A liquid crystal display (LCD) device's microcontroller is used drive an LCD lamp ballast such that the scrolling effect from its light leakage may be reduced to a visually imperceptible level. A check may be performed of lamp's control status in order to verify the microcontroller's ability to properly and accurately control the lamp ballast. The microcontroller may then determine a frequency and duty cycle to use for the microcontroller's PWM control signal. Thereafter, the microcontroller may generate the PWM control signal in accordance with the determined frequency and duty cycle, and drive the lamp ballast using the control signal.