D630 - dark screen for 10 minutes after boot

I have Dell Latitude D630 which is 4 years and 4 months old. Most of the time it is docked with screen closed running two external monitors. However, if I use the laptop's screen, it is dark (readable but darker than should be) for the first 10 minutes after boot. Then, it lights up gradually.

I presume that it is a problem with a backlight. Should I just buy a backlight lamp like this and how many? LCD SCREEN BACKLIGHT CCFL FOR INSPIRON 640M E1405 D630 | eBay

Or should I replace the entire screen? I did plan to upgrade from WXGA (1280x800) to WXGA+ (1440x900) some time down the road though.

 

You might be lucky and only have a bad inverter. I'd say you should get a known-good inverter first and see if it fixes your problem. Then you can consider replacing the backlight (a real pain in the butt) or screen (less of a pain, but obviously more expensive).

 

Thanks. I'll try that.

 

hello guys
how are you all,

i have similar problem with the same Dell latitude D630 dark and vertical strip screen now data display...

how can i solve the warranty period is over from dell company....again i could not get a dell service company in my area. now i am in India Pune for business i asked there where i can get dell latitude service center but i could not. Would you please help me i can i fix this problem...

thank you

 

Do you have an Nvidia or Intel D630? In the case of the former, if the bar shows up on an external display, then your GPU is hosed. If not, then your display is bad, and you basically have to replace it.