Inspiron 9300 LCD Issue

There are two things that can be tried to isolate the cause.

1. Restart the computer and tap F2 key as soon as it restarts. System will enter the BIOS mode. Observe the LCD for few minutes to check if it goes dim in BIOS mode also. To come out of BIOS mode, restart the computer.

2. Connect an external monitor. Press Fn+F8 to toggle the display to external monitor. Observe if display is fine on external monitor.

When you go into the BIOS (F2 at the Dell splash screen, just after powering on) check the brightness settings for the LCD panel.  It is possible it is set to the lowest setting, and starts out bright before it reads those settings.

Also, try using an external monitor to double check that it works properly that way.

       Hi,

             Your a Dell computer specialist right? It seems to me that your pretty good at computers. I have a question to ask you. I have a Dell inspiron 9300 Laptop computer, that has an ATI X300(64 MB) Graphics card. I ran into a problem just a few days ago and I need a solution. My problem is that when my computer boots-up. In the first 3 seconds its fine, and everything seems normal. But then all of a sudden the LCD monitor dims and u can barely see anything. Its like someone turned off the lights at night. You just can't see anything. I tried system BIOS, I put the LCD monitor on Max brightness with and without batteries. I even reinstalled my graphics card driver but it still didn't work. I also put my computers power management settings to "always on" but still it dims. My batteries work fine and my AC cable is working perfectly. My system specs are:

Intel(M) Processer@ 1.60 GHz

ATI X300 Video Card  

Sigmatel Major Audio

Intel Pro Wireless Connection Card

1026 MB of Dual-Channel Memory

57 GB Hard Drive

17" LCD Display

                    Thank you for taking your time to read this message. I would really be excited if you would tell me how to fix this problem. Again thank you very much for your time.

Joker, you seem to be having the same problem which is usually the inverter. Hopefully yours is still under warrenty.

Have you tried an external monitor with it, it should work fine 

      Well the problem is that I bought my computer for some time.... I think it was 2004. But anyway I know that it's warrenty has expired. By the way what is an inverter?? and yes I have tried an external monitor and it workd fine with that. But the problem is that I have a laptop which is supposed to be mobile. O.o I really dont want to change my lap-top into a desktop(because compared to a desktop it has bad system settings.). But yesterday something strange happened. Ok, when I gave it like my third reboot of the day, the monitor didn't dimO.o which really made me feel great!!! I played a game of Gunz: The Duel and after I played the monitor was still working(that was like 2:00 P.M.). It worked all the way until 10:00 P.M. When I pulled my AC plug... Then It went dim, my battery was at 100% but it still want dim.. To me a inverter I think is the connection cable between the monitor and the graphics card. If you said it was an inverter problem then yesterday's event wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't have played games or anything. So that leads me in thinking that there is another way of fixing the problem. Thank you for reading the message. Again if anyone has a suggestion please tell me because I dont have the money to buy more warrenties or get a new PC. Again thank you

         Hi,

             Sorry for being a noobie at computers. But could you tell me what this inverter is? And what it does? Thanks I really appriciate it. =D

If you get a good picture while using an external monitor then, unfortunately, I believe tr4 is correct and the problem is with the LCD inverter cable or board.  I have seen in the past where an inverter problem was intermittent and restarting the computer can temporarily "fix" things, but that is just a work around (and a frustrating one at that).

If moving the LCD panel (opening and closing the "lid") seems to affect the problem there is a chance the cable is just lose.  If you are good with putting computers together you might try reseating the inverter cable if it is removable on the LCD panel in your system (not all of them are).  The instructions for getting to the LCD panel are in the service manual for the 9300.  I don't recommend trying this unless you feel comfortable working on the inside of the notebook computer, however.