Measures of broken iPad Tablet LCD Display screen Replacement

 

A dying or cracked display doesn’t mean your laptop is a paperweight. For most iPads, a screen replacement takes you about $80 and an hour of your time at most. If you’re a DIY, replacing a broken laptop screen yourself is a great way to save cash, as most computer repair shops will quote you $150 to $300 for the job. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to replace your broken iPad LCD display screen.

 

How to fix your broken iPad display screen

 

Before starting, ensure you have the proper tools. Here’s what works for tablets:

 

Table or other flat working area: You’ll need a spot to sit (or stand, if that’s your thing) with a flat area to work on your tablet. This gives you a reason to clean off that messy dining-room table or desk.

 

Small-head magnetic philips screwdriver: Not small like a mini screwdriver from an eyeglass repair kit, but I’d say between that size and a mid-sized screwdriver would work. If you don’t have a magnetic-head screwdriver, try to find a magnet big enough to magnetize the driver head. This helps the screws stick to the head, making it much easier to remove and replace the screws without cursing as they fall all over the place.

 

Safety pin or needle: This is for removing the cover stickers that are hiding the screws on your laptop’s surrounding cover, called the bezel.

 

Plastic putty knife or other thin object: This is optional, to aid in prying apart the screen bezel from the case. Personally, my finger nails usually do the trick. If you do use another object, ensure it is thin enough but not so sharp that it will leave scrapes or other evidence of prying.

 

Small bowl or other container: This is for stashing the small screws—and keeping them safe from curious cats and children.

 

Previous job of replacing your iPad display screen

 

Before doing anything, give your iPad a full look-over and inspection to ensure the screen really needs replacement. If the graphics card on the motherboard is dead, for instance, you may be wasting your time and effort on replacing a perfectly good screen. Additionally, if your iPad has been recently dropped or otherwise possibly physically harmed, you’ll want to double-check for other damage as well.

 

To ensure the graphics card is functioning, you can plug a desktop monitor or TV into the iPad, as most have a standard blue VGA monitor and/or a HDMI output. If the picture looks good on an external display, your graphics card is likely good and the screen is at fault. If you don’t get any picture, keep in mind some tablets require you to press certain function keys on the screen to activate external display output. If you do that and video still doesn’t display, your graphics card and/or motherboard is likely broken, rather than your screen.

 

If the iPad tablet outputs to another display successfully, use the computer for a while to ensure the keyboard and other laptop components appear to be functioning normally.

 

Before you replace your iPad’s LCD, here are the caveats to the general steps that follow. This is not meant to be a guide for other brand specialized tablets, however. It’s more for average, run-of-the-mill tablets. But even then the general steps I discuss do not work for all such tablets. Some will require a different process and/or more work to replace the screen, such as accessing the motherboard by opening the main case of the iPad.

 

Finding a replacement iPad display screen

 

Because of that crucial caveat, before buying a new LCD, it may be a good idea to try to remove the damaged screen first, to ensure you can perform the replacement. If, after following the first few steps the process looks different for your iPad, I recommend scouring Google and YouTube or finding a repair professional for further help on your exact iPad model.

 

Finding a replacement iPad LCD display screen is typically easy—and you don’t have to pay the crazy prices the manufacturer usually wants. Just search eBay, Amazon, or Google with your laptop model number and the words LCD screen. You’ll find most regular screens can be had for as low as $50 to $80. If you aren’t finding anything, try other identification numbers from the tablet label or documentation. Some vendors have one or two different sets of identification numbers that could serve as your iPad model number.

 

When shopping for the LCD iPad touch screen front glass digitizer replacement, most sellers will alert you to compare the specs and placement of the video cable on the back of their screen to your current screen. This is another reason to crack open the laptop bezel before ordering a replacement. However from my own experience, if the seller says the screen is compatible with your exact iPad model, it usually works.