8 replies to this topic

[macbg8]

Hi all. I am hoping someone can help me. I have a Dell inspiron 1501 that is about four yrs old. The screen suddenly started to go black. The only way to fix it was to close the monitor and reopen. It will stay on for a few seconds and then go black again. If you hold a light to it you can see that it is running fine and you can even make out a faint webpage. Long story short after trying everything I turned to brightness down to a very low setting and it will stay on now but is very hard to use because of the dimness. I do not have money to pay for a repair and can do it myself but I need to know if I should get a new monitor or if it may be a wiring problem or something. Thanks for any help.

[rayzoredge]

macbg8, on Nov 18 2009, 12:49 PM, said:

Hi all. I am hoping someone can help me. I have a Dell inspiron 1501 that is about four yrs old. The screen suddenly started to go black. The only way to fix it was to close the monitor and reopen. It will stay on for a few seconds and then go black again. If you hold a light to it you can see that it is running fine and you can even make out a faint webpage. Long story short after trying everything I turned to brightness down to a very low setting and it will stay on now but is very hard to use because of the dimness. I do not have money to pay for a repair and can do it myself but I need to know if I should get a new monitor or if it may be a wiring problem or something. Thanks for any help.

Do you have any power options that cause it to go dim? What OS are you using? Any third-party applications that may affect the display?

There may also be the possibility of bad wiring, in which case you can double check by cracking the case and taking a peek at how the wires are. They may be kinked, or somehow got loose, or maybe the display is on its way out. Maybe for some reason it's unable to maintain the brightness setting because of an issue involving the capability of handling that much power now.

I would have a fellow geek take a look at it before thinking about replacing it. In most cases, LCDs can cost you an arm and a leg, which kind of makes you wonder if you should just replace the laptop. (If I remember right, a friend of mine was looking to replace hers but replacement displays cost upwards of $200 USD.) If you have a spare old monitor (like the CRT monitors we ditched in favor for flat screens) or if you can find one, that's a free or cheap solution that may be viable if you use your laptop primarily in one place.

[rvalkass]

If you can still see an image when you hold a strong light to the screen then it sounds like the backlight has just gone, or is having trouble dealing with high brightnesses now. It might be worth taking a look on eBay for a broken laptop of the same model as yours and taking the backlight out of that. Replacing it in your laptop could be tricky, so make sure you know what you're doing. Also, if the problem is somewhere else (ie. not a faulty backlight) then replacing the backlight won't make any difference.

[onkarnath2001]

macbg8, on Nov 18 2009, 10:19 PM, said:

Hi all. I am hoping someone can help me. I have a Dell inspiron 1501 that is about four yrs old. The screen suddenly started to go black. The only way to fix it was to close the monitor and reopen. It will stay on for a few seconds and then go black again. If you hold a light to it you can see that it is running fine and you can even make out a faint webpage. Long story short after trying everything I turned to brightness down to a very low setting and it will stay on now but is very hard to use because of the dimness. I do not have money to pay for a repair and can do it myself but I need to know if I should get a new monitor or if it may be a wiring problem or something. Thanks for any help.

you do two things,,most probably the problem will be resolved

1.open your RAM and clean with with a cotton smoothly.
2.open the battery of CMOS that lies inside the mother board and reinsert it after 1 minute.
3.clean all the pans and contact points of the battery where it touches the machine contact pins...

[iGuest]

Ok one of the keys on my laptop was stuck, this key being the plus/equal key, so I removed it thinking that it would solve the problem and it did but, the key itslef and two square shaped pieces came off along with it and they are all detached, but I don't know how to place the three pieces together, I have a dell inspiron 1501, can u give me a diagram or a detailed order in which the pieces should go on and how?-reply by Alex

[iGuest]

Replying to (G)AlexI just finished repairing this same issue on my Inspiron 1501. The problem was with the standby switch, to find this switch remove the hinge cover and look near the right hinge, it is a small black box with a white pin sticking out of it. It has 2 wires running to the main system board near the wifi card. The Reason the backlight turns off after a few seconds is because this switch is faulty and the display invertor shuts off the display back light to prevent further damage... Closing and opening the lid resets this process and it will shut down again each time you open and close the lid, until the switch is replaced.Standby Switch can be ordered from dell for around $28 or have a look on ebay for a cheaper one, but be warned buying a used one, these switch's are VERY sensitive and you may get a dud if you buy used.-reply by Burasuta

[ahmed_mmahmoud]

there are only to solutions
1- try to update the drivers (esp. vga and monitor of the note book)
2- 80% of this problem refering to lcd data cable which connect the lcd to the motherboard through the middle joint of the notebook.

[Liquidized]

eddy, on 02 September 2010 - 01:09 AM, said:

I have the same laptop and the same problem. The issue is a faulty standby switch - if you close the lid and open it the computer will be fine for a few seconds. Remove the hinge plate and beside the right hinge is a small box with a little white needle. Press the needle down, let go and the screen should come on for a few seconds. Replace that switch.

Should i do that as well? I have the same problem but with a Toshiba Satellite. The Screen doesn't go on at all when it boots up. It turns off only when you take out the battery or the battery runs out.