NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Dell Notebook Forums › Dell Notebooks - General › Inspiron 5150 backlight works intermittently - what could cause this?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Inspiron 5150 backlight works intermittently - what could cause this?

post #1 of 4
2/20/06 at 11:40am
Thread Starter 
I have an inspiron 5150. A few days ago, the backlight was flickering, and 8 hours later, it did not work at all. This morning, I started up the system and the backlight was back (I was using an external monitor in the meantime). Then it flickered again, and 3 minutes later it was black (I can still see the image on the lcd, so I know it's the backlight not the screen itself).

This is the SECOND TIME this has happened with a 5150. Any thoughts on this? The first time it happened I had a local tech repair guy take the machine and I believe he tried the inverter and the backlight and found both were fine.

Also, when I reboot, I get perfect backlight for about two seconds, then it goes off. This suggests the backlight itself is dead. It's almost as though the machine thinks it should have the backlight off for powersaving...

One more thing... I flashed the rom this morning - I believe I am at a38 (how can I tell?) One problem is that without the backlight I cannot read the screen until the machine boots and I can get it to switch to the external monitor. Is there any way to force it to use the external monitor when the machine is booting?

Thanks!
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 4
2/20/06 at 12:16pm
3 possible issues:
- backlight
- inverter board
- inverter cable

Determining which one, though, is a bit more tricky ...
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 4
2/20/06 at 2:10pm
see if the cord's loose first.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 4
2/21/06 at 10:59am
I had the exact same issue with my 8100 way back then and even though I replaced the interterboard and the cable I had the same issue persist. Eventually It turned out to be the backlight panel going on the frits so I replaced the screen to fix it.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Dell Notebooks - General
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Dell Notebook Forums › Dell Notebooks - General › Inspiron 5150 backlight works intermittently - what could cause this?