My display suddenly went completely dark

[novikov.igor]

Greetings, everybody.

I hope to find some help with my problem. I currently own a Dell
Latitude D505, a little less than two years old, and it runs Windows XP
Home version. Several days ago I turned on my computer only to find a
dark screen. However, by accident I shone a table lamp directly into
the display and saw that the computer was fully started, only
everything was extremely dark. I have tried adjusting the Control
Panel, but to no avail. I have tried "Fn" + Up/Down arrow, and nothing.
I can barely view the images on the screen, and only if I shine the
light literally directly and closely to the screen. Other than that
problem, everything else in the computer is working fine. DSL
connection is running smoothly, all applications are operating as
usual, and I have absolutely no error messages of any kind.

As usual, Microsoft help was useless, and so was Dell's. By the way, to
clarify the matters, my laptop is stationery, staying primarily at the
docking station, so it's not just screen dimming when unplugged. I have
tried just about everything I could think about. Any help to resolve
this issue is more than greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Igor

 

[Jerry]

Why do you assume the display itself has not just died? Or the backlight
died?

 

[LVTravel]

Probably the backlight has failed and would need to be serviced by qualified
individual since it entails dismantling the screen. If you have a CRT or
LCD display that you can plug into the laptop, you may try this to alleviate
the problem since it is a "stationary" laptop. To get the laptop to use the
add on display you would need to press the Fn key and the key that causes
the video adapter to shift its output (normally F5 or F8)