After removing the metal frame from the LCD I discovered the two black wires are going to what I found to be an EL backlight. It is plastified, doesn't look damaged and doesn't look like it even can get damaged. A bit of Google browsing shows that I can probably feed it with 110VAC to light it but I decided not to. after unpluging its wires I discovered the secondary is open on the small transformer which is obviously where the problem is although not sure about the cause.
The markings on the transfo is:
990201-06
ET 5181
It has 8 pins but only 4 are wired.
With the markings I cannot find anything on the net.
Primary is 3.4Ω
Anyone have a clue?