altman you said:

>Either the backlight material has arced over and died or the PSU is dead - or both (one killing the other)

I didn't know what "arced over" meant but your reply emboldened me to take the face off my Rio. With the LCD laying before me I could see not only how very delicate the pad connections are to the backlight, but mine was sparking a bit as the backlight flickered off & on! It seemed obvious that by whatever means these "pads" make connection to the backlight material (what is it?) one of them was not making good connection. After fretting over how to make a tiny "clamp" to try to squeeze these connections better, I found a piece of flat plastic/nylon material and cut a slit in it, and slipped it over the tab that extended from the LCD/backlight assembly, clamping the tabs from the wires to the backlight. Like a clothespin if you will.

Hugo your reply was timely and absolutely right on! Thanks very much, I have a reasonably high degree of confidence that this was the problem and that the fix will work long-term. The backlight is still weak, much dimmer that it needs to be, but at least the display is readable now without my having to have a bleeping flashlight to point at it! Thanks again!

Tom