Thread: nüvi 1440 screen brightness flickering rapidly

Nice! I see you've already tried the standard technician's 'knock test' and 'twist test' for loose connections and dry joints on the PCB. Did you also try the last resort 'drop test'?

Possible problem apart from a failing screen is a dirty or improperly seated screen connection. My nuvi 40 screen flickered intermittently from new, so i opened it and spayed the connections with contact cleaner and reconnected. Problem when away. However, my 40 did that regardless of unit temp and was totally intermittent, unlike your 1440 flickering only when cold. That symptom would possibly be a dry joint 'making and breaking' when cold and making fully when hot and expanded slightly. Do you have another screen you can swap in to try if cleaning the contacts doesn't work?

The greyish-brown locking strip flips upwards away from the ribbon. I prefer to use two fingernails simultaneously towards each end of the strip rather than exerting force only in the middle, less chance of breakage. When refitting, very little pressure should be needed to clip it back down when the ribbon end is correctly aligned. With both remove and refit, gentle is the key. Using a good strong lighted magnifier on a stand helps greatly.

Not absolutely sure, but I think 14xx has only one type of screen whereas 13xx has 3 different non-swappable versions.

Roger to all that .....

Unfortunately, just taking the nüvi apart isn't likely to help you. The backlight appears to be malfunctioning, and if reseating the cable doesn't fix it, the only alternative may be to replace the screen.

Originally Posted by Strephon Alkhalikoi

......... if reseating the cable doesn't fix it, the only alternative may be to replace the screen.

I'm pretty sure that's his intent if the 'known-good' screen from the non-LM 1440 works ok in the LM unit.

Replacement screens for 14xx aren't very expensive. Example on ebay with ww postage included ~$25:

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If the problem's originating from the PCB though, no point going any further than cleaning the screen ribbon connector imo.

Originally Posted by Neil

I'm pretty sure that's his intent if the 'known-good' screen from the non-LM 1440 works ok in the LM unit.

Exactly my intention. Cleaning the screen ribbon connector did not make any improvement. Having a problem now opening up the non-LM 1440. Where I found size 5 torx screws in the LM 1440, the same size torx bit screwdriver slips in the head of the non-LM 1440 screws while size 6 does not fit. Yet, with a magnifying glass the screws definitely appear to be torx type. Ordered another miniature screwdriver set online with a variety of sizes and shapes (flat, allen, torx, phillips, pozdriv). Will only arrive on Tuesday. To be continued...

Maybe previous owner damaged torx screws or maybe your torx is "fongkong" there is no in-between size.
If your torx is rounded on the end you can file it down a bit.
Use magnifier to check, you can buy high quality torx bits from professional tool shop.