Studio 1737, no backlight

First, be sure your system has the latest BIOS release, which is A09 (to check, see the powerup screen).

If it doesn't, you should upgrade to the latest release.

Other thing to check is the opearation of the cover switch.  Attach an external monitor and close  the cover - the display should go off when you do.  The other thing to verify is that when the backlight cuts out, the external screen stays on -- if it doesn't, you morel ikely have a bad mainboard than a bad display panel.

Failing that, it's likely you have a bad backlight.

Your screen does not have an inverter - it is LED-backlit.   If the BIOS update doesn't help, you can replace the screen:

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=7723

and if that doesn't solve the problem,, it's the mainboard that's faulty.

HI,

This screen on this machine has a CCFL tube that lights up the background of the screen.

Yes, this unit has an LCD inverter for the CCFL.

Inverter:

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=category&id=148&subid=224&refine=inverter

VIDEO:

No, it doesn't.  "Light Emitting Diode" means the backlight is LED -- not CCFL.

No, it doesn't.  "Light Emitting Diode" means the backlight is LED -- not CCFL.

Open it up, and confirm for yourself.

Quote from Parts People:

"*This Studio 1735 1737 screen is a LED backlit LCD screen, and requires the LED style video cable(part # NU482) when changing from a CCFL screen. If you are unsure as what type of lcd backlighting your system has, please consult your service tag system configuration at www.support.dell.com or give us a call and we'd be glad to help."

Thus meaning you can have either one in that machine. I would like to safe you money and recommend you take a deeper look and see if your machine has an CCFL Inverter and replace it or the costly alternative is to get a NEW LED Backlight screen if it indeed doesn't have an Inverter in this model.

Thank you EJN63 for your info.

While you're correct that this model shipped with both types of screen, the description posted in the original question specifically indicates that it's LED.

The fact that it's a truelife screen (i.e., higher level than standard) cements that.

Thanks for the comments thus far.  Now I see, of course, both screens are LCD but could have CCFL or LED backlighting.  The inverter is only needed for the CCFL because of the higher operating voltage of the CCFL.  Mine should be LED.

I still need to get this thing fixed.  

For a while, it  would only sometimes go black and then only on start up, Occasionally also when I was shutting the computer down the screen would flash white right at the end.  If it did that, I could be fairly sure it would be dark on the next start up.   it would never randomly go black while I was using it.  This makes me think the problem is NOT a loose connector.  There must be some circuit or process which controls the backlight LED.  I could replace the entire screen but would be a bummer if the problem turned out to be on the motherboard.

I think the BIOS is current but I will check this also.

I am using it now with an external monitor.  When I close the laptop the whole thing hibernates so the external monitor goes black.  The laptop monitor is always black now.

BIOS is up to date.

I am trying to isolate this problem so I know what part needs to be replaced.The backlight was intermittent for a while - but only on boot up.  If it worked at start up then it continued to work, if it failed on startup then I had to reboot multiple times until I got it to work.  

Any other thoughts on how to determine if this is a problem with the screen, a connector or the motherboard?

About the only way is with the use of a multimeter -- if you have one.  If you don't, it's parts-swapping time.

Yup.  Any suggestions as to where I could find pinout diagrams for the cable(s) leading into the display?