Acer E5-574 very dark screen

Hello, I am having an issue with my Acer E5-574 laptop. One day I was using the laptop and the screen went dark, not fully off, but the brightness was so low that you cannot see anything unless you flash a light at the screen. The laptop works perfectly on an external moniter, which is what I have been using since the screen broke. I did some research and came to the conclusion that there is most likely an issue with my laptop backlight/LCD. Now recently my laptop was plugged in and I was using an external moniter when all of a sudden the screen on my laptop came back on, the weird thing is that this only happens when its plugged into the AC adapter, and if I unplug it the screen goes dark again as usual. It also goes dark again if I increase or decrease the brightness. Is it possible that its a different issue than my LCD or backlight? and if not, would buying and replacing the LCD fix this? or is the backlight for this laptop not located within the LCD. Thank you

Accepted answers

Johnnyw

hey everyone, I fixed it! I opened the laptop and noticed that a plug that plugs into the LCD was loose so I clicked it in and now it works perfectly, brightness and all. Thank you all so much for the replies and help!

All comments

MaClane

Good afternoon Johnnyw !

Are you using the high-performance Windows power plan?
Have you checked the brightness settings in the energy plane?
Disable the automatic brightness option?

Johnnyw

MaClane said:

Good afternoon Johnnyw !

Are you using the high-performance Windows power plan?
Have you checked the brightness settings in the energy plane?
Disable the automatic brightness option?

Hello and thank tou for your reply, I just checked and I was using the high performance power plan, I switched to balanced and no difference, my brightness is all the way up as of right now and changing it does not make the screen any darker or brighter than it already is when it is in the dark state, I also do not think I have an automatic brightness option in this laptop, or atleast I can't seem to find one in the settings. I really do feel like it's a hardware issue but I hope not!

MaClane

Here's how to turn off automatic brightness:
https://www.itsupportguides.com/knowledge-base/windows-10/windows-10-how-to-disable-automatic-brightness-adjustments/

Did you check if the brightness control function keys are not enabled?
Usually Fn + F6 or Fn + directional keys (with gloss icon)

Johnnyw

MaClane said:

Here's how to turn off automatic brightness:
https://www.itsupportguides.com/knowledge-base/windows-10/windows-10-how-to-disable-automatic-brightness-adjustments/

Did you check if the brightness control function keys are not enabled?
Usually Fn + F6 or Fn + directional keys (with gloss icon)

I looked at the guide and it seems that the conclusion is that there is still no option for automatic brightness, however I do have manual brightness buttons on my keyboard (Fn + directional keys with gloss icon) I also tried Fn + F6 with no luck. Really appreciate the help!

MaClane

In the advanced power plan options, check this option:

httpswwwmaketecheasiercomassetsuploads201606adaptive-brightness-win-turn-offpng

Commodore_1995#

Are you plugging the notebook directly into a properly grounded electrical outlet? Have you tried upgrading the notebook drivers and resetting the internal battery? Also, there is a firmware update that might correct your problem, see:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/7h/sg3e3on42gap.png

Johnnyw

MaClane said:

In the advanced power plan options, check this option:

I attempted to use this method but my power options does not give me an "enable adaptive brightness" option, I took a screenshot of my laptop of this for you shown below.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ta/eumjoguo64i0.png

Johnnyw

Thank you all for the help so far! I am currently writing this post on the laptop this post is about, without the use of an external moniter. It was plugged into my tv via HDMI and I left it for an hour or so on the desktop screen while on duplicate display settings and once again it randomly became bright again, if I manually increase or decrease the brightness, or unplug the AC adapter, it will go back to the dark screen. I assume it goes back to the dark screen when I unplug the AC adapter because the brightness levels change from 100% when plugged in, to lower than that when using battery power, therefore it would be the same as if I manually changed the brightness, causing it to go dark again. I am also noticing it sometimes gets half dark then bright again, randomly flickering.

Commodore_1995#

Have you checked that?

Also, did you set the brightness on the battery?

Johnnyw

egydiocoelho said:

Have you checked that?

Also, did you set the brightness on the battery?

Hey thanks for the reply, I actually just finished doing this option and it seemed promising actually, the laptop restarted and booted up with the screen perfect and did the update with no issues with the screen as well, then when I finally got it fully booted up I attempted to manually lower the brightness and the screen went dark again and back to square one. To get the screen working again I simply plugged an HDMI into my TV and left it on duplicate for 5-10 minutes and came back and the screen was on. Thanks for that option though, I will try to see if there is anything else that may need updating. I do still believe this may be a faulty LCD or something, but just doesn't make sense why it turns on sometimes all of a sudden, I have had this issue with this laptop for almost a year now and yesterday for the first time it turned on while plugged in to my external moniter, which gave me hope for fixing it, leading me to writing on this forum. thank you all for the help so far! hope I can get it working somehow

Commodore_1995#

I do not think it's a hardware problem, but driver or windows! Have you tried updating the drivers on the intel and windows website through windows update?

Johnnyw

Hey guys so when my laptop screen is working when I press the Fn+F6 buttons the screen goes blank and returns to normal when I press it again or touch any other key, when the laptop is in the dark screen state the Fn+F6 buttons do nothing at all, I looked up what exactly those buttons do and I found this. Since this button works when the screen is working, and does nothing when the screen is dark, I'm thinking this shows that the backlight is not on when the screen is dark, but I still can't figure out why it doesn't work, does anyone know if replacing the LCD would fix a faulty backlight?

Johnnyw

egydiocoelho said:

I do not think it's a hardware problem, but driver or windows! Have you tried updating the drivers on the intel and windows website through windows update?

I will try updating some drivers, I hope your right about it not be hardware! Any suggestions on which drivers I should look to update? I see no issues or anything when I open device manager

Commodore_1995#

Go to the intel website and download all the drivers here: https://www.intel.com.br/content/www/br/pt/support/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

You can also use some program that updates the drivers, see: https://www.iobit.com/downloadcenter.php?product=pt-driver-booster-free-new

Johnnyw

I am currently downloading drivers to see if it will fix the problem, so dari tried all of the graphics drivers but no luck. If all else fails would replacing the LCD fix this? If it is a hardware issue

Commodore_1995#

It could be a hardware problem! Make sure that updating the drivers solves the problem!

Johnnyw

hey everyone, I fixed it! I opened the laptop and noticed that a plug that plugs into the LCD was loose so I clicked it in and now it works perfectly, brightness and all. Thank you all so much for the replies and help!