Replacing a damaged or cracked Lenovo Thinkpad laptop screen

I was recently informed by my parents that their laptop screen looks odd.  On closer inspection it was clear that the screen was cracked and as much as they tried to ignore the issue, it progressively got worse until the operating system was no longer usable because it was impossible to make out what was displayed on the screen.

I've always avoided doing such things a screen repairs or replacements on smart phones etc in the past because I have the habit of either ordering the wrong replacement part, or my disassembly and reassembly steps usually left me with "spare screws and springs" at the end of it all.

Checking out a few YouTube videos for a Lenovo laptop demonstrated that the process wasn't that difficult after all, so I bit the bullet.  I discovered www.LaptopsScreen.com and was able to source the exact replacement screen that I needed.  With a little Google-Fu, I was pretty confident of the part I needed to order, and ended up getting the following:

The delivery came promptly in a few days, delivered to the UK and packaged in 2 UPS branded jiffy envelopes and then encased in a thick and sturdy box.

Disassembly: Step 1 - Removing the screen cover

This screen cover is glued to the laptop with a double sided tape, once the cover is removed it is likely the sticky tape will remain attached to the old/damaged screen, so it would be ideal to have a replacement bit of double sided tape to use on the replacement screen. Use caution when detaching the edges, and use a pyring tool to disconnect the glue from the edge of the computer screen.

Use the prying tool all the way around the edges to pry the cover loose, taking care to only pry small sections at a time so that you do not bend or warp the plastic.

Note: I bought some tools to make sure I didn't get stuck without the required tools, so I purchased this kit from Amazon (it is similar to the iFixit Pro Toolkit, but far less expensive).

Disassembly: Step 2 - Remove the screws

Once the cover has been removed, you can see the 4 screws that are holding the screen in place.  Proceed to remove all 4 screws as shown.

Disassembly: Step 3 - Detach the screen

Once you have removed the 4 screws (shown by the red arrows), the monitor can be detached from the unit.

When removing the screen, you will need to remove it carefully by pulling the top portion of the screen away from the case because there is a connector still attached at the bottom.  As you can see in the next image, it is connected at the bottom by the video connection.

To safely remove the screen you will need to disconnect this connector. There is a small tab shown in _red_ on the image below.  Gently pry up the tab and allow then pull out the ribbon connection to disconnect completely.

Disassembly: Step 4 - Attaching the new screen

From this stage, the steps are followed in reverse.  The new screen will be connected to the ribbon connection in the same way the last one was removed.  Do not forget to clip the tab closed once fixed in place.  The screen is now disconnected.  Ensure that there is no moving or loose parts.  Reattach the screen as per step 3, reattach the holding screws as per step 2, followed by reattaching the screen cover.  Remember to use some double sided sticky tape to get a tight finish.

 That's it, all done.