Laptop screen dimming

RolandIRL

okay, only noticed this in the last week or so, but my laptop screen has just started dimming. it dims for a few secs then brightens up again then sort of flickers between the two. it looks like some of the lights (or whatever) around the side are fading a bit
it's a Dell Studio 1555 but i only got it last november. it's not on Power Saver mode (high performance instead) and no settings have been changed recently that would have caused this afaik.
it's happened a few times now in the last week, and i'm kinda worried would this mean my screen is dying?

anyone know what could be wrong?
thanks

carefulnow100

No expert here but could possible be your inverter! had some problems over past few weeks with my dell screen too!!

RolandIRL

any way to fix it and stop the dimming?

carefulnow100

whiteman19 wrote: »

any way to fix it and stop the dimming?

Well Im pretty sure when your inverter starts to go the only fix is to replace it! But dont quote me as I said im no expert! im sure someone around here will tell me im wrong:D

RolandIRL

well i wouldn't want to go messing around with it myself. i have a habit of breaking computers

kjl

your power adaptor is malfuntioning a little, just set the brightness setting on battery to full and it should stop this.

RolandIRL

it's not on battery. i'm using AC mains, and brightness is set to full already

i've a spare AC adaptor lying around. i'm going to try that and see if it still occurs. though it appears to happen at random.

jpl888

It probably is the inverter or the screen itself. I have the same problem with a Samsung R70Plus. It was out of warranty when it appeared. I'd recommend you get them out to fix it before the warranty expires.

RolandIRL

two pics i took of it with a digital camera - a definite difference between the two. you can see some of the backlights aren't on in the first pic.
http://omg.wthax.org/SDC10388.jpg
http://omg.wthax.org/SDC10389.jpg

Solitaire

Backlight or possibly inverter. Get that fixed under warranty if possible!

RolandIRL

yes i bought only last november - still in warranty. going to ring or email them later.

thanks Sol and everyone else

RolandIRL

rang Dell today. i'm going to send it away and get it fixed. warranty is still good.

on a side-note, about the warranty, are all electronics supposed to have a 2 year warranty under EU law? dell only give 1 year warranty.

Abelloid

whiteman19 wrote: »

it's not on battery. i'm using AC mains, and brightness is set to full already

i've a spare AC adaptor lying around. i'm going to try that and see if it still occurs. though it appears to happen at random.

..but if you're on AC power and it drops out for a second or two your screen will revert to the brightness level set for battery operation.

RolandIRL

the battery isn't in the machine at all. and i have just checked the battery brightness and it's not the case that it's reverting to that. some of the backlight's go off at the top. that doesn't or shouldn't happen on battery power

Abelloid

whiteman19 wrote: »

the battery isn't in the machine at all. and i have just checked the battery brightness and it's not the case that it's reverting to that. some of the backlight's go off at the top. that doesn't or shouldn't happen on battery power

Ah, no. If there's no battery in it, it will just die.

RolandIRL

JustinOval wrote: »

Ah, no. If there's no battery in it, it will just die.

what are you on about? someone above said it's probably an inverter problem. i'm sending it off to Dell to get it fixed. it's not going to die or whatever

Abelloid

whiteman19 wrote: »

what are you on about? someone above said it's probably an inverter problem. i'm sending it off to Dell to get it fixed. it's not going to die or whatever

Relax, I'm agreeing with you - it can't be the power supply as kjl suggested above. I was just trying to explain what he/she meant as it is a common problem, but obviously not in this case.

jpl888

Well you learn something new everyday. I wasn't even aware of that EU directive.

According to http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/tips-and-guides/article.html?in_article_id=487339&in_page_id=53954&in_advicepage_id=131 you are correct. They should fix it if it goes in 2 years regardless of their own warranty. I wonder who pays for the return and what not?

RolandIRL

some more links on the warranty
http://www.wak-tt.com/tt/2yearwarranty1.htm
http://www.avforums.com/forums/xbox-360-hardware/475729-2-year-warranty-standard-eu-law.html
few other discussions on boards - http://www.google.ie/#hl=en&safe=off&q=eu+2+year+warranty+site%3Aboards.ie&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=7e163e22833761bc

so yes all electrical goods have a 2 year warranty if there is an inherent fault in the product, and it involves the seller as well. \o/ so if another issue arises with my laptop (touch wood) after november that isn't my fault, i can get them to fix it

jpl888

Good to know someone is looking out for the consumer against the big bad companies.

