Home > (Literally) Debugging a Laptop

(Literally) Debugging a Laptop

May 7th, 2005 (last modified January 3rd, 2009)

A few weeks ago, I got a (new to me) laptop off ebay. I love my laptop. It isn’t as fast as the newest ones, but with the DVD burner and memory I also picked up on ebay, it has some nice toys. Sitting where I am right now, just a few days after the computer arrived, I saw a bug on my screen. I tried to shoe it away. That didn’t work. It was then I realized it wasn’t on my screen — it was IN my screen.

Then there was a moment, right then, that I’ll probably always remember. Inside my brain, there was a slow, contemplative person considering the problem, and there was a primeval part demanding action. It was sort of like the State Department and The Pentagon — the Pentagon in my brain was eager to fire a missile at the intruding bug, while the State Department was considering the ramifications of creating a martyr. The Pentagon won, and I squished the bug inside my screen. The bug might have been dead, but he won. He was dead, unable to crawl away. Here’s a — uhhh — screenshot of the bug:

 Bug on screen

Now, that might seem small. But in person, it’s a visible bug. You can see his little feet, and people who have seen the computer actually try to shoe him off the screen. This is the visual display equivalent of having a hair on your tongue. Now, who better than Kord (my boss) to open up the computer and — uhh — debug it:

Taking apart computer

This is the part where I drink a latte while watching Kord work. It’s kind of a role reversal. :)

Taking apart screen

In the above photo, I think I said "holy crap".

Connections

See the sticker slash ground wire? Sweet.

Taking apart LCD 

LCD Open

Bug on LCD

See the bug in the center-left part of the screen? 

Screen fixed

Sweet!!

  1. April 16th, 2006 at 23:49 | #1

    bug for lcd tft

    [Reply]

  2. Anonymous
    May 14th, 2006 at 07:05 | #2

    Thank you for this article. Today I have turn on the computer and i am now seen a bug walking around my screen, terrible. If he die inside, I will have the same proble, than you, I already have the problem…
    Preparing for debugging!

    [Reply]

  3. Seb
    July 4th, 2006 at 15:39 | #3

    Shizzle I have 10 bugs walking around my screen..

    Ive got a dell 2005fpw widescreen. AND IT LETS BUGS IN!!!!!!

    [Reply]

    Arno

    July 10th, 2006 at 1:12 pm

    I have the same screen 2405 dell about 5 a 6 of them died…

    Calling Dell tomorrow, lets hope the can do something.

    [Reply]

    Chris

    August 6th, 2006 at 12:52 pm

    Im always getting little bugs (im told they are ‘thunderbugs’) in my BenQ FP767 v1 screen. Had to dismantle a while back and get the dead one out. They always die in the middle of the screen too ;)

    [Reply]

  4. October 26th, 2006 at 14:25 | #4

    Hi there, that’s a nice disassembly guide, bookmarked!
    I’ve created over 50 guides for taking apart Toshiba notebooks, you can take a look at them here: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
    Just in case if you buy a used Toshiba on ebay. :)

    [Reply]

    Joey

    February 13th, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    Awesome, laptop freak. :)

    [Reply]

  5. Anonymous
    April 22nd, 2007 at 22:02 | #5

    hahaha, this literally just happened to me and i did the same thing! oh man…

    [Reply]


    April 26th, 2007 at 8:51 pm

    Here are two more guides on this topic.
    Taking apart laptop screen with water damage. Instructions for a Dell laptop but should be the same for any other notebook screen. This is a guide for people with experience. If you have no experience fixing laptops, do not open the screen.
    http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/02/03/repair-notebook-lcd-screen/
    Replacing screen inverter on an IBM ThinkPad notebook. You can use this guide to get inside the laptop and fix the backlight problem.
    http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/01/31/replace-screen-inverter-fix-backlight/

    [Reply]

  6. July 9th, 2007 at 20:26 | #6

    Thanks for sharing this, I found this post very, very useful.

    [Reply]

    dave

    August 20th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    I’m going crossed eyed watching new new little friend crawling around - my g/f is so freaked out! how the hell did it get in there?

    [Reply]

  7. November 10th, 2007 at 22:18 | #7

    Those crazy bugs will “pop up” everywhere :)

    [Reply]

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