Hi, fixrupr here:

I'm new to the forum a few months ago. This is a great site and I've thoroughly enjoyed working on my DIY. I've built the standard 15 inch LL, and all is good except I am having a very disturbing image problem that I can't seem to fix and can't find an answer anywhere to resolve it. Everything is mounted and ready to go except the lense. I have a (what appears to be a triplet--looks exactly like the LL version) lense from an OHP. When I position the lense in focus, I get a good image (correct orientation, bright all the way across, etc.), except it is like a negative image (black bars on DVD's are white; screensaver flowerbox is normal, but background is white instead of black; and everthing else has a monochrome color to it). Would someone please help me or point me in the right direction (is it a mounting/orientation issue, lcd problem, lense problem, etc.)?

Thanks so much in advance!

P.S. I don't think it is a heat issue because this turns the image brown (I had this problem very briefly and fixed it with better ventilation--I believe the lcd is fine but maybe I'm wrong (normal image color when looking directly at it).

It sounds like a problem with either the LCD display drive board, or the computer outputting the signal. If you can try another monitor to see if the image is inverted or fine, then you can rule out the graphics card.

Have a look at the LCD display driver board. Look for any cables that may not be seated correctly.

Thanks EdZ,

No luck yet, but still working (verified connections, including FFC's). Going to try a different computer, but I doubt my fairly new labtop that I'm using is to blame--who know's it's worth a shot though). I'm leaning toward a problem with the drive board currently.

I feel very stupid asking this, but I'm not even sure I have the correct orientation/direction of the lcd. When building my sled, I looked everywhere to find what direction to mount the lcd to give the correct image, but never could find anyone that would say. Perhaps I overlooked it in the guide or something obvious. So after much thought about the light path, I have the lcd currently mounted upside-down and the antiglare (not removed yet) facing the light source. Is this the correct mounting direction (it is counterintuitive to me because the monitor usually has the backlight on the other side during intended use)? Perhaps mounting it the other direction would be the opposite is some way? Like I've stated before, the image appears correct on the wall, but it is not in color (weird, monochrome color, like a negative on film).

Thanks again for your help!

Is there any chance you hooked up one of the ffcs backwards or incorrectly?

The is the correct mounting direction for the lcd, and the light being on one side or the other should not have an affect on the color of the light.

What panel are you using? Did it look correct when you first stripped it? You might have a panel that requires birefringment film or something. Try replacing any loose films that came off of your panel during stripping one at a time.