HP 8730w LCD random dimming

Hi all,

I've been using an HP Elitebook 8730w (Quadro FX3700M and 1920x1200 NON-DreamColor display) since November 2008 and I think it may be having a problem, again. Just today, I started noticing the display would "dim" briefly at random times - I've been using it as a desktop replacement at home with the screen at full brightness most of the time, so I notice - the brightness would go all the way down by itself, for a brief moment to a couple (~20) of seconds, before going back up again. I have not performed any updates, hardware nor software, and this has happened randomly about five times today.

When I say lowest brightness, I mean it literally - as in the backlight does not go out completely. All three display brightness related buttons (F9,F10, F11) respond properly, with that little on-screen brightness slider popping up on the screen, but the screen brightness itself does not change.

I'm no stranger to this weird issue as I encountered this same problem in November 2009 when the display brightness randomly went down and up, first for a couple of seconds, then it would take longer for it to go back up (also random). The display got 'stuck' at the lowest brightness around April 2010 before the display itself showed a bunch of garbled colors one fine day in May 2010. Had the graphics card replaced under warranty and everything was fine since.

I don't get why this issue is coming up again... What could be wrong? Was the first problem even originally related to the GPU? Even worse, I got this 8730w in Asia and now I'm in the US... if anything goes wrong and something needs to be replaced (hope not as I depend on this PC a lot), will HP USA still service the notebook under warranty here?

 

Is the ambient light sensor on?

As for warranty, fortunately for you the EliteBook's warranties are internationally applicable. Myself and many other HP business notebook owners have found the HP ITRC online system to be extremely helpful, email correspondents are quick and to the point. You will need to register on the ITRC page and submit a case, you can also use the online system to check your warranty status via your notebook's product number and serial number (on the underside of your notebook). Of course you can also call them.

 

Nope, the ambient light sensor is disabled (and even when it is enabled, display brightness doesn't dip all the way down to such low levels). Toggling it on/off during such random "dimming" sessions has no effect on display brightness.

 

i got same problem on my 8730w do you find out the way to make it bright?