Everything works fine, just going dark on me!

It should go dark when you put throne up to your face. That keeps it from getting to warm on your face. If you don't want it to go dark, you can turn the auto dim off in settings under display. It will use more battery, but it shouldn't go dim. Then that may be under another setting.

Quite typical, for an aging lamp about to go out, to get dim.

Have you tested it with an external monitor?

I would say you either have a damaged inverter board or screen baclight lamp. Usually the inverter board fails in one of the following ways:

1. When you turn on the laptop, the screen lights up for a short period of time and then goes dark. You still can see an image but it is very dark, almost invisible and definitely not usable. When you restart the laptop, the screen lights up and then goes dark again. The laptop works fine with an external monitor.
2. Your laptop turns on but the screen remains dark all the time. You still can see a very dim image outline. The laptop works fine with an external monitor.
3. The laptop screen works fine for hours or even days, but sometimes it goes very dark as it mentioned above. When you restart the laptop, the screen works fine again.

Inverter failure symptoms are very similar to backlight lamp failure symptoms and in most cases you cannot tell which one is causing the problem until you replace either the inverter board or the backlight lamp. From my personal experience, inverter boards fail more often than backlight lamps. If you have to guess, replace the inverter first.

If the power totally fails (i.e. power is cut off, LEDs turn off, fans stop, ... etc), then this more likely to be because of a short circuit developing in a failing semiconductor component, or a power supply problem.
However, if the laptop is still running & only the display on its LCD is cut off but the laptop itself stays powered on, then your laptop might be experiencing a failing screen inverter board, a failing screen backlight lamp, or a failing LCD screen cable.

TYPICAL INVERTER FAILURE SYMPTOMS

1. When you turn on the laptop, the screen lights up for a short period of time and then goes dark. You still can see an image but it is very dark, almost invisible and definitely not usable. When you restart the laptop, the screen lights up and then goes dark again. The laptop works fine with an external monitor.
2. Your laptop turns on but the screen remains dark all the time. You still can see a very dim image outline. The laptop works fine with an external monitor.
3. The laptop screen works fine for hours or even days, but sometimes it goes very dark as it mentioned above. When you restart the laptop, the screen works fine again.

Inverter failure symptoms are very similar to backlight lamp failure symptoms and in most cases you cannot tell which one is causing the problem until you replace either the inverter board or the backlight lamp. From my personal experience, inverter boards fail more often than backlight lamps. If you have to guess, replace the inverter first.

You may have a faulty inverter or a faulty CCFL lamp.

A defective CCFL backlight, it may have the following symptom: Screen flashs on red/pink and off. Picture stays on in red and slowly be come normal. Picture flickering with dim display or appear black. Picture flickering on and off. All these symptoms indicate that the LCD backlight lamp (CCFL Lamp) has reached the end of the life and all you need to do is replacing the CCFL lamp.
Connect an external monitor to your laptop and power the monitor up first then the laptop, if you see the normal Windows images then the video card and laptop is OK and the problem is definitely the backlight. Dim image and/or dark display on the laptop's LCD screen indicates a faulty LCD backlight and it could be the inverter that supplies high voltage to the CCFL lamp or it is the CCLF lamp is nearly burnt out or burnt out, most likely this is the case.
The inverter can be replaced easily but the CCLF lamp is more time consuming and requires soldering skills.
Check out
www.lcdparts.net

You could have a faulty inverter or a CCFL lamp, To determine if you have a LCD screen, inverter or video card problem, read this and follow these instructions.
Defective CCFL backlight, it may have the following symptom: Screen flashs on red/pink and off. Picture stays on in red and slowly be come normal. Picture flickering with dim display or appear black. Picture flickering on and off. All these symptoms indicate that the LCD backlight lamp (CCFL Lamp) has reached the end of the life and all you need to do is replacing the CCFL lamp.
Connect an external monitor to your laptop and power the monitor up first then the laptop, if you see the normal Windows images then the video card and laptop is OK and the problem is definitely the backlight. Dim image and/or dark display on the laptop's LCD screen indicates a faulty LCD backlight and it could be the inverter that supplies high voltage to the CCFL lamp or it is the CCLF lamp is nearly burnt out or burnt out, most likely this is the case.
The inverter can be replaced easily but the CCLF lamp is more time consuming and requires soldering skills.
Check out
www.lcdparts.net
for parts, repair service and DIY info.

You most likely have a defective CCFL backlight, it may have the following symptom:

• Screen flashs on red/pink and off.
• Picture stays on in red and slowly be come normal.
• Picture flickering with dim display.
• Picture flickering on and off.

All these symptoms indicate that the LCD backlight lamp (CCFL Lamp) has reached the end of the life and all you need to do is replacing the CCFL lamp

Connect an external monitor to your laptop and power it up, if you see the normal Windows images then the video card and laptop is OK and the problem is definitely the backlight.

Dim image and/or dark display on the laptop's LCD screen indicates a faulty LCD backlight and it could be the inverter that supplies high voltage to the CCFL lamp or it is the CCLF lamp is nearly burnt out or burnt out, most likely this is the case.
The inverter can be replaced easily but the CCLF lamp is more time consuming and requires soldering skills.
Check out www.lcdparts.net for parts, repair service and DIY info.

Sounds like you need to replace your lamp and the tv will work fine until the new lamp goes out. I have had three lamps since Nov 2006 in mine and I have a notice coming up on my Panasonic saying I need to change the lamp right now. Which is strange, because before there was no warning, it worked fine and then when we went to turn it on again, it just did not work until the lamp was replaced.

The problem you have is with the backlight lamp, which is not turning on. When this happens only because lamp is faulty, Acer LCDs have a security switch that will not turn the screen on at all and will return a blinking light on power on led , as diagnostic feedback.
If you have a dim light it sometimes means that the bulb is still ok, but is not working. This often happens because of a faulty capacitor on inverter, which is powering the lamp.
Although the above symptoms are typical of a faulty inverter, a faulty power supply, lamp, or A/D board can produce the same symptoms.
It's also possible that an inverter could have been damaged by a faulty lamp. If faulty lamp is not replaced before refitting the repaired inverter, in time, the inverter will fail again.

Best thing to do is taking your lcd to a local TV repair or computer repair that works with lcd (ensure they work proficiently on lcds , some of them doesn't), to test if it is the lamp or a faulty component on board. If possible find a shop giving you some warranty time, as, if there is more than one problem the LCD can fail again in few days.

Regards

I just replaced a lamp in a Sony LCD projection that was just over a year old and it was bad. It was a VERY dim picture. You have a DLP but, in either case a dim or dark picture is almost always caused by the lamp.