Laptop to moniter problems here...

[tekmonkey2]

i have a toshiba satellite A1105 and this started happening a week ago...
i turned on my laptop and the screen came on then went very dim. i could just make out the welcome screen (due to sitting next to window...) and i managed to log myself in. i closed the lid then opened it and the backlight flickered on the right side, then went out again. here comes the weird part...i then took the home pc's moniter and plugged it in and everytime anyprogram tries to hit full screen, that monitor goes dim. this is beginning to get on my nerves, especially the fact that it even goes dim when plugged into my home pc. any help or advice? i have no money to replace anything on this thing...