laptop screen no longer working

[Defcon5]

The girlfriends laptop screen seems to have broken, the laptop is on, but the screen is still black, as if it was switched off. it sometimes flickers for a bit, an sometimes you can see the image very faintly.

i thought it may be a faulty connection somwhere? its only a year old, but was a refurb when i bought it

 

[Defcon5]

Are these thing I can fix myself? Also could it be caused by being plugged into the mains too often?

Thanks for the replies guys

 

[Defcon5]

Right, it seems to be working fine after giving it a clout, so that rules out the backlight and the lcd being faulty.

what does a harness and an inverter do in this context? And how much are they generally? Its a Compaq Presario V6000 if that means anything