Could be one of the following - ribbon cable from laptop to screen is 
failing, power board for the screen is failing, or the backlight 'bulb' 
is failing.
I had the backlight replaced on an old Toshiba Satellite 420(?) a few 
years back, ran about $200.  Shouldn't be too hard to change if you can 
get the right part and get the screen assembly apart. Call a few shops 
and get estimates.
Paul Hachmeyer

billhorn wrote:

>I have a Compaq Presario 2200 laptop that is having display problems. It
>shows a normal screen for a second or two upon boot and then goes blank. I
>tried the brightness settings but that didn’t do anything. I can make out
>what is on the screen if I hold a flashlight just right. If I plug in an
>exterior monitor it works just fine. I’ve taken a couple of laptops apart
>for minor repairs but I haven’t run across anything like this before. Any
>ideas what might be going on, and how I could get it going again.
>
>
>  
>

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