RolandIRL

laptop came back monday but of course i had just gone off to college :rolleyes:
seems to be working grand. thanks for all your help guys

RolandIRL

:(:(

it's back doing the dimming again

the sheet that came back with the laptop said that they reseated the lcd cable, and a full diagnostic functionality system stress test was pass, and that i had to perform a windows update at my earliest convenience.
i haven't had time to do the update so would that impact at all on the screen?

Skerries

no the updates won't make a difference
it looks like it is the inverter so get them to replace it

RolandIRL

i'm really pissed off at them. all they did was reseat the lcd cable. why couldn't they have replaced the inverter? :mad:
sent them an angry email a few hours ago, but i'll be sure to give them a good earful when they contact me back

RolandIRL

it's really weird. i haven't noticed it dimming at all since i switched the AC adapter could the adapter be faulty that it isn't supplying enough power and is going into Power Saving mode???
maybe it's just random the way it's happening

Solitaire

The system could automatically drop down the backlight if the adaptor stopped supplying enough energy while the battery was taken out/fully discharged but its far more likely that a periodic issue with the other adaptor would have cause a momentary outage that would have caused a full restart. And the symptoms could not occur while a battery containing some charge was still plugged in... IMHO the initial bug is just waiting in the wings Still sounds like backlight, inverter or a cable going between them and the supply

ShooterSF

By the way on the warranty issue that directive was never introduced here because Irish law exceeds it. You have a warranty for the expected lifespan of the product up to six years. Dell's one year warranty is on top of that.

RolandIRL

i thought that 6 year warranty was only in britain?

TeaServer

Hi whiteman,

I'm sure you have already checked this, but I had a similar problem before with a HP laptop. It used to dim 'randomly'. However one day I noticed I could cause it to dim by moving my hand in front of the screen.

After some more investigation I realised that there was an ambient light sensor that caused the screen to dim slightly when there was not as much direct light hitting the screen. Have a look to make sure there is no setting similar to this on your laptop. Double check all power saving options..

/T

RolandIRL

TeaServer wrote: »

Hi whiteman,

I'm sure you have already checked this, but I had a similar problem before with a HP laptop. It used to dim 'randomly'. However one day I noticed I could cause it to dim by moving my hand in front of the screen.

After some more investigation I realised that there was an ambient light sensor that caused the screen to dim slightly when there was not as much direct light hitting the screen. Have a look to make sure there is no setting similar to this on your laptop. Double check all power saving options..

/T

nope, it's not doing that at all. i've a Dell laptop, and it's not responding to my hand. some of the backlight's switch off around the rim, appears to be at random, i'm always in a well-lit room, and there's enough light falling on the screen itself.
it's not reverting to battery power settings, because i don't keep the battery in the machine. so if the adapter wasn't supplying enough power, it would just knock off, right?

thanks

Abelloid

whiteman19 wrote: »

nope, it's not doing that at all. i've a Dell laptop, and it's not responding to my hand. some of the backlight's switch off around the rim, appears to be at random, i'm always in a well-lit room, and there's enough light falling on the screen itself.
it's not reverting to battery power settings, because i don't keep the battery in the machine. so if the adapter wasn't supplying enough power, it would just knock off, right?

thanks

Depends on how much power the battery puts out compared to the adapter, there might be a difference...

Have a look the power scheme to see if it is set to dim on battery power.

RolandIRL

it's never dimmed before on battery settings, and on win7, i have it always set to High Performance, and have to manually change it to Power Saver on battery.
and it's only in august that i've first noticed this dimming happening, so it must be that something's gone wrong, else i would have seen waaay before this.

dell rang today, but the technican is to give me a callback tomorrow. hope they don't ring during my lectures.

RolandIRL

just got a call from dell. they're sending out an engineer and hopefully it'll get sorted

RolandIRL

just to update ye: engineer came today, and replaced the screen. hopefully now it won't be a problem anymore.

thanks for all your help

jpl888

Unless it's the inverter and he didn't replace that .....

RolandIRL

no...i asked him avout that, and the inverter is part of the screen on my laptop. it's different to others