I have a 1-year old laptop that the screen is going dark on. I did a lot of research (including from your site) and replaced the inverter. However, the problem persisted. I’m looking for either some advice on where to go next.
I know that the backlight and the LCD is okay because it lights up when I power the machine on. It’ll boot all the way into the OS, but then goes dark about 30 seconds after. External monitor works okay, and I can see the image on the LCD if I shine it with a flashlight.
I am starting to suspect the lid switch module. It has one of those magnetic ones that I can’t get to or even test easily. The strange thing about that is that sometimes, if I plug in my external monitor, the LCD will light up for a brief time before going dark again. Maybe this is “normal” when the lid is closed. It’s hard to tell at this point.
My other worry is about the motherboard. Do you know if these symptoms are consistent with a problem there? I’m *suspecting* not, because I’d imagine that if the MB had a problem, I wouldn’t be able to use the external monitor.
Even though the LCD screen lights up for a while and goes dark only after 30 seconds, the problem still could be related to the screen backlight. Unfortunately, the only way to find out is testing the laptop with another working backlight attached.
Try reducing the screen brightness a little bit, it might help to keep the backlight turned on longer. If the screen stays on longer when the brightness is reduced, most likely your problem is related to the backlight lamp. It’s getting old and has to be replaced.
Did you notice if the backlight goes off only in Windows? Enter the BIOS setup menu and leave the laptop in there for a while. Does the screen still goes dark after a while?
I don’t think this problem is related to the lid close switch.
February 21st, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Well, no luck with that either. The same thing happens while it sits in the BIOS screen, and dimming the LCD to it’s lowest didn’t seem to buy much more time (if any.)
My laptop has dual backlights, so I can’t imagine that they both went out at the same time. (I don’t have a spare to test with anyway.)
I also eliminated the lid switch as well. While the LCD was dark, and an external monitor was hooked up, I closed the lid. The laptop immediately went into hibernate which means that the lid switch must know what’s going on. When I opened the lid back up, the LCD lights up again… but only for about 1 minute.
I’ve run out of things to try. I REALLY thought that the new inverter would do the trick. Maybe it’s time to cough up the bucks and send it to HP.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Here are couple more ideas for you.
You mentioned that your LCD screen has two backlights. Can you unplug backlights from the inverter board one by one and test the laptop with only one backlight plugged into the inverter?
I’m thinking maybe one of the backlight lamps drawing too much power and somehow shutting down the inverter. This is just a guess.
Also you can try this. Unplug the video cable from the back of the LCD screen and turn on the laptop. You will not get any data on the screen but backlights should work. Find out if the backlight will stay on when the data cable is unplugged. Maybe there is something wrong with the LCD controller board and it somehow shuts down the inverter. In this case you’ll have to replace the LCD screen. This might work, might not. On some laptops the video cable must be plugged into the LCD or the backlight will not work. Anyway, it worth trying.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:39 am
That’s a good idea… certainly worth a shot. I might not have a chance to try it until Sunday, but I’ll post what I find!
February 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I tried running only one at at time. It didn’t matter which one was unplugged, neither of them would light up in this case. The inverter must be setup such that they BOTH need to be plugged in for it to output power or something.
I found a local dealer who has a bunch of LCDs. I’m going to try to arrange a deal where I can bring in the laptop and hook up a replacement to see if that fixes it.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 am
I’m working on a IBM R31 and it runs fine until you plug in the AC adapter in the screen heavily dimms to the point where you can barely see it.
What could the problem be?
Might it be a bad video card or power supply?
March 4th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Zain,
Check the laptop power settings. You can set different LCD brightness levels for AC and battery modes. Apparently the LCD brightness is turned all the way down for the AC power mode.
March 9th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Hello,
I have kind of the same problems, but after some reboot, some hits on the laptop (…), some inputs on the “screen saver” button (that stops the lights), it happens to function again - for the whole session. After that, if I move my computer, it fails again and i have to start moving things etc…
Do you think it could come from the inverter, or shall I more consider a short-circuit problem?
Thanks!
March 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Fab,
It’s possible that you have loose connection. Maybe the video cable is not making good connection with the inverter board. Reconnecting cables on both inverter ends may help to fix the problem.
