black screen

Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop and it's so old I honestly don't remember how much what I'm running. OS is WinXP.

Was using it normally checking email, playing a game when the screen went black. I turned it off, rebooted, there is the Dell spash at the begining that flashes for a brief moment then blank. I've tried rebooting several times. Nothing to see though my impression is that it is running.

I let it sit on for 5-10 minutes. I touched the mouse and the screen flashed on for a split second then black again.

This doesn't strike me as a virus or malware issue (though I'm open to the possibility), but last check for malware etc was a couple of weeks ago. Using Avast and something relatively new (about a month ago) but can't remember the name. Installed a new game last week everything has been working fine up to today. Wasn't sure where to post so thought I'd start here.

I almost think this has to do with power saving or something with the battery maybe. I had a message this morning that the battery was running low. I've had error messages in the past regarding it being unplugged. I replaced the power cord a couple of years ago and it has been doing it ever since. The battery low message this morning was new.

Don't know quite how to proceed to troubleshoot any issues since I can't see the screen. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Plug in an external monitor and see if there is any differences.

cheers ...

 

If the laptop appears to be running but the screen is blank then it's possible that the screen itself or the backlight is the issue. Look closely at the screen -- can you see any image at all? (Try holding a bright light up to the screen). If you can see it then the backlight is the culprit.