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From: Han on 29 May 2010 07:07
"John" <none(a)inuse.com> wrote in
news:PImdnUCBysBwc53RnZ2dnUVZ8i6dnZ2d(a)bt.com:

> BillW50 wrote:
>> On 5/28/2010 11:05 AM, Ben Myers wrote:
>>> On 5/28/2010 10:25 AM, John wrote:
>>>> The display on my 5630 is dim - not completely dark but probably
>>>> only about
>>>> 30 to 40% as bright as it used to be.
>>>>
>>>> Having googled for what causes dim and dark displays in laptop
>>>> screens (after making sure it wasn't the lid close switch) I
>>>> decided to go for the
>>>> cheapest things first, so I bought a brand new inverter board.
>>>> Although it's
>>>> definitely the right one, it's actually worse than the existing
>>>> inverter in
>>>> that it strobes a bit. Doesn't do anything for my problem - the
>>>> screen is neither brighter nor darker, just a bit stroboscopic. Hmm
>>>> ... So, I then buy a secondhand (but guaranteed tested and working)
>>>> video cable
>>>> from Ebay and replace that. Still no change - the screen is still
>>>> as dim, whether used with new or old inverter. Hmm again ...
>>>>
>>>> Oh, at this point I should say that I've checked the voltage
>>>> between pin 1
>>>> of the inverter input and ground (which, I believe, should roughly
>>>> be between 10 and 20 volts) and got 19.36V - so we know that the
>>>> inverter is getting the correct feed from the mobo.
>>>>
>>>> I then look at changing the CCFL backlight tube but (a) can't find
>>>> one and
>>>> (b) even if I could, I've read many horror stories of breaking the
>>>> LCD panel
>>>> whilst trying to change the tube, so I decide to bite the bullet
>>>> and buy a
>>>> whole new LCD panel because they come with a new tube already in
>>>> them - and
>>>> I might as well upgrade from the old matte screen to a new glossy
>>>> one if I'm
>>>> going to do this :o)
>>>>
>>>> Guess what? Yep, you guessed right - still fekkin' faulty!! Display
>>>> is still
>>>> only at about 30 to 40% brightness - and that's with any
>>>> combination of new/old video cable and new/old inverter.
>>>>
>>>> Any other ideas folks?
>>>>
>>>> TIA
>>>> John
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> Some brands of laptops (IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads come to mind) have a
>>> pair of key combinations to brighten or dim the display. With the
>>> Thinkpads, fn-Home brightens the display and fn-End dims it.
>>>
>>> Some brands of laptops, e.g. Dell, have LCD brightness controls in
>>> the BIOS, one setting when on battery and another when on wall
>>> power.
>>>
>>> Not sure what the Acers have built in to control LCD brightness, but
>>> maybe the brightness is on a low setting? ... Ben Myers
>>
>> Hello John! While I was reading I kept saying no it is the lamp, the
>> lamp (well most low brightness is mostly because of the lamp)! Then
>> you got to the lamp and I thought oh no! Ben is right of course, I
>> would have checked that first before doing anything else though.
>>
>> Gee John! The only thing left if everything else was okay is the
>> motherboard. The motherboard causing this problem is really rare.
>>
>> Are you sure that was a new LCD panel? Or was it used? As the lamps
>> gets dimmer and dimmer overtime. Many will run for about 18 months if
>> you run them 24/7. Use them less and you can push them 5 years and
>> more. They are florescent tubes after all and if you use them 50/50
>> and get 5 years out of them that is pretty good.
>
> Hi guys,
>
> I'm tagging this reply on to Bill's because his is the last in the
> thread at the moment. First of all, let me say AARRGGHH!!! - because
> Ben was right! It was just a matter of altering the brightness by the
> key combination of Fn and right arrow key to increase it (left arrow
> to decrease). All that time, money and effort spent and I needn't have
> done any of it.
>
> Ah well, such is life. I've learned a good lesson today :o)
>
> Now, to try and justify my position and recover a bit of self-esteem,
> I can say in my defence, your honour, that (a) I had no idea about
> that key combination (b) there's an Intel graphics utility installed
> and within that there are sliders for brightness, contrast, colour and
> gamma - but altering the brightness slider there does _not_ have the
> same effect at all as the key combination, which is why I continued
> thinking something was faulty and (c) I've never knowingly altered the
> brightness at all anyway. It's always been perfect at the default
> setting and I've had it about 3 years.
>
> It's a complete mystery as to how the brightness was turned down in
> the first place and, like I said, I didn't know about the key
> combinations, but it's all sorted now so a big 'thank you' to all you
> guys, especially Ben.
>
> Cheers
> John

Thanks for the thread, John, Ben & Bill. My Aspire 3680 uses the control
right/left arrow combo too. So much easier than going through the <expl>
utility.