March 27th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Just to give an update to anyone that might be watching - it WAS the LCD screen. My particular screen has 2 backlight and I assume that one of them was having an issue staying lit. Becuase the inverter will shutdown if it can’t power BOTH backlights, it was causing the screen to go dark once the malfunctioning backlight flickered out.
Thanks for all the help and advice supplied here! It helped me a lot in helped diagnosing the problem.
March 29th, 2008 at 7:27 am
hello everyone.. having the same problem w/ backlight not coming on on the lcd… we did change inverter twtice actually and still no backlight… so we ordered a new lcd. hooked it up and still exact same problem… so it cant be inverter or the lcd. just to clarify more in depth, i can see stuff on the screen, but no back light, exactly what it would look like w/ a bad inverter. no light even in post. system will boot into windows.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I have the inspiron 9100 notebook. The screen is very dim using battery power. Is this a backlight problem and if so is backlight built into the screen or is there a bulb to replace?
April 20th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
James,
Check your notebook power settings. It’s possible that the LCD screen brightness is set to minimum when your notebook runs on the battery power.
Usually you can change LCD screen brightness settings in the control panel. On some laptops you can change settings in the BIOS setup menu.
You’ll find more information in this post.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hi all,
same thing I have HP DV9205TX 17″ extra bright thingy…, I use second monitor MIRSUBIUSHI 22″. two days ago it whjen i tried to boot it in the morning it has came up with black screen after it booted to Vista 64bit, and I have thought opps comp is dying or vista corupted. It has been heating more that usual in last couple of month, I have tried spome old annd some ne wbios for it. to find optimum between sound and cooling. today put the lates BIODS from HP site… I have dual boot so i restarted in XP and everything was fine. later I loadded VISta and it was fine for 20min, so power is draining and it goes black, just today i actualy this evening I realised that i can see the windows there but no backlight…to point out this,m the first problem was on wednsday morning which is 9h after a windows update that i have automatically set up for wed 1am. does this have anything to do with it? its a thought. I hope we all find the quick and painless soulution, which will not be costly either.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Boris,
I don’t think this is related to Windows update.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I’ve been having a similar issue as Josh above. (congrats Josh for your success!)
I feel for mine: Dell Inspiron|8000, It may be an over heating problem.?
I’ve just had the fans replaced. to see if that was it. but the back light still goes off after about 20 minutes… I’ve been keeping it off while plugged in, to charge it up.
Then I use it without the power plug. because having it plugged in seems to cause it to turn off quickly. : S
As soon as the battery says its about to run out…. I plug it in, and about a minute or less later, the light goes out. I then repeat the whole process (and waiting game) all over again. : S
I’m using this laptop now. so it could go off any moment.
Any suggestions, what else could fix this? (with low cost in mind.)
Thanks, anyone. : )
-s-
May 15th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
oops. correction. That is, A congrats to ROBB.
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
My laptop boots with a very very dimmed screen but desktop picture can be viewed with a closer look. The problem is different than others as after about 30-40 minutes screen comes back. Now even on a shutdown/restart the screen doesn’t get dimmed at next boot. But if I leave it turned off more than about 30-40 minutes and start again, it again boots with a very very dim screen. Can someone figure out what is the problem?
Also once the screen comes back it doesn’t affected by the rotation of screen.
thanks for any suggestion!
I am using compaq presario v5000 series notebook. Model No. V5202TU.
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
the problem stoped for me but recently after a vista update I was not able to load to windows..after about 4 days and tons different drivers I have managed to boot vista again..XP dual boot is ok,, which indicates that it is not hardware but software of my graphics card..hope this helps someone…
July 10th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Hi all,
I have a problem with the backlight on my HP Compaq Presario V6560EA. Around 2 weeks ago I was working on the laptop when suddenly the screen went blank. The PC was still on though. After switching it on a couple of times on various days after that the screen remains blank and if I turn the screen towards the light I can very faintly make out the Windows Desktop. The PC works perfectly and the screen is there but it seems I have no backlight on the screen. I was told that it is probably the inverter board which needs to be changed. Can anyone advise how can I change the inverter board??
Thanks
August 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Hi everybody,
I’m having more or less the exact same problem as the OP Robb up there. When I turn down the backlight level (Fn->DnKey) when it’s still alive though, it stays on for much, much longer. Does this mean that it’s the backlight tube that needs replacement? I have a Dell Inspiron E1505, also about 1 year old.
