Member Avatar for blaze420711

hi i have a hp laptop. i ended up shutting down the laptop last night and started it up today and the screen is black but i can still see things. barely but still can see things. i ended up trying to hold down the fn button and move arrow up or down to brighten or dim it but nothing happened. i was wondering, could that be from a burned out backlight or a broken backlight? if so how much would it cost?

  • 4 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 285 Views
  • 4 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by chichozokora.masalila

Dani AI

Generated

The symptom described by — a mostly black screen with a faint image still visible and brightness keys having no effect — most often means the panel is receiving video but the backlight is not lighting. That narrows the likely culprits to the display assembly (backlight, inverter or LED driver, or the panel cable/connector) rather than an immediately obvious GPU failure, though both still need to be ruled out.

Quick diagnostics (in roughly the order to attempt):

  1. Connect an external monitor (VGA/HDMI). If the external shows normal video including POST/BIOS, the motherboard/GPU is likely OK and the fault is inside the screen assembly; if the external is also blank, suspect motherboard/graphics.
  2. Flashlight test in a dark room: shine a bright flashlight close to the LCD at different angles. A faint desktop visible confirms the video signal is there but the backlight is out.
  3. Power-cycle fully (remove AC and battery), then with power off carefully reseat the display cable at the hinge and the video connector on the motherboard; loose or damaged LVDS/eDP cables commonly cause intermittent or no backlight.
  4. Note whether the panel is CCFL or LED-lit: CCFL panels have an inverter board (replaceable), while LED panels use an LED driver or require full panel replacement.

Service/context notes: and pointed to the right first checks; the Dell troubleshooting link from may help with general steps but HP panel part IDs and layouts differ. The LCD panel part number is on a sticker on the back of the panel and is needed to order a correct replacement. Inverter/high-voltage circuits can be hazardous; for those unfamiliar with laptop disassembly and electronics, professional diagnosis is recommended. When deciding between repair or replacement, obtain a written part+labor quote (include model and panel part number) and compare that to the current value of the laptop.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

try hooking it to a regular computer monitor ,if it works on it ,then yes its bad backlight ,how much to fix ,hard to say ,don't know where you live and what the going rate would be ,using the exact model number you could check e-bay for the part

Member Avatar for blaze420711

oh aiight. thanks for the help. i appreciate it.

Member Avatar for EKEMZY

yeah the first troubleshooting action is to try it on an external monitor, if it shows, then do further troubleshooting on these, the screen, power mode, hibernating button or flex connector...

Member Avatar for chichozokora.masalila

How To Troubleshoot a dell laptop
That Turns On But Displays Nothing on Screen

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.