Need help from expert on LG LP141X2

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I recently received a 6 year old Gateway 9100xl laptop which is in
pretty
good shape except for the TFT LCD screen. There are two .25" vertical
white bars that run up the left side of the screen. The other 90% of
the
screen appears to be perfect - no dead pixels, colors are nice and
bright.
First, are the two vertical bars there because the screen is bad, or
could another broken part produce the same symptoms?

I assumed the LCD panel was bad, so I opened the case. The panel is
an
LG LP141X2-B. If you were to look at a picture of the back of the
panel,
there is a 20 pin flat bar connector just to the lower right of the
bar
code, where the white plastic edge meets the green plastic edge. This
is
where the ribbon cable from the Gateway connects. I've looked around
the
web for an exact replacement (LP141X2-B), but that model number is
rare at
a reasonable price. Most that I've found (especially on Ebay) are
just
described as LP141X2. They say they are suitable replacements for a
Gateway
9100, but the picture of the back looks slightly different from mine.
The
current LP141X2 model looks identical to mine except there is a band
of
copper foil that appears to run from where the connector is on my
model,
down to the bottom of the panel where another connector is now
located.
Does anyone know if this is simply a jumper type arangement on the new
LP141X2 so that they could move the cable connection to the bottom of
the
panel?

If I purchased one of these, could I remove this extension and will
the
original connector I need be there just to the bottom right of the bar
code? LG's website is pretty useless as far as trying to contact
someone there
with this question. Thanks in advance for your help!