Why is my computer screen going dark?

That would be the graphics card going pete tong, and will probably need replacing if you dislike the darkness, cause i've had this problem before. a repair or new one would be in order. snoochy boochies. X

Dangermiles
August 2007

Without any info on how long this fading is taking here are some ideas:

If you have a PC monitor handy, attach it to the back of the laptop and see if the picture you get on that is faded. If it is then it is most likely a setting for your video card that might be inadvertently changed. Fix this by looking for a display/video control panel and adjusting contrast/brightness/gamma settings to default. Another method to fix it is to find the video card in the Device Manager (google for a tutorial, there are loads) and uninstall it and restart. I don't recommend this unless you know where to find the drivers to reinstall it.

However if the picture on the monitor looks good then its likely directly related to your LCD panel.

Could be the backlight that shines through the screen is on its way out, its usually like a flourescent tube however, so I would expect that to just stop when it dies, leaving a very very faint picture.

Alternatively, its could be user error :) Most laptops have shortcut keys to adjust the contrast/brightness. Usually you hold down a 'Fn' key (sometimes situated near the left Windows key, or on the top row somewhere) and pressing one of the number keys or F keys (F1, F2, etc). The key you want will be one of a pair and have a faint up arrow and a symbol. You won't find these symbols on a desktop PC keyboard, so compare.

Additional useful information in future would be a specific model number (eg FS4532), the age of the machine, how long ago the problem started and how fast its getting worse in this case.

Hope that all helps

SminkyBazzA
July 2007