Ive got a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop, 15 in screen. Its a little over 2
years old.
Its gotten quite a bit of use,there were times where it was on for 8-10
hours a day,for months at a time.

Anyways, recently my screen started flickering,then 2 days after the
flickering the screen went black,although you can still very faintly
see whatever should be displayed.
At first, i could reboot the comp and the screen would be ok for an
hour before going black.
After awhile to rebooting didnt work. I unscrewed the latop,just to
take a look. I had trouble opening/disconnecting the back area near the
lcd,i was afraid of damaging something ,so it was partially opened.I
sprayed some compressed air in and blew out whatever dust their was and
rescrewed everything,started it up- it was working fine,except now in
one corner,there were a couple patches where the screen is
brighter.(Maybe i did some damage trying to open the back)
But,after about 2-3 hours the screen went black again.
Since then, i tried checking if it was the open/close switch on top of
the screen,but using the switch made no difference. Then i started
opening and closing(not fully) my laptop,moving the lcdscreen up and
down. What i found is the screen will relight on a`rare occasion when i
do this,but will go black again after 5-15 seconds.
Another thing to mention,is i remember almost hearing faint sound,like
something was burning out when the screen first went blank.
Im thinking there must be a bad connection somewhere.
Maybe the connection to the backlight?
Any advice is appreciated, i plan to fix this myself.

<scorpion.9698******.com> wrote in message
news:1160910193.240320.256470@b28g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com
> Ive got a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop, 15 in screen. Its a little over 2
> years old.
> Its gotten quite a bit of use,there were times where it was on for
> 8-10 hours a day,for months at a time.
>
> Anyways, recently my screen started flickering,then 2 days after the
> flickering the screen went black,although you can still very faintly
> see whatever should be displayed.
> At first, i could reboot the comp and the screen would be ok for an
> hour before going black.
> After awhile to rebooting didnt work. I unscrewed the latop,just to
> take a look. I had trouble opening/disconnecting the back area near
> the lcd,i was afraid of damaging something ,so it was partially
> opened.I sprayed some compressed air in and blew out whatever dust
> their was and rescrewed everything,started it up- it was working
> fine,except now in one corner,there were a couple patches where the
> screen is brighter.(Maybe i did some damage trying to open the back)
> But,after about 2-3 hours the screen went black again.
> Since then, i tried checking if it was the open/close switch on top of
> the screen,but using the switch made no difference. Then i started
> opening and closing(not fully) my laptop,moving the lcdscreen up and
> down. What i found is the screen will relight on a`rare occasion when
> i do this,but will go black again after 5-15 seconds.
> Another thing to mention,is i remember almost hearing faint sound,like
> something was burning out when the screen first went blank.
> Im thinking there must be a bad connection somewhere.
> Maybe the connection to the backlight?
> Any advice is appreciated, i plan to fix this myself.

Yup very typical! Those florescent lamps are only good for 10,000 to
25,000 hours (depending on the model). One year of 24/7 is about 8000
hours. One girl I know left her's on 24/7 and her's died within two
years and it cost her about $350 to have fixed. Which is a waste, since
if it is the bulb, they only cost like 25 bucks. But service centers
usually change everything; the LCD, lamp, and the inverter. Those
crooks! :(

Anyway your LCD is just fine. It's either the lamp, inverter (circuit
which generates about 800vac), or the wiring. Supposedly you can't use
an inverter with a different lamp or the other way around. So keep that
in mind. But when I have to do this, I plan on experimenting with
different ones that are very close.

Another thing you might want to do in the future is use an external LCD
monitor. I made a stand for mine which sits higher than the laptop
screen. They have better and brighter displays than laptops anyway for
the most part. I mostly use my laptop at one location anyway, so this is
good for me. And I save my laptop LCD for the few times I go portable.

--
Bill

In article <1160910193.240320.256470@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>,
scorpion.9698******.com says...
> Anyways, recently my screen started flickering,then 2 days after the
> flickering the screen went black,although you can still very faintly
> see whatever should be displayed.

