Hi, newbee and computer almost illiterate oldy here.
I have searched the questions in the forum but no answer matches the symptoms.
The laptop is an old RM and what is happening is that when the computer is turned on, the screen comes up NORMALLY until the password box is displayed when the screen goes black. If I shine a torch on the screen I can log in and the usual Icons come up. Pressing the brightness buttons MAKES no difference and plugging in an external display doesn't work. It seems to be something in software rather than faulty backlight unless this FAULT could be driver of course. ANYONE any ideas please? Try to boot it up in safe mode (hit the F8 button during the boot process). If you dont run into the same problem there then we can start diagnosing, if you have the same problem, might be a hardware issue.Hi Chris,
Thanks for the help. Just tried that, it STILL does the same thing.
PeteAAAAH!! Done it wrong. Started up in Safe Mode and it's working. Thinking about this I did download a programme to open Bin files but it wasn't successful. Computer went wrong some time after this. Have now tried to uninstall that program and after the screen says that it is uninstalled the system locks up. It tried to connect to internet after uninstall but I refused to allow it as I think it was the uninstalled program trying to connect. I hope that makes sense. Try to take it back to a good restore point before you had the issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084Hi Chris,  I followed the link and the problem has been solved. Thank you very much for your patience and advice.
PeteNot a problem, glad you got it fixed.Hi Pete, I think it'll happen again because it sounds like the graphics chip is faulty.  If plugging in an external monitor does nothing then you will have to troubleshoot the chip. There's a guide at http://www.tekmoz.com/laptop-repair-training-course-troubleshooting-and-repairing-laptop-screens/ Quote from: SkinnyKing on October 25, 2013, 07:43:51 PM

Hi Pete, I think it'll happen again because it sounds like the graphics chip is faulty.  If plugging in an external monitor does nothing then you will have to troubleshoot the chip. There's a guide at http://www.tekmoz.com/laptop-repair-training-course-troubleshooting-and-repairing-laptop-screens/