Notebook Backlight

I have a Gateway MA7 laptop and the backlight seems to be defiled. This works very well for about 5 seconds on startup, then goes out and I can barely makeout something on the screen. It does when I put him to sleep, then re-enabled, too - it will work properly for 5 seconds, then the backlight turns off.

Does this mean that the backlight is broken, or could it be a setting or something? If it is broken, it is ridiculously expensive to repair?

This looks more like a defective inverter which is a thin PCB located inside of the screen that provides the power of lighting.

However, if you're unfamiliar with laptops decommissioning, and especially the screen, I strongly advise against attempting to replace itself because of the high voltage output by the converter and expensive parts and sensitive in the vicinity.