Thanks for your reply.
answers:
Have you tried hooking the laptop up to an external screen via the VGA port to see if you get a display? YES - this is when I first started having issues, it would not display to external screen any more.
It could be an overheating issue, can you hear the CPU fan working, has the inside of the computer ever been cleaned out of heat trapping dust also how many sticks of Ram do you have fitted? CPU fan clearly running. I took out the Hard Drive, Battery, and checked the 2 sticks of 1GB ram, very clean, no dust.
I do recall the laptop dropping one time about 1 1/2 years prior to the problem. It was still in 2nd protective zipped sleve, no immediate problems noted from that incident. Much later (1 1/2 to 2 years) I started having these issues.
I did a diagnostic through the Windows Boot Option screen, it noted no problems with any of the display, or video card "connection". It went through all the color variations, and screen text variations to check the system. No errors.
Just when the program runs about 10-15 seconds into the "Windows XP Pro" startup, the screen goes blank, then two seconds later it goes totally black. The lights indicate normal continued operation of the laptop.
I'm thinking it's something to do with the Graphics Card, but could it be the OS? I could reinstall it, or go to Windows 7. The display is crystal clear up until Windows XP starts to load after 15 seconds.
It's a little puzzling.
Charlie