I have the same issue with my dv1000 "If I press the switch at the top left of the unit ( the one that puts the unit in standby when the lid is closed), the screen comes to life momentarily sometimes for 15 to 20 seconds. I can use with an external monitor and when the screen is dark, I can see that it is operating, but it is too dark to use.". I have changed the inverter and it still doesn't work, how do I check if th einverter I bought as a replacement works and/or is compatible?.

---

Usually inverters fail 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.