LEGO Mindstorms NXT Brick Screen Replacement

This guide is for NXT bricks that have blank or flickering or dim LCD screens or dead areas.

Your brick should power up as normal - making the opening 'chime' and the usual button-press noises, but have issues with the screen - if you are getting nothing at all (check the batteries!) or a very quiet steady clicking noise it is probably a firmware problem so try and update or fix that first.

Undo four small cross heads under the batteries and remove the pale grey front cover.

Undo two small cross heads either side of the screen.

Very gently pry the speaker away from the white plastic case. It is held with a sticky foam pad.

Move the speaker and its wires aside and cut a small channel in the plastic to allow the cables to pass through. TAKE CARE NOT TO CUT THE CABLES.

Unplug the 10 pin connector and lift out the screen/pcb assembly.

lift the pcb from the bottom and slide it out and away so the ribbon cable is opened out and fully visible.

I protected the LCD screen itself with a silicon baking mould (not sure if that was necessary!) Heat the part of the ribbon cable that attaches to the pcb. I gave it 10 secs with a small heat gun.

Apply pressure to the area - You want to avoid puncturing the shiny protective cover-tape but to compress and hopefully re-connect the tiny terminals underneath. There are about ten of them, so i used the sharp end of a spudger and rubbed back and forth parallel to the ribbon

Re-fold the ribbon cable under the screen and replace the PCB just enough to be able to re-insert the 10 pin connector. put some batteries in and test the screen.

Repeat step 5 if necessary with more heat or pressure.

Remember to thread the speaker cable back through the channel you cut and carefully re-stick it to the white plastic housing. Be careful not to put pressure on the face of the speaker - delicate)