My laptop screen died...suggestions?

I have a Dell Inspiron 9200 laptop. For a couple of months now, the screen has been flickering every once in a while (mainly when it's coming from an "off" state - when turning the computer on or moving the mouse after the screen has shut off). The flicker has mainly been toward the sides of the screen, with the center of the screen not flickering much, if at all.

By flicker, I don't mean it blacks out and comes back quickly; it's been a quick flicker and it just gets darker (I would say to about the brightness it gets to when running on battery power, by default settings). It's been pretty annoying, but I have been planning on getting a computer around the middle of May for some time, so I didn't worry too much about it. Well, today as I was surfing the web (and noticing more flicker than usual), my screen went dark. Moving the screen forward and back a couple times caused it to come on momentarily, but after that it ceased working.

However, the display was still working: I could see the Windows startup sequence and some other things very faintly, so I was thinking it may just be the backlights?

I popped the hinge cover off and disconnected and re-connected the cable, but it still didn't work. Luckily, my brother and I both have the same computer and he's since gotten a Mac, so I swapped the RAM and hard drives and I'm using his for now.

I was wondering if you have any input on this? I've had the computer for 3 years and 3 months, and it's been on quite a bit (I didn't always have the screen turn off after x number of minutes).

I was hoping to give that computer to my girlfriend when I get my new one, so I was thinking maybe there is some inexpensive magical fix.

Thanks!

 

could just be your inverter (power supply to the LCD), not that expensive to get replaced either

 

jmach, take the plastic shrouds off from the screen. You will see a few connectors. There will be an inverter, which is usually a small silicon board under the screen. There is usually two wires going into it, and two wires coming out. Make sure the wires are secured.
On the back of the lcd, there is a ribbon cable, make sure that it is seated in the port on the back of the lcd all of the way. Tape the ribbon cable to the back of the screen, so that the cable does not come out again. This is usually the problem, because sometimes when you close the screen, the ribbon cable will snag, and unplug itself from the screen.

I hope its just a connection issue,
if none of this works, than I would power the system on, and measure the voltage out of the screen inverter, with a voltmeter. If no voltage comes out, its either a loose connection between the inverter and the motherboard, or the inverter simply burned out.

Usually screens do not burn out, its the inverter, or a connection issue.

If you were a good boyfriend, you would give your new laptop to your girl, and keep your current one.

K-TRON

 

If I were a good boyfriend, the old Latitude CPi I gave her for her birthday wouldn't have died 6 months later .

I assume there are directions online for what you guys are suggesting? Taking the hinge cover off really was the first time (other than replacing hard drives and RAM) that I have done any sort of surgery on my computer...and I really don't want to demolish it. I'll have some free time next week, so maybe I'll buy myself a can of air and open my computer up and see what I can do.

Thanks for the input!