Laptop problem

My wife has a Compaq Presario M2000 with Windows XP Home. I am not sure if the problem is hardware or software; the computer appears to boot normally, but the screen stays blank. I assumed it was hardware, but if I plug my desktop screen into it, when booted it shows the initial Windows XP logo screen with the activity bar under it, but then it disappears and the screen remains blank from then on.
I can't work this out at all. Why does it show the Windows Logo screen on the external monitor but not on the lappie screen? And why do neither screen display anything beyond that point? Can anyone tell me what is going on here?

 

Try to boot into safe mode, or last good known configuration.

 

I can't do that Candy, as the screen is blank. I tried repeatedly hitting the F8 key as it booted, but the screen remained blank so I couldn't tell whether I had reached the screen where you select Safe Mode, and if I had, what to do anyway.

 

With the external monitor, can you get into bios?

On the laptop, you don't have any F key lock or unlock option that is preventing that from working?

 

Thank you for your interest Candy. I have investigated the possibility of a F key lock and can't find reference to one. At Compaq's suggestion I held down the Fm key and press F4, and I also tried briefly pressing the power button to bring it out of sleep mode, but neither of these do a thing.

The machine boots normally; only the screen is not as it should be. Today I even heard Avast say "The virus database has been updated" so everything is functional except the screen.

Going through what happens at boot up using both the laptop screen and my other computer's monitor may be of help -
Lappie screen: The big "COMPAQ" logo appears briefly on the screen and the screen then goes blank and remains that way. (This is usual, but normally the Windows boot up screen would then appear.)
External modem connected: The initial Windows screen appears and displays for maybe 30 seconds, it then goes off. After only a short time a blue message "Power saving mode" appears and then goes off. (This always appears briefly when I turn off my desktop computer.) If I pull the monitor plug from the laptop I get another blue message, "Check cable connection" or words to that effect. As I have just pulled it out this is understandable.

Getting into safe mode or the bios using either screen doesn't seem an option as the screen is blank. I can only assume I have got there, but can't do anything else with no screen.

All of the above tells me maybe it isn't hardware; certainly it doesn't seem to be a mal-functioning screen.

Any further suggestions I would be very gratefully received.

 

Sorry, I was out of town. Any progress?

 

Thank Candy,
We think we have narrowed the problem down to either a faulty video card or a driver related to it. Today I plan to hand it over to a local techy. Although I have the CD with the drivers on it I can't make use of it without the screen to see what I'm doing.

 

If it were just the drivers, one would think that safe mode would be acceptable as safe mode only loads very very basic drivers.

I'd lean more towards a faulty video card.

 

OK thanks Candy, I'll pass that onto the techy.

 

Hey, that was your post number 500!!!! Congrats