My Dell laptop just started acting up with the screen going black. I usually keep it plugged in to an AC outlet and is usually always on. I searched the web and found several possible solutions and tried them. Nothing seems to work. It seems to work ok on battery only unless I brighten the screen to the max. It will go black at that point. I can close the lid and re-open and everything comes back. I can get it run for 10 minutes or so on AC power if I adjust the brightness back but it will eventually go black again. At that point, if I close the lid and open, it comes back on for a few seconds and goes black again. If I have the AC power connected and try to start up, I get the Windows screen fully illuminated until it gets to the point that it needs to go to the sign on screen. At that point, it goes black again. I've tried resetting my power options, I took the battery out, unplugged the AC, held the power button down for a minute, turning network card off makes no difference. Not sure what else to do or what else it could be. From some of the other posts on the subject, I was able to find something similar to my problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The backlight for the LCD is going out. It's going to get worst ofer time, and then it will stay blank. I'm pretty sure if you connect a desktop monitor (via VGA connection) to your laptop and use it for your display it will stay on with no problem. let's to that to test my theory.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. I do need my laptop for some out of office meetings and such but not often. For the most part, if I can get it to work with a monitor, I can at least get my important files transfered to my PC. You're right about it getting worse. Last night, it went black after about 30 minutes of my post. This morning, it only shows for about a second before going black with or without the AC power. I can close the lid and open but I can't get more than a second or two before it goes black again.

I'm having the same exact problem. It did that for a week...now I can't get it to light for more than a flash. If you find out what is wrong, please post. Thanks!

For now, I am following KodeAK's advice. I have it set up to a moniter and as long as I hit fn +F8, it comes up on the moniter just fine. I'm waiting for customers to pay their bills before I take it in to get it fix. I assume it's something beyond my capabilities. I'll let you know when I take it in. If it costs too much, I will probably just get another one. Doubt it will be a Dell though.