My gateway laptop backlight won't stay lit up. it lights up at boot up for 5 seconds then off again why would this happen??

If the screen's backlight doesn't come on at all, that's a new screen. You can find more from Gateway's support website. If the screen lights up but stays completely black, that's a motherboard issue, same fix. If the Gateway logo comes up but never goes into windows, that's most likely a hard drive issue, same fix. If you see an error message from Windows, that's a Windows issue. You could use the recovery DVDs that came with the system to fix that. Just put them in and turn the computer on. Press F8 repeatedly until you see an option to boot to DVD. Then follow the instructions.
Please rank if this was helpful.

I had the same problem with this monitor (Samsung 943nw)
When turned on it would only stay on for less then a full second.
When shining a light on the screen I could see what was on it, so it was just the backlight that was shutting down.

After I turned down the brightness of the monitor, the next time I powered on the screen the backlight stayed lit and it was back to normal.

pa_ma_fi, Have you figured out how to do the flashlight test on you monitor when it's lcd panel turns black or blank n black. No, CCFL back-lit lcd monitors require lots of things to be working all together at once to light up the CCFL tubes. The new style curlie-Q screw-in, energy efficient CFL light bulbs are of the same similar technology and use an "electronic-ballast" circuit to "light-up" the lamp! You will need to check to see if pc is working perfectly with old monitor that you know is good. You should do some free reading here at fixya in my and other fixya ccfl back-lit lcd technicians profiles. ou will also need to visit YOUTUBE for "LCD monitor disassembly" and "LCD monitor repair" videos. May need printed circuit board "switch-mode-power-supply/ ccfl inverter supply " to be repaired If pc software/firmware has been determined not to be causing this on/off/on/off symptom.
12fixlouie

If you have a Windows XP/Vista/Vista64/7 Disc, have your Laptop boot from it, This will require a re instillation of Windows, but will fix your laptop right up, and if you don't have one, they are cheaper than laptops and will save you money. Plus, they can be reused on the same computer.

Check http://www.fixya.com/support/t3440299-presario_f500_laptop_problem

The backlight inverter board may be bad, or worst case will be bad lamp. You should look to see if the cable comes off the inverter board first. You may learn maore here:
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/category/5-gateway-laptops/
Please post back what you find.

Bad hard drive

Green light flashes 5 and then red light flashes 6

has to do with power i can get myin to stay some times but then the same thing hapens to me u have to buy a new power board wich is esy to replace and i have had min as a second screen for like 4 or 5 years now with no probloms so its just from over use..

for me this is the try and test situation,
try to remove ram -- look what happen. or try to turn on the laptop with the xp cd in the drive rom, there a similar case and the problem solved after i take out the keyboard and put it on again.