Dell Inspiron 1520 screen issue/fault - Possible backlight failure?

I own a Dell Inspiron 1520 and last night the screen went very dim all of a sudden and I heard a slight 'frying' noise when it went dim. I can still see the screen but at most about 5% of the brightness and to the extent that you can't use it. I've got it connected up to an external monitor and when I close the lid it goes to sleep so it's not a lid latch issue. When I connect to an external monitor and the change back to just work on the laptop screen the screen will come on for around 10 seconds and then will make the noise and go exteremely dim again. I am guessing this means it is a backlight issue but can anyone shed any more light on this?

If I were to open up the laptop I don't really know what I would be looking for in order to diagnose the problem so it would be great if anyone can give me any advice on that as well.

Finally, if it is a backlight problem I have read that backlights can be hard to replace by yourself, is that right? How much would it cost?

Thanks for your help.

 

well it could be the backlight or it could be the inverter - which if you heard some noise is the likely culprit.

Changing the CCFL tubes is a bit more involved as it requires taking the LCD display apart.
If you remove the front display bezel, you should see the inverter board it will be like the one in the attached photo, and they are cheap to replace.




Make sure you remove all power before working on the unit, Shorts can be very final.

 

I have to agree this is a involved process and you could damage or break the CCFL tube as well and that could be a health hazard as it is glass and shards can be dangerous. If the LCD is bad buying a new complete LCD is the safer way to go. But the inverter board would be a safer was to test.