Can a laptop lamp replacement change the resolution?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
F

feliperuiz

Honorable
Jan 16, 2014
4
0
10,510
I have an old Dell Inspiron 1525, I bought it with a 15.4" WXGA+ display and it had a 1440x900 resolution. This sunday something went wrong with the display and it would turn on for a brief second and then go pitch black. I searched here and found some threads saying it was probably the inverter or something like that.

I didn't want to try my hand at fixing it because I was sure I would only make it worse so I took it to a shop to get it fixed. They said it was a problem with the lamp and they could get it ready the next day, so I said ok and they kept the laptop. After I get it back it seems to be working fine, but when I got home and plugged my HD in to use it - I never send my laptop to get fixed with the HD - I noticed the resolution was off, it was only showing 1280x800.

I took it back the shop today and they said they'd take a look, it could be the lamp they used to replace the old one didn't support this resolution or something. My question is, can this happen? Would a different lamp cause the resolution to change? I know it's not a driver issue or a GPU problem, because I didn't install/update anything and it's a shitty onboard GPU so I can't change it.
 
Solution
giantbucket
if you see multiple entries, then the "hidden" ones that show up would be the old parts that used to be there but have been removed. kind of like when you swap keyboards, the drivers and hardware ID of the old one stays in device manager. and I think if you swap graphics cards, the existence of the old one stays in dev.mngr. until you purge it out somehow.

even if it's the ONLY entry for monitors / displays, you can use that info to check if that's the panel that Dell would have used when they first built your computer.
Sort by date Sort by votes
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
most likely they replaced the whole panel and not just the light. the backlight / lamp alone has no bearing on resolution. but it could have been easier and faster for them to swap the whole assembly.

usually when you get stuff repaired, a good place will give you back the old dead part as proof that they actually DID replace the item and not just charged you labour to "open the hood". this is very common in automotive repairs (the old part being given to or at least shown to the customer)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
F

feliperuiz

Honorable
Jan 16, 2014
4
0
10,510


Yeah, that's what I thought, they either changed the whole thing or changed the panel. I just went there and asked if I they could open it up so I could see the part codes but they couldn't right now because the people were busy. One of the the guys there also said that it could be because of the inverter circuit, that they also replaced - or perhaps that's the only thing they replaced, I couldn't be sure. Could that cause changes to the resolution or are they trying to bullshit me?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
sounds more like BS than anything. an inverter chip is just a power supply item - it was as much bearing on the resolution as what you had for lunch three weeks ago.

hmm, if you go into the windows device manager, and "show hidden devices" are there multiple entries under the displays adapters or monitors?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
F

feliperuiz

Honorable
Jan 16, 2014
4
0
10,510


I can't check that right now, the HD is at home and I've got the laptop with me right now, but I'll try it as soon as I get home. Should I see multiple entries or just one?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
if you see multiple entries, then the "hidden" ones that show up would be the old parts that used to be there but have been removed. kind of like when you swap keyboards, the drivers and hardware ID of the old one stays in device manager. and I think if you swap graphics cards, the existence of the old one stays in dev.mngr. until you purge it out somehow.

even if it's the ONLY entry for monitors / displays, you can use that info to check if that's the panel that Dell would have used when they first built your computer.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
F

feliperuiz

Honorable
Jan 16, 2014
4
0
10,510


Just as an update, I checked the device manager -- forgot to show the hidden ones -- but the monitor listed there has a hardware ID of sec3358, which is the lower resolution panel. So it seems that they did in fact change the panel for the wrong one. I'll give the benefit of the doubt and think they put the wrong one by mistake. Thank you very much for your help!

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom