XP Dell Precision 4300; when on battery power, screen display is very weak; when plugged in, returns to normal brightness..any suggestions?
TY

Check your power save settings. Most notebooks let you set the brightness during battery operation to conserve battery power. Yours may have some how been set too low.

I have an HP L2000 Special Edition. It does the same thing. It's a power saving attribute when the machine runs on the battery.

Is there a way to override setting?

Check your manual.

From the Users Guide: Dell Precision™ M4300 User's Guide

Adjusting Brightness

When a Dell™ computer is running on battery power, you can conserve power by setting the display brightness to the lowest comfortable setting by pressing <Fn> and the up- or down-arrow key on the keyboard.
NOTE: Brightness key combinations only affect the display on your portable computer, not monitors or projectors that you attach to your portable computer or docking device. If your computer is connected to an external monitor and you try to change the brightness level, the Brightness Meter may appear, but the brightness level on the external device does not change.

You can press the following keys to adjust display brightness:

* Press <Fn> and the up-arrow key to increase brightness on the integrated display only (not on an external monitor).

* Press <Fn> and the down-arrow key to decrease brightness on the integrated display only (not on an external monitor).

TY...great response...!!