Often, one of the first things to fail on a laptop is the screen.  In 
particular, the voltage regulator for the light goes out.

There's a possibility that you are seeing the early signs of this.  Since it 
is the light that isn't working, you may be able to shine a bright light on 
the screen at such an angle that you can still see that the screen is 
displaying a (faint) image.  Depending on the kind of antiglare coating on 
the screen you may or may not be successful with this, but if you can see 
that the display has a faint image, it would confirm a defective back-light.

John Sproule

Date:    Sat, 2 Oct 2010 21:24:11 +0000
From:    Ronald Smith <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: HP laptop startup problem

Hello,
I have an HP Pavilion laptop, about 6 tears old, running WinXP. Lately, it 
has been starting erratically - sometimes right away, other times requiring 
repeated pressings of the Start button. Sometimes only the lights will come 
on but nothing happens on the screen.
Has anyone any insight into what causes this and how it can be fixed?

Gratefully,
Ron Smith

        The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website,
           web based bulletinboard for questions and answers:
              Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com