Opening the LCD isn't too bad. The main thing is to be careful to keep all of the little parts and to take care with the plastic.
The first thing I did was pull off the plastic strip above the keyboard. Use a small screwdriver to pry the left or right side up. Then work your way to the other side by wiggling the plastic piece back and forth and applying upward pressure. Don't rush. Take your time.
Next, pull the keyboard. There are two screws under the plastic bezel you just pulled up. When you lift the keyboard take care to pull the top up about an inch and then pull it toward the lcd and lift the back up. There is a ribbon cable underneath. I left mine attached but it may be safer to detach it and set the keyboard aside. Once youve got that done you'll see some wires running to the lcd. The speakers are a set of 4 wires (2 black and 2 white) that run to the motherboard. Unplug them and leave them hang. You'll need the slack.
The lcd is tough to get apart without doing some damage. Dell sells a kit for removing it but I don't know if it includes a tool for taking it apart. Basically the lcd lid is like a clamshell that you have to pry open. First, take out teh screws. There is one behind each of the little rubber feet. Remove them and keep them separate from the keyboard screws and the screws from other items as sizes may differ. Then you have to VERY CAREFULLY use a prying device (like a flat head screw driver) and insert it into the seam between the two halves of the lcd casing. I started in the corner and worked my way up the sides. Then I did the bottom (most of it) and the top (again most of it). I never took it completely apart.
Once I got the lcd clamshell mostly apart I used a small screwdriver to remove the screw in the right speaker. I also removed the screw from the board that was next to it. Again this was to create enough slack to work with.
Once that was done I cut the wires the rest of the way, stripped them, and then just twisted them together. At the time I was just going to buy new ones from dell. Stripping the wires is difficult as they are quite small and easily broken. Once that was done I put some electrical tape on them and sealed everything back up.
A couple of things to note. Using a screwdriver to pry the lcd shell apart is very likely going to do some damage to the plastic. The LCD is made of cheap plastic and it won't take much abuse. If you can find something thin and strong made of plastic you'll be better off. Strip the wires as little as possible. They are very fragile and can easily break. Use wire strippers if you have them. It would be best to remove the speakers completely and solder the wires together if you can. There is, unfortunately, a spot on the lcd shell that I could not get apart. The unfortunate part of it is that it is between the left and right speaker so getting them apart is quite difficult. It is probably a good idea to get 3 cups to hold the screws and the rubber stops. They are easy to lose and they're different sizes.
Good luck. I'm going ot have to reopen mine and see if I can tear it apart completely as I'm going to have to restrip the wires since the one speaker I have working is a little staticky.
Finally, I contacted parts-people and they said they can't get the speakers either. F'ing dell. It is retarded that I have to spend $500 to replace the entire lcd when it's a 2 cent wire that broke because they didn't put a 3 cent wire in with proper reinforcement in the flex area. I'll be looking a lot harder at Gateway/Compaq/Toshiba when I replace this thing.
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