Thanks
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:15 am
I’ve had the same problem recently…dim, very very faint dark screen. And it only gave me problems after i hooked up an external monitor to my laptop. It will come on ok sometimes but i have no idea what setting to change now..or if the external monitor somehow screwed up my laptop permenantly..or if its just a small setting that i can fix it to the way it was
But i wouldnt advise using dual monitor mode or hooking up external monitors to some laptops..seems they dont all handle it well.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Yesterday the same problem started on my Dell Inspiron 9100. After reading all of these posts, it seems like it may be a backlight issue. The Dell logo appears slightly pink and then the screen goes dark after the Windows logo appears. I can see the icons on my screen using a flashlight and an external monitor works fine. The weird thing is that this only happens if the AC power cord is connected. If I reboot using battery power only the LCD works fine, then if I plug in the power cord it goes dark again. I can press the lid close switch and the screen will come back on for only about 10 seconds. I just don’t understand why this only happens with the power cord attached. Help!
September 19th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
what i noticed was when i went into the Bios of my HP 6710b i was able to turn the brightness up and down. i actually stumbled upon this. My problem was similar my control keys (FN Keys) would not work, and it would only have a bright screen when the AC was plugged in. dont know if it may help anyone but i thought i would post it.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Holding down the Fn key and pressing the up and down arrows should get the lcd lighter or darker..is working for me
October 14th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Having the same problem with a HP DV9000. Starting about 2 weeks ago my laptop would not turn on problerly. I would push the power button and it wouldn’t have anything on the screen at all. Then it seemed to auto-restart itself meaning the lcd lights turned off and on and you could hear it turn off. This auto-restarting took about 15 seconds to start and would repeat over and over again. Finally after manually forcing the comp to turn off about 20 times, it turned on normally. This still happens but is not the biggest problem at the moment. Currently when i turn on my laptop and log in to vista, about 5 seconds after i see the homescreen, the screen goes blank and stays that way. I let it sit that way hoping that it would turn back on but of course did not. I am on the laptop right now in safe mode with network settings on. Seems to work fine like this. I don’t know what the problem is at all whether it be drivers or backlight or combo of this. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
October 29th, 2008 at 5:57 am
“Laptop Freak Says:
February 21st, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Here are couple more ideas for you.
You mentioned that your LCD screen has two backlights. Can you unplug backlights from the inverter board one by one and test the laptop with only one backlight plugged into the inverter?
I’m thinking maybe one of the backlight lamps drawing too much power and somehow shutting down the inverter. This is just a guess.
Also you can try this. Unplug the video cable from the back of the LCD screen and turn on the laptop. You will not get any data on the screen but backlights should work. Find out if the backlight will stay on when the data cable is unplugged. Maybe there is something wrong with the LCD controller board and it somehow shuts down the inverter. In this case you’ll have to replace the LCD screen. This might work, might not. On some laptops the video cable must be plugged into the LCD or the backlight will not work. Anyway, it worth trying.”
I have tried diconecting the data cable from the LCD on HP DV9205TX, an dit certainly stayed long i left it for 15min, and it did not switch off. otherwise before would turn of after about 2,3,4,5 min…usually it stays on and then i have to open and close about 12 times, tap a little it flashes the desktop on whatever is used, and then it stays on for longer. turning the brightness down makes it flicker more! stays very little longer. Now after trying this it is still on..I have carefully tryed to reatach all cables and tried to push in left inverter 6 cables, maybe they are loose. what do you think its going wrong. what cost can i expect to pay? many thanks for all your help. boris
November 8th, 2008 at 5:21 am
I just replaced the lcd screen on my Dell Laptop Inspiron 1150. After being on just a few minutes the screen goes dark. I am not sure if I bought a faulty screen or if there are additional problems.
Should I replace the inverter? We ended up breaking off one of the screws removing everything because one of the screws was stripped.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I also have a Dell Inspiron 9100 and have the same problem. The screen is coming very dark and can barely be seen. For a while moving the laptop/screen around would bring it back, now that does not work. Comes in perfectly on an external monitor. Probably some kind of manufacturing defect with these 4 year old laptops.