--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid
From: Han on 29 May 2010 07:09
Han <nobody(a)nospam.not> wrote in
news:Xns9D874890A302Aikkezelf(a)207.246.207.161:

> "John" <none(a)inuse.com> wrote in
> news:PImdnUCBysBwc53RnZ2dnUVZ8i6dnZ2d(a)bt.com:
>
>> BillW50 wrote:
>>> On 5/28/2010 11:05 AM, Ben Myers wrote:
>>>> On 5/28/2010 10:25 AM, John wrote:
>>>>> The display on my 5630 is dim - not completely dark but probably
>>>>> only about
>>>>> 30 to 40% as bright as it used to be.
>>>>>
>>>>> Having googled for what causes dim and dark displays in laptop
>>>>> screens (after making sure it wasn't the lid close switch) I
>>>>> decided to go for the
>>>>> cheapest things first, so I bought a brand new inverter board.
>>>>> Although it's
>>>>> definitely the right one, it's actually worse than the existing
>>>>> inverter in
>>>>> that it strobes a bit. Doesn't do anything for my problem - the
>>>>> screen is neither brighter nor darker, just a bit stroboscopic.
>>>>> Hmm ... So, I then buy a secondhand (but guaranteed tested and
>>>>> working) video cable
>>>>> from Ebay and replace that. Still no change - the screen is still
>>>>> as dim, whether used with new or old inverter. Hmm again ...
>>>>>
>>>>> Oh, at this point I should say that I've checked the voltage
>>>>> between pin 1
>>>>> of the inverter input and ground (which, I believe, should roughly
>>>>> be between 10 and 20 volts) and got 19.36V - so we know that the
>>>>> inverter is getting the correct feed from the mobo.
>>>>>
>>>>> I then look at changing the CCFL backlight tube but (a) can't find
>>>>> one and
>>>>> (b) even if I could, I've read many horror stories of breaking the
>>>>> LCD panel
>>>>> whilst trying to change the tube, so I decide to bite the bullet
>>>>> and buy a
>>>>> whole new LCD panel because they come with a new tube already in
>>>>> them - and
>>>>> I might as well upgrade from the old matte screen to a new glossy
>>>>> one if I'm
>>>>> going to do this :o)
>>>>>
>>>>> Guess what? Yep, you guessed right - still fekkin' faulty!!
>>>>> Display is still
>>>>> only at about 30 to 40% brightness - and that's with any
>>>>> combination of new/old video cable and new/old inverter.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any other ideas folks?
>>>>>
>>>>> TIA
>>>>> John
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Some brands of laptops (IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads come to mind) have a
>>>> pair of key combinations to brighten or dim the display. With the
>>>> Thinkpads, fn-Home brightens the display and fn-End dims it.
>>>>
>>>> Some brands of laptops, e.g. Dell, have LCD brightness controls in
>>>> the BIOS, one setting when on battery and another when on wall
>>>> power.
>>>>
>>>> Not sure what the Acers have built in to control LCD brightness,
>>>> but maybe the brightness is on a low setting? ... Ben Myers
>>>
>>> Hello John! While I was reading I kept saying no it is the lamp, the
>>> lamp (well most low brightness is mostly because of the lamp)! Then
>>> you got to the lamp and I thought oh no! Ben is right of course, I
>>> would have checked that first before doing anything else though.
>>>
>>> Gee John! The only thing left if everything else was okay is the
>>> motherboard. The motherboard causing this problem is really rare.
>>>
>>> Are you sure that was a new LCD panel? Or was it used? As the lamps
>>> gets dimmer and dimmer overtime. Many will run for about 18 months
>>> if you run them 24/7. Use them less and you can push them 5 years
>>> and more. They are florescent tubes after all and if you use them
>>> 50/50 and get 5 years out of them that is pretty good.
>>
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> I'm tagging this reply on to Bill's because his is the last in the
>> thread at the moment. First of all, let me say AARRGGHH!!! - because
>> Ben was right! It was just a matter of altering the brightness by the
>> key combination of Fn and right arrow key to increase it (left arrow
>> to decrease). All that time, money and effort spent and I needn't
>> have done any of it.
>>
>> Ah well, such is life. I've learned a good lesson today :o)
>>
>> Now, to try and justify my position and recover a bit of self-esteem,
>> I can say in my defence, your honour, that (a) I had no idea about
>> that key combination (b) there's an Intel graphics utility installed
>> and within that there are sliders for brightness, contrast, colour
>> and gamma - but altering the brightness slider there does _not_ have
>> the same effect at all as the key combination, which is why I
>> continued thinking something was faulty and (c) I've never knowingly
>> altered the brightness at all anyway. It's always been perfect at the
>> default setting and I've had it about 3 years.
>>
>> It's a complete mystery as to how the brightness was turned down in
>> the first place and, like I said, I didn't know about the key
>> combinations, but it's all sorted now so a big 'thank you' to all you
>> guys, especially Ben.
>>
>> Cheers
>> John
>
> Thanks for the thread, John, Ben & Bill. My Aspire 3680 uses the
> control right/left arrow combo too. So much easier than going through
> the <expl> utility.

