The screen is very, very dark. Someone told me the backlighting might be broken, but I don't know. I can just barely make out things on my desktop. The lighting can't be turned up.

What computer? Laptop or desktop? What screen? Built in laptop screen, or external monitor?

From your description, we are guessing that the screen is still on and operating, but the light level is very low. This is different from the monitor not running at all.

First check your brightness controls, either on your keyboard or through your operating software to see if it was accidentally turned down.

For hardware problems, the most common reason for a screen to suddenly go dark is a failure of the backlight, the cable to the backlight, or the inverter / driver circuit that powers the backlight. Can you still see the operating system running on the screen even if it is dark? If it is super dark, you can try shining a flashlight on the screen to see if you can see normal screen activity. If the screen is active, that means that the video circuit is running, and the problem is in the backlight circuitry.

In laptops, this can be a result of the ribbon cable that goes through the hinge of the machine becoming unplugged, or broken.

Hi josue fernan...
You need to see if your laptop lcd screen is faulty and/or the lcd inverer is faulty.
1....Test the lcd screen:
Hook your laptop to an outside monitor and then start your laptop normally...if the picture on the external monitor is good, then your lcd screen is bad.
2....Backlight Faulty: If the monitor is still as dark like your lcd screen on the laptop then it could be the backlight that is faulty.
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Your backlight or inverter has gone bad. You can purchase a new inverter or backlight on ebay (if you are mechanically inclined and know which is broken) or call Lenovo support to see how much their repair service will cost. The LCD screen is still working since you mentioned that you can still barely make out the screen.

LCD screens have a backlight. When the backlight starts to dim it will eventually completely fail, causing the image to be really dark, barely viewable. You will need to replace the LCD screen, or replace the entire unit.

I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/jeremy_69f3cc28d95bf514

Sounds to me as if the backlight on your LCD has burned out. Don't know if they sell the part you need without having to purchase a complete LCD screen. If you can get just the backlight by itself it will be whole lot cheaper.

Sounds like it is the backlight that has gone. New screens are a lot more reasonable cost option now and they tend to have the backlight incorporated into them. Replacing a backlight is not a simple procedure by any means. If you're not sure about changing components yourself then take it to a repair shop.

Unfortunately I have some bad news. This means your 'backlight' on your LCD panel is burnt out. This can be fixed, but often it isn't worth the work. If you still want to use this laptop, you can hook up an Desktop LCD Monitor to the laptop and use it like a desktop computer, with a USB Keyboard and mouse, but sadly the LCD backlight is fried. I've lost 2 laptops to this.

if the picture is REALLY dark, like you can just barely see it in a lit room, then the backlight might not be lit. LCD TVshave backlight that shines through the LCD screen which allows you to see the picture.

If it's not the backlight then it would be the brightness/contrast settings that need to be adjusted. If the picture used to be normal and all of a sudden went dark, verify the backlight. Normally you can look through the slots on the top of the set and determine if the backlight is on. If you can see a bright light through any of the slots, the backlight is probably OK... go after the brightness/contrast settings.

The laptop will reduce screen brightness when on battery to reduce the battery consumption. It should happen every time. You can adjust brightness with the fn+f10 but it will be dimmer when running on battery.

Did the screen come that dark, or did it go dark recently? Backlight may have burned up, panel may be bad. Had a similar occurance with a Creative Zen- can't fix these things. All you can really do is return it.