Software fix for cracked Laptop LCD.

Ok, so "fix" is a little strong. Let's call it improvement.
I have no theoretical basis for what follows.
It's just experimental results.
YMMV!!

I bought a laptop with a cracked LCD. I was messing around with it
trying to determine if everything else worked and deciding whether
to buy a new LCD.

I noticed that the screen areas where I'd been working seemed to
be improving. Hmmmm.
So I wrote a program that created alternating vertical lines
of white and black the slewed back and forth sideways on the screen.
Damn if it didn't help. This is NOT a fast process. I ran the program
for at least 24 hours.

I find two distinct kinds of bad spots.
First are opaque gray blobs that are often not attached to the crack.
The exercise program does an excellent job of transforming them to
transparent gray areas. Not perfect, but you can read what's underneath.

Second are opaque black areas usually attached to the crack.
The exercise program has mixed results on these. Some go away,
some get scattered with "holes" of working pixels. Others don't change
at all. Improvement is SLOW and eventually quits improving.

I tried a tight crosshatch pattern slewed horizontally and vertically.
This seemed to make some of the black spots start to come back, but might
have been my imagination. Looking at waving lines for hours tends to
make you feel weird in the head.
I didn't let it run too long 'cause it appeared to be going in the wrong
direction. Went back to the vertical lines.

Obviously this can't help if lines are out. It won't replace
missing pieces of glass. But, if you've got a small crack, this
just might help some.

My laptop was useless. I still wouldn't want to use it for
surfing the web or photo editing. But I can now see enough of the
screen to run it as an MP3 player. Sure beats spending $150-$250
for an EBAY LCD that may or may not be good to fix a laptop that will be
worth $100 when you're done.

Just started the process on a second laptop. Seems to be working there
too, but this one is a LOT further gone.

Would be interesting to hear other experimental results in this area.
The program is trivial if you have the tools. I'd publish it if
someone has space to host it.
Huge YMMV, but doesn't cost anything to try.

mike,
Crack-pot.
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