I did a quick search on the deck itself, and one of the things that stuck out at me was that it doesn't appear to be a marine grade deck. I could have missed something, because sometimes they won't say it, they'll just give it a CDA rating with marine #'s. If it's not, then moisture could have taken out the LCD display. However, one of the things I can tell you is to check your wiring. Some radios come with a wire for illumination, I believe it's an orange wire (maybe with a white stripe) if memory serves. If it's not hooked up, it may be just stuck on the least bright setpoint. If that's not it, check/clean your terminals on the back of the faceplate. Sometimes they can be corroded, allowing some connections, but not all features will work. I would really doubt it's in the deck itself. If the backlighting is working but not the text you may even be able to replace the faceplate at minimal cost. However, my suggestion if budget allows it, is to get a marine grade deck. Keep in mind that even though we as boaters put great pride in our rigs, sometimes the dealer's (or the guy before you) just wanted to get it off his lot. Cheap upgrades offer the show, but very little of the go. Personally, I replaced everything on mine with better equipment the year after I bought it. But as the fiance often says, I can go a bit overboard sometimes, lol. Hope this helps you!
