Laptop screen not lighting up

[High1]

Hello

I have an oldish Toshiba Equium laptop which I hope to repair.

I can hear Windows loading up, but the screen has no light on it. A couple of years ago I bought one of those little chips - I can't remember its correct name, sorry - that connects to the motherboard (the chip sits inside the base of the laptop if I remember correctly just next to the hinges of the laptop cover) in order to light up the screen. I bought it in the mistaken belief that it had failed and so this accounts for why the screen didn't light up.

The screen still didn't light up so I took it to a repair shop and they told me that the chip worked fine and that I had fitted it in correctly, but what was responsible for the screen not lighting up was the wire that connects to this chip (or that connects to the motherboard) and goes up the back of the laptop behind the screen inside the laptop cover. I don't know what this wire is called, either.

They gave me a price of roughly US$100 which I thought was expensive and decided against it.

The laptop has been sitting here ever since, and I have now renewed my enthusiasm - money permitting - to repair it. So, how do I find out what the chip is called, what the wire is called, and determine what type of wire I need for this Toshiba Equium. I wonder, also, please, if they are difficult to fit in?

Thanks

High1

[Computer_Commando]

I'm sorry to say, but a laptop more than a few years old is not worth repairing.  Since new prices have dropped in recent years, it just makes no sense to fix an old one, unless you can do it yourself for free.

[High1]

Hello Computer_Commando

Thanks for your message.

Yes, maybe. It's not actually my laptop - it belongs to a friend of mine and her original PhD is on it. She just wanted me to scrub the hard drive before ditching the laptop. Do you think it's just worthwhile removing the hard drive for keeping and ditching the rest, or are the parts inside it likely to prove useful at some point?

Thanks again.

[Computer_Commando]

Don't know what size & type the hard drive is but you might be able to sell the laptop for parts if it's not more that a few years old.

[patio]

As a side note if she need her data back from the HDD for any reason i'd suggest an external HDD enclosure...
Tip: Get one that has an A/C power adapter...and get one that accomodates full size HDD's...there are adapters that let you use them on both full size and laptop HDD's.