Dell Latitude D620 dim screen

[AliOz]

Can anyone help me fix my screen please?

I switched on my Latitude a few days ago and I saw it flash with the Dell start up then screen went dark.

I have tried removing battery, unplugging power, pushing on button. This or possibly just screen angle means I can now just manage to read the screen sometimes esp when white background.

I've tried fn and arrow keys and sometimes it reacts with a quick flash at full brightness, same if I try fn F8.

I've gone into the BIOS and ensure the Ambient Light Sensor is off and that the Brightness and Brightness AC are maximised.

I hold a vague hope it can be fixed as it does have flashes of full brightness - any ideas to have full brightness back permanently please?

[jaqu]

Hey there. Sounds like a loose connection to me. How comfortable are you with opening it up? Because you need to take out the keyboard to reseat the cable that comes from the screen and goes to the motherboard. It's very easy to do, I've done it plenty of times. You can find a manual here: Documentation
Once its open, you will see a cable coming out from the monitor, just see where it plugs into the motherboard, and plug it out and then plug it back in properly.

See if that solves your problem. If it doesn't then you may need to phone Dell technical support.

[drizzle]

It sounds like it might be the inverter board in the display. Normally when they go out you end up with a very dim display that you can only see with very bright backgrounds or at certain angles under low light. You have to open up the display bezel to replace it but it's a fairly simple process. The part itself is likely under $20.

[AliOz]

Hey there. Sounds like a loose connection to me. How comfortable are you with opening it up? Because you need to take out the keyboard to reseat the cable that comes from the screen and goes to the motherboard. It's very easy to do, I've done it plenty of times. You can find a manual here: Documentation
Once its open, you will see a cable coming out from the monitor, just see where it plugs into the motherboard, and plug it out and then plug it back in properly.

See if that solves your problem. If it doesn't then you may need to phone Dell technical support.

Thanks fo rthe suggestion, I'll get someone a bit more technical than me to give this a go.

[AliOz]

It sounds like it might be the inverter board in the display. Normally when they go out you end up with a very dim display that you can only see with very bright backgrounds or at certain angles under low light. You have to open up the display bezel to replace it but it's a fairly simple process. The part itself is likely under $20.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try the loose wire thing and failing that will take it into someone and see if they have a new inverter, thanks for indication of price, not expenise like I thought it might be!

[osprey4]

Surprising that a system that new would suffer an inverter board failure.

[ODETOJOYSAILING]

I had this exact same problem, as you describe in your original posting. I replaced the inverter, and replaced the screen, and replaced the ribbon cable to the motherboard. What I got was a little bit brighter screen. I bumped up the brightness to full, but it is still about half the brightness of a regular screen. I spent more than a hundred dollars, including shipping, and didn't really solve the problem. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

[osprey4]

Hi, Odetojoysailing:

Welcome to TechIMO.

Were these new OEM parts? Obviously, the brightness is determined by the backlight.