Laptop blank screen

I get a blank screen. I have booted in safe mode and still get a blank screen. OS is Windows Vista on Dell Inspiron 1501

Hi and welcome to WTT forums Sorry to hear about the probem with your machine There are 4 things to do to start off 1 Make sure that you dont have a blank screen saver operating……tap repeatedly on the space bar to see if anything happens, if nothing then go to the next step. 2 Check your owners manual to see that you have the correct function keys pressed to operate the built in screen (they are usually F4 F5 or F6..its possible that someone may have turned it off. 3 boot into normal mode, wait 5 minutes by the clock if the screen is still blank take a strong flashlight and shine it at close range into the screen, get your eyes up close to the screen you may see a faint image of your normal desktop…..if you do it generally means that there is a fault with the backlight on your screen…..unless you are pretty handy at disassembling a laptop screen then its best to seek a remedy under any guarantee or warranty you have, if tnhis does not apply then get a quote from a local competent technician for a repair …but this is delicate work and could be costly.Get her/him to test the invertor as well as these are relatively cheap to replace. 4 Connect up an external monitor to your laptop see your owners manual for details, if your laptop will operate the external monitor then your video adapter is good…….go to step 2 above Post back and let us know how you get on. Regards paws