DELL Inspiron 1525 screen becomes very dim on power ON

[budhakhun]

Hi,

I bought a DELL Inspiron 1525 model last year in March. Everything was perfect till yesterday when all of a sudden, when I put the power plug and switch it ON, the laptop screen becomes dark. If I look carefully, I can see the Icons on the screen (which is very dim) suggesting the laptop is working properly. Another thing is that when the power plug is switched OFF, I can bring back the screen to its normal functioning. I tried changing the brightness through BIOS settings, but it didn't help. I tried changing the adapter also but of no help. Is the problem at the level of software as in do I need to change some settings say change the video driver? Or is it at the level of hardware wherein I need to give it to a technician for solution? Please suggest.

[Razor2]

Is the screen also dim on the BIOS screen if you boot with the adapter connected?

If so, there is some problem with the connector on the motherboard.

[Commander Wolf]

How dim is very dim? Is it dimmer than the lowest brightness setting on your display? You might have a dying inverter or back light if everything else is working properly...

[OrangeComputer]

I'm having the same problem with a Dell Inspiron 1520. I thought it might be a bad screen inverter, but now I don't think so. Like the original writer, the screen only goes dim while plugged into the AC/DC power adapter. It does not happen when only on battery power. If I plug in, the screen goes very dim, then I can unplug, close laptop lid, open it and the screen will be fine.

Any ideas on what causes this? Has anyone successfully repaired this problem?

thanks,

Matthew

[Fragilexx]

I'm having the same problem with a Dell Inspiron 1520. I thought it might be a bad screen inverter, but now I don't think so. Like the original writer, the screen only goes dim while plugged into the AC/DC power adapter. It does not happen when only on battery power. If I plug in, the screen goes very dim, then I can unplug, close laptop lid, open it and the screen will be fine.

Any ideas on what causes this? Has anyone successfully repaired this problem?

thanks,

Matthew

I know you've probably done this, but have you checked the power plan settings, specifically the screen brightness under A/C vs battery.

Like I said, I know you've probably done this, but no harm in asking...

[Mastershroom]

Try booting into the BIOS. Under "Display", there should be options for brightness. Make sure that both the "Brightness" and "Brightness (AC)" levels are at their highest.

[laptopwiz]

Hi folks,

I found a fix for this problem. It is very simple. All you have to do to boot to BIOS and load default-save and exit..Do this when laptop is running on battery. Once booted to windows connect power code and see the difference. This worked on my XPS-M1330.Hopefully, it should work on any dell.. Please let me know.. Thanks

[winterbagel]

My new screen is not black-dark - but significantly dimmer than my original (cracked) screen. The backlight/inverter are fine. But the fn+arrow and/or any other attempts to adjust the brightness fail. It's all wiggy, 1 is dim, 2 lighter, 3 dimmer, 4 light again(but same as 2 only), 5 dim, 6 dim, 7 light, 8 dim...

I tried your solution laptopwiz it did nothing for my (1525) dark screen

[tcg_repair]

My new screen is not black-dark - but significantly dimmer than my original (cracked) screen. The backlight/inverter are fine. But the fn+arrow and/or any other attempts to adjust the brightness fail. It's all wiggy, 1 is dim, 2 lighter, 3 dimmer, 4 light again(but same as 2 only), 5 dim, 6 dim, 7 light, 8 dim...

I tried your solution laptopwiz it did nothing for my (1525) dark screen

I had the EXACT same problem on 2 laptops at my job. (note, the screen has been replaced in both of them. I assumed that was why it was like that.)

I found that the LCD and the BIOS are synced via serial number. You need to re-flash the bios to re sync the two. This should help.

[andycommon]

I had the EXACT same problem on 2 laptops at my job. (note, the screen has been replaced in both of them. I assumed that was why it was like that.)

I found that the LCD and the BIOS are synced via serial number. You need to re-flash the bios to re sync the two. This should help.

Could you please elaborate a bit on this - Is it something that only an Engineer should do or something that we can attempt at home.

I am facing the exact same wiggly issue on my screen as 'winterbagel' mentioned.

I switched to Vista from XP, had my screen replaced and am facing the wiggly issue.


It would help a lot if you could elaborate your suggestion...

thanks!