Well first I'd like to say that this forum is great, and I learned a lot by going through some threads. I was hoping however if I could get a more specific answer for my laptop. I own a Inspiron 9200 with a 17" WXGA Screen. When I first got my laptop the screen would stay on and go off intermittently. After a while the screen went completely black and hasn't come on since. (Actually it did once when I was playing with an external monitor, then died again shortly after). An external monitor works perfectly fine.

 

Two solutions or answers I found that could be possible from this site are;

 

1) I have a backlight problem and need to replace it.

2) The switch that tells the computer that the lid is shut is somehow stuck, keeping the monitor off.

 

Now I just have to add a little information, and hopefully someone will be able to confirm if it is one of the above problems, or if I have a completely different problem.

 

When I run the computer in safe mode, the monitor is on no problems. This made me believe it was a driver issue. However when I disable the ATI Radeon 9700 drivers through safe more, and then re-start the computer - the monitor once again stays on. However I can't change the settings past 1024x768 and can't get a high colour resolution. When I play video's like this, the appear choppy. So while still in regular Windows mode, I go into the the hardware settings and click to enable the video card drivers. The screen flickers and remains on - in the same set resolution/colour setting. Now the second I CHANGE the resolution to anything else, or re-start the computer, the screen goes black again.

 

So my question is, could the backlight still be a problem if the LCD works in safe mode, and in regular Windows mode with the video drivers off?? Or could the problem still be the switch that tells the computer the LCD lid is closed?? Maybe that feature is only activated with the 9700 drivers??

 

Any help, or guidance to the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I'm out of warranty on the laptop, and am capable of doing hardware/software work myself.

 

Thank you,

 

Vik