(SOLVED) Back-light goes out when laptop is plugged in (Win7)

matthiias

Reputable
Jul 27, 2014
7
0
4,510
My fiancee has an HP pavilion dv6 running Windows 7 (x64), and when using battery power all is well, but when the charging cable gets plugged in the back-light turns off. The display is still on and still displays everything properly, the back-light just turns off making it very difficult to see. I have tried turning the brightness up with the keyboard shortcut, and I can make out the brightness indicator appearing when I do, but the back-light remains unchanged. No recent updates or changes have been made to the system. I have no idea what could be causing this and appreciate any and all help regarding the matter.

Summary:
HP Pavilion dv6
Windows 7 (x64)
No recent system changes
back-light only functions when running on battery power
 
Solution
Are you using an aftermarket cable? Regardless, what is the rating on the Power Supply? You may want to go into Windows Power Options (I think right clicking on the battery icon) and select another power profile and try. If still no dice, under one of the profiles, click Advanced Settings. In there I am pretty sure there is an option to change brightness level and other functions whenever Windows detects the laptop is being charged.

Also, boot the laptop with and and without the power adapter. See if the BIOS/Splash Screen stays the same brightness or not, that will tell you if it is OS related or not.
Are you using an aftermarket cable? Regardless, what is the rating on the Power Supply? You may want to go into Windows Power Options (I think right clicking on the battery icon) and select another power profile and try. If still no dice, under one of the profiles, click Advanced Settings. In there I am pretty sure there is an option to change brightness level and other functions whenever Windows detects the laptop is being charged.

Also, boot the laptop with and and without the power adapter. See if the BIOS/Splash Screen stays the same brightness or not, that will tell you if it is OS related or not.
 
Solution

She says it is the original cable that came with the laptop (output of 18.5V 3.5A 65W). Will definitely have to check out the power profiles, hopefully that'll fix it.
Will respond once I get a chance to try it out! :)
 


I went into the advanced power profile settings and made sure that the display when plugged in had 100% brightness (the lowest was registered at 33%), and changed the dim monitor option to 120 min instead of 0 just in case something was causing it to be read wrong for some reason? Applied the changes, but the back light still died when I plugged the cable in. So I had my fiancee end everything she had going and shut down her laptop, I then plugged in the cable before powering it back on, and everything began working just fine again. So I guess for the time being the issue is resolved? But I have no idea what caused it in the first place. Thanks for your help though! :)
 

TRENDING THREADS