laptop screen problem

[scott123]

This may be a long shot but hopefully someone can help.

My laptop screen becomes very dark at times. When i restart it returns to normal but it will happen maybe 5-20 minutes later. The power light it still on. I can hardly see anything but i know that the lcd is also on, just very dark. It has happened maybe 10 times today. I know its not a screensaver or energysaver feature. I have an imb thinkpad t42 with win xp pro. Anybody have any ideas?

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section and is too undescriptive. I'm not sure if its a video card [ radeon mobile 9600 ] problem or something with the LCD.

edit: Well i just hooked up my desktop monitor to the laptop. I plugged in the power cord to the laptop. The laptop LCD went near-black but i can see perfectly fine on the external monitor.

wtf this is the audio forum. i could have sworn i clicked displays.

 

[iRoNeTiK]

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section and is too undescriptive. I'm not sure if its a video card [ radeon mobile 9600 ] problem or something with the LCD

You got that right haha..this is computer audio section

 

[flint338]

sounds like the backlight might be going out on the lcd.. if it's really dark, can you still read text if you shine a flashlight on it? (or another bright light)

if you can still read stuff on it even with the backlight off, the video card isn't the problem

 

[scott123]

I can see areas that are like white when the lcd is functioning properly. I can make out the text but its very hard to do.

 

[flint338]

if you're technically inclined, you could try taking it apart and make sure the power cables are connected to the light correctly.. could just be a loose connector

never worked with ibm lcd's but the dell c-lines are really simple, and dell provides really detailed manuals on how to take them apart.