I meant the FUNCTION right/left arrow combo.


--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid
From: BillW50 on 29 May 2010 09:50
On 5/28/2010 5:15 PM, davy wrote:
> Have a shufty here 'back light repair'
> (http://www.dnd.utwente.nl/~grit/backlight/ccft.html) and this
> navigating to 'Acer' (http://repair4laptop.org/notebook.html)
>
> Backlights don't just go dim.... the whites in the display usually
> suffers first by becoming tinted, this is usually followed by flickering
> being the indication that the CCFLs have gone 'down hill'.... I've never
> come across any that just goes dim and holds that 'white balance' or
> colour temperature, they usually lose their whites and then start to
> flicker...
>
> .... but inverters just about anything can go wrong with them to give
> these effects.
>
> One idea may be too hook up an identical screen from another machine to
> confirm it is the backlights... but thats easier said than done.
>
> It's the same with these fancy LCDs TVs... you can never get the right
> tubes for them and the manufacturers just love it telling you that you
> have to buy a new display... and when you can you can't get at em'.
>
> davy

There are places on the Internet that sells CCFL tubes. I've seen them
before. I just searched again and here is one of them that I was
thinking of.

http://www.ccfldirect.com/

--
Bill
Thunderbird Portable 3.0 (20091130)
From: BillW50 on 29 May 2010 10:36
On 5/29/2010 6:09 AM, Han wrote:
>>> Hi guys,
>>>
>>> I'm tagging this reply on to Bill's because his is the last in the
>>> thread at the moment. First of all, let me say AARRGGHH!!! - because
>>> Ben was right! It was just a matter of altering the brightness by the
>>> key combination of Fn and right arrow key to increase it (left arrow
>>> to decrease). All that time, money and effort spent and I needn't
>>> have done any of it.
>>>
>>> Ah well, such is life. I've learned a good lesson today :o)
>>>
>>> Now, to try and justify my position and recover a bit of self-esteem,
>>> I can say in my defence, your honour, that (a) I had no idea about
>>> that key combination (b) there's an Intel graphics utility installed
>>> and within that there are sliders for brightness, contrast, colour
>>> and gamma - but altering the brightness slider there does _not_ have
>>> the same effect at all as the key combination, which is why I
>>> continued thinking something was faulty and (c) I've never knowingly
>>> altered the brightness at all anyway. It's always been perfect at the
>>> default setting and I've had it about 3 years.
>>>
>>> It's a complete mystery as to how the brightness was turned down in
>>> the first place and, like I said, I didn't know about the key
>>> combinations, but it's all sorted now so a big 'thank you' to all you
>>> guys, especially Ben.
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> John
>>
>> Thanks for the thread, John, Ben& Bill. My Aspire 3680 uses the
>> control right/left arrow combo too. So much easier than going through
>> the<expl> utility.
>
> I meant the FUNCTION right/left arrow combo.

Well the bright side is you have spare parts now. I personally love
having spare parts myself. ;-)

--
Bill
Thunderbird Portable 3.0 (20091130)
From: John on 30 May 2010 05:41
BillW50 wrote:
> On 5/29/2010 6:09 AM, Han wrote:
>>>> Hi guys,
>>>>
>>>> I'm tagging this reply on to Bill's because his is the last in the
>>>> thread at the moment. First of all, let me say AARRGGHH!!! -
>>>> because Ben was right! It was just a matter of altering the
>>>> brightness by the key combination of Fn and right arrow key to
>>>> increase it (left arrow to decrease). All that time, money and
>>>> effort spent and I needn't have done any of it.
>>>>
>>>> Ah well, such is life. I've learned a good lesson today :o)
>>>>
>>>> Now, to try and justify my position and recover a bit of
>>>> self-esteem, I can say in my defence, your honour, that (a) I had
>>>> no idea about that key combination (b) there's an Intel graphics
>>>> utility installed and within that there are sliders for
>>>> brightness, contrast, colour and gamma - but altering the
>>>> brightness slider there does _not_ have the same effect at all as
>>>> the key combination, which is why I continued thinking something
>>>> was faulty and (c) I've never knowingly altered the brightness at
>>>> all anyway. It's always been perfect at the default setting and
>>>> I've had it about 3 years. It's a complete mystery as to how the
>>>> brightness was turned down in
>>>> the first place and, like I said, I didn't know about the key
>>>> combinations, but it's all sorted now so a big 'thank you' to all
>>>> you guys, especially Ben.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers
>>>> John
>>>
>>> Thanks for the thread, John, Ben& Bill. My Aspire 3680 uses the
>>> control right/left arrow combo too. So much easier than going
>>> through the<expl> utility.
>>
>> I meant the FUNCTION right/left arrow combo.
>
> Well the bright side is you have spare parts now. I personally love
> having spare parts myself. ;-)

Love it Bill :o)


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