So, I'm messing with an Inspiron 1525 with windows 7 ultimate 64, and the problem is the display. It comes on for a random amount of time, before either flickering between normal display and dimmed display, then going dark, or just going dark immediately. When it goes dark, I can still see the screen is working, just not lit up.

I've tried locating a driver for it:

1) using Dell's site, according to it, it should have Vista 32 bit, nothing beyond that.

2) using windows update says the driver is up to date.

I plugged in an external lcd monitor, and it works fine. I unplug the monitor cable, it causes the laptop lcd to light back up for a moment or two, before going dark again.

Windows popped up that it is not genuine. I was wondering if this could be causing driver issues? Or is a component dealing with the back light failing?

I've also moved the screen back and forth, to see if there is a loose wire, but that would have been a stretch, since it didn't act like a loose wire.


I guess I'm just looking to see what your all thoughts were on the matter.


Edit:

After some researching, seems it is a very very common problem on this particular model. most people replace the screen to fix it.

It sounds to me like a dying backlight or backlight drive circuitry. In other words, probably a hardware rather than software problem.

If it still does it in BIOS setup or when booting from a live CD or something, that would probably confirm it further.

The technical term for the backlight drive circuitry is an inverter, and it's much more common for the inverter to die than the fluorescent tubes themselves, to the best of my understanding. I definitely suspect an inverter issue based on the symptoms you're mentioning; how much does a new inverter run for this particular model?

I don't know about new, saw a couple on ebay for less than $10. Seems new they run about $20ish.