Ok, here is the scoop. I just purchased this laptop used this past weekend from a friend of a friend. When I first viewed it, I was outside and the screen was hard to see but I figured it was due to the sunlight. After I got it home and tried adjusting the brightness I noticed a problem. Here is what it is doing.

When I have it set to the lowest setting, it is about 1/2 brightness I figure, which happens to be the brightest it will go at this time. As I go up each step it gets a little darker. Once I hit mid way up, the screen gets brighter again, but not quite as bright as the lowest setting. Then as I continue to bump it up to what is supposed to be the brightest level, it goes dim again. Another thing I noticed is that when I unhook the AC adapter from it and go to battery power, the screen gets a tiny bit brighter still. Normally it should be the other way around!

I have tried researching this for the past few days and all I can come up with is that someone possibly replaced the LCD in the unit (Seller claims it wasn't, but not sure I trust him). While the replacement LCD may be the right model, the inverter board is probably not. Is it true that the BIOS has a listing for compatible inverters, and that if you don't order everything by the Dell part number, the inverter may not be compatible? Does this sound like it could be what my problem is?

If I do need to get a new inverter that is compatible, how do I determine what model to order? I don't have the original LCD/inverter to get a Dell part number. I see them on eBay for $5+, so it's a cheap fix as long as I only have to buy one that is known to work with the 1525. I don't want to have to buy 5 or more to just get one that works.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading.