Guys, can someone post a picture of that CCFL, possibly next to the ruler and pic of the area where it goes to. Place where I work, I specialize in maintenance of various LCD screens with those tiny less than '1/8 in diameter CCFLs and LED rails, may be I can come up with solution. If someone has defective screen/unit - I'd love to discuss possibility of getting it please PM, lets get in touch.
Thank you.

If my screen doesn't miracously come back to life in the next few days, I'd probably be open to shipping it off as test dummy for you to explore options on how to fix it

What I noticed that CCFL screens are very unhappy about all that power on/off business, they can stay on and last for a long time and tend to live shorter life if on/offed frequently.
I can understand E53 body as production started in 2000 and design work probably well before that so CCFL was one of the best options (space and brightness wise) then but 2008/9 and on vehicles... It is strange that LED backlight was not implemented in those units.

BMW went cheapass and cut a lot of corners unfortunately

You think you could work on the screen itself without the vehicle?

From the other guys comment on adding LEDs, seems like you need to do some work with the battery connections and fitment

Yes, that's should not be the problem. Most likely it receives the signal (which isn't the issue) and 12V which it converts to whatever (usually about 350VAC) VIA Inverter and supply that to CCFL bulb. I'd out that they run High Voltage line from somewhere remote and not likely there is any electronics or ON/Off relays between Invertor and CCFL as it is a lot more safe and sense making to control 12V DC. So I can just tap in to inverter input with 12V, if it outputs proper voltage, then CCFL bulb it is, just a matter of finding a replacement.

If I can find a LED Rail/Array that will fit, even better! Then whole CCFL circuit can go and CCFL itself and LED's will take it's place. As far as I understand, there are no codes come up when bulb/inverter takes a dump and power to LED's can be taken right off the Inverter input, this way it will emulate normal operation.

CIC is the newer system '11 and onwards. the older system, which you have, is CCC. you can swap it. from what i understand it's not hard to install but requires a fair bit of coding and it's not cheap.

as in *really* not cheap

Old thread resurrection....

Did this go anywhere, my screen backlight has given up, can the CCFL’s be sourced and swapped or is there an LED upgrade worth doing?

Thanks
Chris

I'm also interested in the thread as I'm looking at a used X5 35D with a CIC screen that's been scratched to crap.

I'm wondering if an OEM screen replacement is a better, cheaper option or a Avin USA system?