Very Dark Screen / Unusable

[arncap]

I have a Toshiba Tecra laptop. Recently, when starting up my PC, the screen is extremely dark. So dark to the point that I can just barely see the icons in order to shut it down again. It is definitely not a problem regarding me changing the screen brightness by accident. Once or twice it booted up as usual but the last few times I have tried -- it is very dark again. Any suggestions?

 

[Sir Travis D]

My laptop gets this sometimes. After I used to restart it, or it went into hibernate, my login box was just barely brighter than black. I had to take the battery and ac adapter out.

You should look at this. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929734
I tried the "Steps to work around this problem"

 

[TrainTrackHack]

Did you try adjusting the brightness yourself?

 

[Sir Travis D]

He says in his post it's not a brightness issue.

 

[TrainTrackHack]

t is definitely not a problem regarding me changing the screen brightness by accident.

I think it says he's certain that he hasn't turned the brightness all the way down by accident, my suggestion was to try manually turning it up. Also, if everything appears very dark, I'd say it HAS to be a brightness issue of some kind. Anyway, that was just a suggestion...

 

[porterjw]

How old is the system? How long has the problem been happening? Was is nudged/jolted/bumped/dropped/etc. recently? Has the screen ever been opened 180*+ (flat back and possibly then some)?

First guess would be a failing inverter.

 

[arncap]

Thanks for your posts. First, the problem just started 2 days ago fir the first time. It happened a couple of times, then the brightness came back after rebooting. The last few times I tried re-booting -- almost completely black again.

So, I did something I often do. I connected it to my TV. AND PRESTO, the TV monitor is NO PROBLEM, the picture is back in full light and color on the TV only. What does this mean my PC problem is and is it an expensive thing to repair?

THANKS.