BleepingComputer.com: no backlight on laptop

My daughter was in a car wreak in which the air bags deployed. Her laptop was on her lap when this happened. She tryed her computer out and screen would not light up. I there anyway of knowing of weather i need a backlight bulb ,or and ,backlight inverter without taking it apart. It is a hp dv-8000 with 17 screen. Since i am new to this, does this model have 2 ccfc bulbs or just one. Had a hard time finding part number for items without taking it apart. ( i wanted to have the part on hand so i my memory would be fresh on how to put it back together,waiting a week for a part order). with a flashlight the screen is there, but need bright light to see it. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated,,,,shagger

Hi shagger, welcome to BC.
Most of the HP and Compaq 17.1" WXGA screens use two CCFL backlight lamps. However, that particular model may only have one. Below are the full optional replacement screens for the DV8000:

Example 1
Example 2

The only way to know for sure how many it has is to take it apart and get the numbers off the back of the lcd.
Replacing a backlight lamp on a laptop is not for the faint of heart. It is very easy to damage the screen and in most cases you need a couple of very fine specialty tools just to disassemble it. It is not visable by simply removing the lcd itself. It is "inside" the lcd. You cannot touch anything in there with your bare hands. You will need tight fitting rubber surgical gloves. If you're going to go that far, you always replace the inverter at the same time too.
Here's a few pics of what you'll be looking at when replacing a backlight lamp on a typical notebook:

This post has been edited by HitSquad: 27 October 2008 - 07:49 AM