Need new Display for Acer Timeline

[Perryg114]

My relatively new and lightly used Acer Timeline AS3810TZ-4078 display has died. As luck would have it, it is a little over a year old and Acer wants $200 for fix it. Since it only has about 20 hrs on it, I am more than a little pissed off. It is an LED display which I thought was supposed to be more reliable than CCFL. I have not been able to find a replacement display for it. I am not 100% sure it is the display. The driver board or cable could be the culprit as well. It works fine when hooked to an external monitor. The driver board appears to be attached with ribbon cables to the display and it does not look like the cables can be removed like on an inverter for a CCFL display. I guess I should have ignored consumer reports and bought a dell. My 5 year old Inspiron 1100 is a boat anchor but it works.

Perry

 

[OS]

you had this laptop for over a year but only used it 20 hours?

 

[fleshconsumed]

It can be anything, I assume from your post you already opened up laptop and checked data cable connecting motherboard with display. I would suggest double checking on that, maybe unplugging the cable and replugging it. If that doesn't work your're SOL. You can buy monitor on ebay or from a private seller, but if that doesn't fix your issue you'll be in worse position than before. Or you could send it in to acer for repair. Spending $200 is cheaper than buying a new laptop.

Although like OS has said, why do you even need a laptop if you've only used it for 20 hours in the last year.

 

[Perryg114]

Well I use it when I travel which is 2 or 3 times a year. I don't use it much but when I need it I need it to work.

I am weighing all the options now. I have been looking into the Ebay replacement displays. I am going to have a buddy look at it who is an electronics tech to see if he can figure out what is wrong. I think it is a cable or the driver board which sits were the inverter boards sat on the CCFL displays. I don't think the drive board is removable though from what I can tell.

Perry

 

[OS]

i'm not trying to give you a hassle, they say electronics if they are gonna die is usually from infant mortality, that is early on in use or after many years of use.

if you have not dismantled it yet, it might be something as simple as the internal monitor connector coming loose.
When I took apart my acer 5534 the monitor was connected by kind of a weak small box connector

 

[Perryg114]

Well I did find out some good news. The monitor is still working but the backlight has crapped out, so that at least isolates the problem.

It looks like I am not the only one who is having problems. There are several reviews stating the the display failed more than once under warrantee and after as well. This sounds like something that should have been handled with a recall. Mine died right after security check at the airport.

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/ace...2-3121_7-33676738-1.html?tag=userReviews;page

Perry

 

[Lanyap]

You can find LCD panels for this model on ebay for as low as $90.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?LH_BIN=...&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1

You can also find other sources in google by using the high level model number like "Acer 3810TZ lcd panel"

 

[Perryg114]

Well I found the problem and it was an Acer screw up. I ruined the display in the process. Me and a buddy discovered that the diodes were not being powered. There was an open circuit. We though that a diode was bad and that they were all in series so if one died they all died. It turned out that all the diodes were good but the ribbon cable was crimped so tightly that the copper ribbon broke. There are three separate diode circuits but only one ground ribbon and so all the diodes went down. We were in so much of a hurry to take it apart we did not pay attention to how all the diffusers and polarizers went back in although we did get the diodes to work again. It lights up but no letters. So at least I know that a new display will fix the problem.

Perry

 

[clane4]

So I guess I'm in the same boat as everyone else with the screen problems. I had the dim lighting in the corner, which was taken care of by Acer since the laptop was still under warranty. But now I'm 2 years in and the dim light came back and progressed to full out blackness.

Now my question: is replacing the entire display the same thing as replacing the backlights??

 

[Lanyap]

So I guess I'm in the same boat as everyone else with the screen problems. I had the dim lighting in the corner, which was taken care of by Acer since the laptop was still under warranty. But now I'm 2 years in and the dim light came back and progressed to full out blackness.

Now my question: is replacing the entire display the same thing as replacing the backlights??

The backlight is inside the LCD panel so replacing the LCD panel would replace the backlight.