Inspiron 8100 - blank or black screen

Sounds very much like a backlight/inverter a problem.
If you shine a flashlight almost parallel to the screen you should be able to make out images on the screen if it's a backlight/inverter problem.

I would also bet on the backlight.  Cheapest place I know to get it fixed is http://store.nexttronics.com/replcdblrep.html but so far nobody on the forum has reported having it done there that I know of.

 

If it is the backlight, why does the LCD stay on for a few minutes before going black?  I have been told Dell parts will not sell the backlight separately.  They will only sell it with the LCD display.  Is this information accurate?

Don't know how the electronics of the inverter/backlight work so cannot explain why but it is one of the symptoms of bad backlight. Dell does not sell backlights.  It is an extremely delicate process to remove and replace backlight if you can find one and best left to professionals.

 

I sympathize with your backlight problem.

I have a two year old Inspiron 600m with exactly the same problem.

I have sent this unit in to Dell for warranty repair but to our dismay the problem was never fixed.

Our problem is a little more intermittent. Sometimes we won't have a problem for weeks on end, but then all of a sudden it happens. Its so annoying I want to trash the whole unit. During the time our unit was in for repair we used our back-up laptop so when we received the Inspirion we gave it a quick check out and it appeared to be ok. We continued using both laptops but alas the exact same problem reared its ugly head in the Inspirion but by then our unit was out of warranty.

Its interesting though when it does happen I put the computer into the suspend mode then put it back into the normal operating mode and the backlight comes back on (sometimes for a minute, other times til the end of my session of an hour or so).

I've turned off screen savers, power savers, etc. and all the related commands to no avail.

I personally think that Dell has an operating system flaw and they don't know how to address it, otherwise they would have fixed our problem when we sent it in under warranty.

I just started having the same problem with my 3 yr old refurbished Inspiron 8100. The dark screen only occurs whenever it goes on Suspend Mode or is turned off. It's fine as long as it stays on standby. Dell hasn't a clue as to what the problem is. We've reloaded the video driver with no avail. When it happens, I've been able to remedy it by bouncing back and forth from suspend, turning off and on, and if all else fails, I boot up with the Window XP disk then it's good to go again. That is, until it's turned off again.

Based on funtoupgrades suggestion I contacted Nexttronics in Austin, TX.  They think the backlight needs to be replaced.  Their price is $149 (don't know if this includes shipping back to me).  Their website says they use new backlights, not ones taken from old computers.

I am planning to mail the laptop to Nexttronics.  EJN63, what do you mean by "competent LCD shop"?  Are these places listed in the local yellow pages?  Or are they mail order repair shops?  Do you have a recommendation on who is good/bad?  Thanks.

EJN63, what do you mean by "competent LCD shop"?  Are these places listed in the local yellow pages?  Or are they mail order repair shops?  Do you have a recommendation on who is good/bad?  Thanks.

With further troubleshooting, the Dell tech is 70% sure that it might be linked to Windows XP, SP2, since the trouble starts as soon as Windows loads up. For some reason when the Windows XP screen shows, power is being diverted from the screen. The LCD screen functions fine out of Windows.

My Dell notebook came with Windows XP, SP1, and eversince I upgraded to SP2, there's been a slight change at boot up. Before this, a black screen would briefly show up right before the login screen (but the screen was fine after that). Now it has progressed to this faint screen at login.

A friend of mine also is experiencing similar problems with her Inspiron but she can fix hers by re-adjusting the position of the screen. She thinks the problem lies in the constant folding and unfolding action of the laptop.

Anyway, I now keep my laptop open and at standby at all times. I shall wait for an upgrade or patch on XP before resorting to changing the LCD backlight. Because, my question is...if it can work outside of Windows and can stay on once it's on, wouldn't that be a software problem and not hardware???

Based on your last comments I would concurr.  If you don't have any non-backed super critical data on the hard drive it would be worth an attempt at repairing Win XP.  An unsuccessful repair could require wiping the hard drive and starting over, while a successful repair will leave all your files and programs intact and replace the windows files only. If you think this is something you would like to try search the forum for my previous post on 'Repairing a damaged Windows XP partition". Depending on the flavor of your Dell XP restore disk this will remove SP2 and perhaps SP1 unless that was already part of the CD.  It usually will say as part of the title.  If successful you can decide whether to go ahead with SP2 or not if the problem is no longer around.

If the backlight works under DOS then it cannot be bad.  Have you left it in DOS or on the setup screen for some hours to make sure?