SZ381P blank screen / bad headphone jack

Has anyone else had their Sony Vaio SZ's LCD suddenly output a picture that is so dim that it may as well be blank? My external display works fine, but my internal display now is so dim that it is practically black. Under bright light, at the correct angle, an image can very barely be seen.

What could be the cause of this? Some weeks ago my laptop was "fixed" by an incompetent technician, who didn't put everything back together again properly (e.g. the Nvidia GPU overheats because he didn't reapply the thermal paste properly). I am wondering if a poor reassembly might have something to do with it. But then again it's odd that it showed up only some weeks later as a problem.

I hope I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars replacing the LCD screen. I already had to replace the internal fan due to the bearings on the original one failing.

Another problem I have is that the sound out the headphone jack is poor. It comes out of one channel (the left) and the right channel has almost no volume. I used to be able to plug it in and multiple times and that would fix it. No more it seems. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it?

I can't say I'm too impressed with the reliability of this machine. Three nontrivial problems in the space of 2 1/2 years is too much.

 

well, i have a headphone jack problem too,similar to yours but usually i just spin the headphone input jack around and i get it to work...i dont have the highest of quality headphones, i tried a pair of apple headphones and other good brand headphones and they seemed to workwithout a problem and my current headphones works okay with my phone and my mp3 players so im not sure, whats to blame

as for your screen problem, if it just blacked out and no matter what you do(close screen, retstart, etc.) then it means your backlit went out, i cant say for SURE but it could be of that GPU problem you talked about, or maybe overheating(please dont take this as final its my own personal guess) but if it just randomly happens but it gets fixed by restarting or hibernating then resuming then im not sure what the problem is but ive seen this prob with my uncle's NS, so im not sure yet, maybe someone else can help you out in this dept. hope i could be of some help

one more thing, try pluggin in multiple headphones, speakers, and see if its only your current object thats not working properly with it or its the jack itself, if it is then i guess you can get it replaced, i was about to do the same and it was gonna cost me £17.50(UK) from ebay, maybe you can get a similar price over in the states online around $35 or less(hopefully)

Edit: okay ive done some searching, IM NOT 100% SURE maybe another member here with more experience can help you out, but i found a few links on ebay for parts that might be useful to you and wont hurt your pocket at all.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-VGN-SZ-series-LCD-INVERTER-RIBBON-CABLE_W0QQitemZ160356456093QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2555fd569d&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 This is a LCD Inverter with the ribbon cable, unless you have opened your SZ before i suggest you get this part replaced by a technician.
I chose this link since its only $25.00 and it comes with 7 days return so if that doesnt solve your problem you can return it, just make sure it doesnt get damaged if it doesnt fit

andddddd here we go:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-SZ-SZ450N-Audio-Sound-FireWire-VGA-Ribbon-CNX-348_W0QQitemZ300352002281QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item45ee5fd8e9&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
This is the audio sound board you need if you want to replace it, this is $7.42 with 14 days money back
But mind you if you tell them that i bought this and have tried to fit this and it was dont compatible then i doubt they will let you return it, if it shows no extra signs of use than what was already there, you can make up a story and tell them you never used it just compared it to what you have and it was diff or something so you just put the item back in its packaging.
Trust me it will save you ALOT then having to spend the technician overcharge you for a part you can get for less than $15.

hope this helps, if anyone else can contribute and confirm these parts are what he needs then that would be greatly appreciated