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I have a laptop and was working perfectly fine one night. Next morning I couldn't see a thing on the screen. At first I thought it was completly broke but later found out there was an image still there that was visible when I held a powerfull torch up against the screen.

AFAIK Either the backlight is broke or more likely the inverter that powers the backlight.

What are possible causes of random fails like this?

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The backlight is just a miniature fluorescent tube, which can burn out.

I have had success stealing a tube from another (smaller) laptop and replacing the burned out one. Because I used a shorter tube, so it wasn't perfect (edge of the display was dim), but it was certainly usable, and kept me from tossing the machine altogether.

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My guess is the same as yours with the Inverter. At one time, IBM Laptops were notorious for the inverter going out and losing it's connection. The issue for them was cheap manufacturing. The part itself wasn't well made and failed after a time.

-JFV

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My brother had this issue with his A31 Thinkpad, but it happened a couple of months after he spilled some pineapple compote over the laptop. What makes this story even sadder is the fact that the screen had an IPS panel :-( It was by far the best laptop screen I've ever seen. – Cristian Ciupitu Nov 8 '09 at 4:41
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