I have 7-year-old laptop and the brightness on the monitor went almost completely dark. I have tried doing the fn/brightness/increase key but to no avail. This happened once before and the brightness came back suddenly. I am still able to barely make out some of images on monitor but not able to even see the cursor. Really need to fix brightness.Do you have external monitor? Monitor from desktop computer, for example?

Try connecting external monitor to computer to laptop and check out image quality. Maybe it is just laptop monitor problem. Maybe it is just graphics card problem?

Maybe you want to take laptop to computer store for help? Computer is kind of old...Your screen inverter has probably failed.
This is the component that actually boosts the power to your screen to make it bright.
Try the above suggestion, and then try this.
Take out the battery, unplug it from the mains, and hold the power button in for 30 seconds.
Then boot up again, does that help?
If not, take it to a computer store, preferably one that will give you a free quote.
If they say the same as me, that your inverter has failed, you may as well get a new laptop, as repairing this ISSUE involves replacing the screen which will cost as much as, or more, than a new laptop.Quote from: Calum on October 11, 2007, 04:00:16 AM

If not, take it to a computer store, preferably one that will give you a free quote.
If they say the same as me, that your inverter has failed, you may as well get a new laptop, as repairing this issue involves replacing the screen which will cost as much as, or more, than a new laptop.