Normally I's say yes to that, but it is also possible that only parts of the screen become dimmer.
I believe (I'm not sure about this, so somebody correct me if I'm wrong), that the backlight of a TFT monitor is also built up in segments. So I think that it's possible that if one specific segment dies, only that part becomes dimmer.
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Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup