Inspiron 6400 screen problem - help?

kenco

Folks

any help much appreciated.

I have a one year old Inspiron 6400 running vista. No problems at all until today when the screen went very dim (barely legible). It boots fine on and you see the DELL and MS symbol fine but then when it hits the user login prompt it flicks to what can best be described as very dark.

Not sure if the screen is borked (hoping not after only 12 months)

Any ideas???

Ghost Train

have you tried turn up the brightness, fn+arrow keys

Jackovarian

its def not a hardware issue. your screen is fine. go into control panel and see if there are any display options for brightness, maybe power control options aswell. and as the last poster said, use your keyboard shortcut keys.

kenco

Thanks lads, did try the shortcut (fn) and no luck, I will see whats in control panel but its strange as it only happens after the initial boot

Ghost Train

have you installed anything new lately that could cause it?

does it happen in safe mode? (press f8 before vista logo appears at boot)

kenco

Eolhc - only thing installed this week was sony camcorder software. Will try to remove it if I can get to that point

Unplugged it a few mins back and got fine display as far as windows login and as the desktop was coming up it dimmed

kenco

Now only get the DELL logo for a second or two, on F8 you can barely see the options for starting in safe mode, etc and even in doing so the screen stays the same.....

Ghost Train

sounds like it might a faulty inverter/backlight

if its dim with power cord in and in the bios area cant really see it being the software

Jackovarian

it sounds like windows loads a setting on boot and causes it. try connecting an external monitor to it. then, reinstall your video driver. its definitely something simple.

Dave_D

If it's happening at different times during every boot then it suggests hardware problem. Try booting into BIOS and leaving for 10 minutes. If it goes off without doing anything it is most likely the inverter or CCFL (Cold cathode Flourescent Tube) as suggested earlier in thread. This is the backlight for the lcd. Very prone to damage from shock (ie. laptop dropped)

kenco

Jackovarian wrote: »

it sounds like windows loads a setting on boot and causes it. try connecting an external monitor to it. then, reinstall your video driver. its definitely something simple.

If only I had an external monitor to hand and due to change in circumstances I cant get one easily!

Now not even making it to the end of the DELL 'bar'. Also seems to be flickering just before it goes so Im leaning towards the hardware fault. Have one day left on the warranty so I'll give DELL a bell in the morning.

Thanks to all for your prompt help

Jackovarian

oh, never read that its now happening pre windows. ok, try removing all cables, from the lcd setup and then resitting them. maybe slightly tap around to see if it changes the problem.

Jackovarian

its strange thats it works initially. i mean yeah, a dying bulb would do that, but taping the bulb area may help for a while if that is the problem.


hang on, is the screen brightness the problem, or the brightness of the content on screen?


if its the content it may be your inverter.

kenco

Folks

Thanks for all you help on this. Tried DELL and they figured it was the backlight. Nice DELL man came out on Monday and replaced it. Back in shape now and thankfully still a day within warranty!

Tony H

If you are not thinking of upgrading your laptop for a few years you should give dell a ring and get a warranty extension , I extended the warranty on two 6400 laptops last year for another 2 years for €150 for both of them .