Toshiba Satellite L305D laptop - screen wont go on

Oh, and I dont have an external monitor to connect to see if that makes a difference.

Does the fan turn on? Does it turn off after a few seconds?
Are there any lights blinking?

The fan turns on and doesnt turn off - it sounds as if it's running completely normal.

There are no lights blinking - everything is solid.

It is most likely the screen. You can try reseting the BIOS and see if that helps.
Turn off the laptop, take out the battery, unplug the AC Adapter, press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Plug in the AC Adapter, turn it on once more, see if that helps... I'd make a backup of your files if your lucky enough to get into it.
You can always try taking the drive out and using it in another laptop (as a slave) or as an external drive. I do that for both desktop hard drives and laptop hard drives.. works great.

oy! okay, i will try the battery and adapter combo you suggested. I dont think I will be able to make a backup of my files since I cant see anything on the screen.

I have a feeling my screen is fried. If this is the case, I think it will cost too much for the value (lack thereof) of the computer. I will probably have to go to Best Buy and get another computer. However, I have my files and such on my hard drive!

oh wow - i just looked that up. that is a fabulous idea!!! thanks so much, hpfreak. you made me feel better tonight  

quick weird update: yesterday for no reason, it turned on and the monitor came on and it worked great. luckily i was able to grab a lot of the stuff i wanted off my desktop.

Today? same deal - monitor not working when machine turns on. This is weird!!!!

Wow... that is pretty strange, I guess there is probably a different solution to your problem... It may be a power related problem.

Yeah - someone told me about taking out the battery and turning it on but holding down the power button? I am going to try that tomorrow night.

Best answer selected by lmullane.