Broken Inverter, Backlight, or worse?

[T400X21]

3 year old T400 - 1280x800 LCD screen

Timeline -

Several Weeks ago:
Laptop was turned on/awoken with full brightness.
Screen would stay on for a short amount of time.
Shortly after, an audible electric sounding 'pop' sound would come from where the inverter is and the backlight would go off.
Unplugging VGA cable and/or Fn+F7 would get backlight to power up again and it would sometimes stay on.

Last Week:
Laptop was turned on/awoken and brightness was immediately turned down.
Screen would stay on. If brightness was turned up past a certain threshold, the backlight would again turn off with an audible pop.
If lower brightness was maintained, the backlight would remain on.

Last few days and onward:
When Laptop is turned on/awoken, an audible buzzing sound can be heard from the inverter area. Image on screen is whacky. This persists until the backlight turns off.

Misc. Information:
The LCD is still working as images can still be seen using a flashlight/sunlight.
Display out via the vga-port to an external monitor works.
I don't recall the screen going pinking/reddish.

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From what I've read here and from other sources, it looks like the inverter is the culprit. I was hoping to get a few more opinions.

Thoughts? Hopefully it's the inverter as that seems like an easier fix.

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Given the buzzing sound, your machine definitely needs a new inverter, right now.

Hopefully nothing else (as in CCFL) got damaged.

Good luck.