Sony VGN-Z540 Screen Backlight Turns Off

Hey, guys. Problem with my 2 week old sony vgn-z540 laptop and hoping you guys can help me fix it. Heres the problem:

When I try to use the brightness level in between LOW and HIGH, my LCD backlight would go off, and the screen would be dark and almost not visible at all. There are also vertical bars at random spots, stretching from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen. I can only use it with either LOW setting or HIGH setting, nothing in between.

This problem just started on its own. I have not installed anything such as drivers or programs. No updates(was updated after the problem occured to try to fix it).

I love this laptop to death and has been the best laptop in the past 15 years. I would hate to see it go so I need this fixed.

I will update later with pictures when it gets dark here b/c the pictures now are not showing up with the bars.

 

I'd just send it back to Sony and have them fix it. You could try a fresh install if you were truly against sending it in to get it fixed.

 

umm..sending it back would be my last option. I want to fix it myself if that's possible rather than wait b/c this is my primary computer.

I reinstalled it through Sony's recovery center using the "Restore C: Drive" option. This did not do anything for this issue BUT have noticed that whining noise to the upper left corner does not exist anymore. However, this is unrelated to my current issue.

Anyone else have another suggestion or have had this problem with another company of laptops? I need help in fixing this annoying problem as LOW setting is too low for lighted surroundings and HIGH drains the battery quite fast, as my laptop is never stationary.

Thanks guys and any help would be much appreciated!