Left of laptop screen darkened- heat damage from laptop itself?

[MaD_aTTaCk]

Hi,

I have a Dell xps m1530, recently I noticed that the left ~3 inches of the screen had become darkened as if the screen brightness has been turned down in this region. I suspect that this may be down to heat damage by leaving the computer running with the lid closed? Is there anything I can do about it?

Thankyou in advance for any replies...

[quickoldcar]

Would need to replace the screen.

[osprey4]

It sounds like your backlight is going bad. I had this same problem with my Latitude D620. Had the backlight replaced and everything is looking good. You can replace the backlight without removing the entire display assembly. Just follow the service manual. A new backlight is going to run you $40-60.

[MaD_aTTaCk]

Thankyou for the replies so far. Unfortunately since my last post the situation has changes somewhat. The screen lighting now completely switches off after 30secs-5 minutes of use, after which things are faintly visible if a bright light is shone on the screen. If the lid is closed then reopened the light comes back on for briefly before switching off again. Plugging in an external monitor as (I have done now) is fine.

From what I have read on the net this matches exactly a description I read about a broken inverter, however does the preceding fading in the left of the screen that I mentioned in my first post ( see above) imply something else is amiss?

I would be grateful for any help offered!