Dell Inspiron Screen goes black when Windows XP boots up!?!?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"overjoyed" <overjoyed@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1115940216.107061.167960@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I have a inspiron 8500, when I boot it up I see the Windows XP boot
> screen, then it goes black. It works with an external monitor, but the
> LCD is not on. I have uninstaled my display driver, Radeon Mobility
> 9000. When the display driver is uninstalled, the laptop screen works,
> I reinstalled the display driver and it goes black again, only working
> with an external monitor. How do I switch the laptop from laptop screen
> to external monitor and the other way around, anyone know how I can fix
> this? any help is appreciated!

There should be a button on the keyboard, usually with a bad diagram of a
monitor on it, along with something like an "FN" button, that allows you to
switch between the LCD, External, and Both. Once in a while video drivers
get a little flakey, and you have to use this to get your screen back.

There might be something in BIOS as well.

Your user manual should describe this. If you lost yours, download one from
Dell's web site.

Pagan

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Jay, you rock! I just had a client walk in with the exact same
problem, exact same model. He'd taken it to one of our competitors
who did everything under the sun (except, apparently, using Google
) including calling Dell, and came up empty. I found your
posting and got him taken care of in less than 5 minutes!

Mahalo, my friend!!

John