ETX Autostar display fixed

my etx90 is up for sale. there are inquiries but not a serious buyer yet. the only issue with my set is the display on the autostar that 'disappeared' . so i opened the autostar again last night to try and fix it. just to confirm if the issue was with the lcd cable, i did a reseat then checked the lcd. tried to view it against a white paper first and i noticed it was working!

then looking at the white paper on the 'backlight', i noticed it has faded and is already off white. so i thought maybe it needs a bright white as a backlight.

fortunately i still have some photo paper w adhesive and cut a portion that will fit the backlight... and it actually worked :)

i hope this can help other etx autostar users out there

another thing i observed/learned from this...

at some point in setting up the autostar the backlight will dim and when that happens i noticed i cant read any text again. but if i use my cellphone's camera, the text is visible. asked help from my boys to try and read it - they can! after some experimenting i noticed i can read the text if i put the autostar at ~arm's length. i guess i need to have my reading glasses calibrated again.

btw, i decided not to sell it anymore :D realized it's expensive to have a light 1250mm scope so i'll just make the most of it and do more moon shots while learning more of post processing.

some pictures of the autostar: