I have a Sony laptop PCG-GRT 815E with an intermittent monitor problem. Basically sometimes the monitor fails to light up. If you shine a torch at the screen it is all working ok but there is no "back light" for want of a better description. Other times, like now, it works perfectly. There appears to be no reason for the problem. Is there a fix for this does anyone know? I wonder whether it is a software/setting problem as opposed to a hardware problem. It has been suggested to me that I may need a new screen but how can that be when some of the time it works perfectly. So annoying!

Intermittent problems happen with electronics. It could be loose wire, loose connection, heat or failing monitor. If still under warranty, report it.

You may try plugging an external monitor in to the laptop. If it does the same thing, then you know it is the video in the laptop and not the laptop's monitor. If the external monitor works fine, then the laptop monitor is the problem.

Vanquish Spirit,

You've already identified the problem yourself! It is the LCD screen backlight. This is literally a light in the display panel and, if it doesn't come on, then everything is still displayed on the screen but it is REALLY dark. Note that backlight problems usually make themselves evident after a few seconds of switching the laptop on - it seems OK at first and then it goes dark. If the screen is dark even as soon as you've switched the power on, then it could be a faulty inverter. Also, these parts will have a couple of internal cables so they might have become loose or faulty.

In any case, it's not an especially cheap thing to fix simply because you're probably going to want to pay a laptop specialist to open it up and look inside. But, once he/she has done that, it's not very expensive for the parts. My cousin recently paid about £70 to have her backlight issue sorted by a local laptop repair company - I thought that was very reasonable.

It's not a software issue.