and wiggling a few of them, the screen came back. It seems the LCD cable is loose. Its not connected to the motherboard completely, and comes partially loose. Hmm.. seems someone didn’t put my computer back together quite that well after replacing the motherboard. As far as I can see though, the connection is tight and all the way in. It just isn’t staying in. Bad design?

Anywho, instead replacing a pricey inverter or back light or controller card for the LCD, it was just a partially loose connection. And to think, I could have sent it back to Acer to be fixed for another $20 and 2 weeks.

(Edit Dec 22 2007)

I notice a lot of people finding this page when searching for ‘acer white screen’.  From my findings, a white screen means that your LCD cable has partially loose.   Either take it into a shop to get fixed, or do it yourself.  To do it yourself, you probably need to open the top of your laptop above the keyboard.  Unplug the LCD connection and plug it back it, and secure it in place somehow.