Most likely the flourescent tube is worn out. They are a PITA
to work on and the makers usually don't offer individual parts,
which is why many service centers just replace the whole panel.
The tube might cost about $14.00 plus shipping, if you can find
it, and an experienced tech might replace it in a couple hours.

Ol' Duffer wrote:
> In article <1160910193.240320.256470@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>,
> scorpion.9698******.com says...
> > Anyways, recently my screen started flickering,then 2 days after the
> > flickering the screen went black,although you can still very faintly
> > see whatever should be displayed.
>
> Most likely the flourescent tube is worn out. They are a PITA
> to work on and the makers usually don't offer individual parts,
> which is why many service centers just replace the whole panel.
> The tube might cost about $14.00 plus shipping, if you can find
> it, and an experienced tech might replace it in a couple hours.


thanks for the advice guys.
question is,if its the lamp, how come it will come on,at full
brightness for a couple seconds?
maybe its a bad connection?
i also found the service manual at the`dell site,so i might be trying
to fix it myself. I already have a new laptop,so i can take my time. If
its going to cost over 100$ to fix,when i probably wont be able to get
more than 200$ for it,whats the point?

Most likely the inverter board (which is in the lid) is bad. Less
likely, the lamp is bad. Still [much] less likely, it's something else.

Inverters are not terribly expensive ($30 to $50 is a typical price, but
sometimes $5 to $20 on E-Bay for a used working one). However, it
sounds like you did some damage attempting to open the cover, and you
will have to get it fully open to change the inverter.


scorpion.9698******.com wrote:

> Ive got a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop, 15 in screen. Its a little over 2
> years old.
> Its gotten quite a bit of use,there were times where it was on for 8-10
> hours a day,for months at a time.
>
> Anyways, recently my screen started flickering,then 2 days after the
> flickering the screen went black,although you can still very faintly
> see whatever should be displayed.
> At first, i could reboot the comp and the screen would be ok for an
> hour before going black.
> After awhile to rebooting didnt work. I unscrewed the latop,just to
> take a look. I had trouble opening/disconnecting the back area near the
> lcd,i was afraid of damaging something ,so it was partially opened.I
> sprayed some compressed air in and blew out whatever dust their was and
> rescrewed everything,started it up- it was working fine,except now in
> one corner,there were a couple patches where the screen is
> brighter.(Maybe i did some damage trying to open the back)
> But,after about 2-3 hours the screen went black again.
> Since then, i tried checking if it was the open/close switch on top of
> the screen,but using the switch made no difference. Then i started
> opening and closing(not fully) my laptop,moving the lcdscreen up and
> down. What i found is the screen will relight on a`rare occasion when i
> do this,but will go black again after 5-15 seconds.
> Another thing to mention,is i remember almost hearing faint sound,like
> something was burning out when the screen first went blank.
> Im thinking there must be a bad connection somewhere.
> Maybe the connection to the backlight?
> Any advice is appreciated, i plan to fix this myself.
>

I think it's more likely the inverter than the lamp.


scorpion.9698******.com wrote:

> Ol' Duffer wrote:
>
>>In article <1160910193.240320.256470@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>,
>>scorpion.9698******.com says...
>>
>>>Anyways, recently my screen started flickering,then 2 days after the
>>>flickering the screen went black,although you can still very faintly
>>>see whatever should be displayed.
>>
>>Most likely the flourescent tube is worn out. They are a PITA
>>to work on and the makers usually don't offer individual parts,
>>which is why many service centers just replace the whole panel.
>>The tube might cost about $14.00 plus shipping, if you can find
>>it, and an experienced tech might replace it in a couple hours.
>
>
>
> thanks for the advice guys.
> question is,if its the lamp, how come it will come on,at full
> brightness for a couple seconds?
> maybe its a bad connection?
> i also found the service manual at the`dell site,so i might be trying
> to fix it myself. I already have a new laptop,so i can take my time. If
> its going to cost over 100$ to fix,when i probably wont be able to get
> more than 200$ for it,whats the point?
>