I dunno if your screen is cracked or if the backlight is dead, but if it's a backlight issue, etc., you might want to verify the machine isn't still under warranty. The reason I mention it is that I just got one of these with a backlight issue from a customer, and after exploring the possibility of repairing it for an hour I happened to plug the service tag into the Dell website and found out it's under warranty, which of course is great news. Anyway, I'm sure you've probably checked that already, but I thought I'd mention it just in case. :-)