Monitor has black screen

Hello, my Bro just called and he noticed his monitor has nothing on it. The Power button on Monitor is lit. We unplugged and re-plugged the cables back into Tower and Monitor. Nothing shows even when I try buttons on keyboard. No monitor close enough to try to see if it is Monitor. Its about 6 years old, 17" flat screen. Its a HP. I told him to try Staples or Office Max, etc.
Thanks
Paul

 

Test the monitor on another computer, it may be a problem with the graphics adapter.

Is there HDD activity such as Windows starting up? If Windows is not loading in the background then the problem is not the monitor.

Matt

 

Thanks MattMan, thats the problem, there is no way to check Monitor on another PC. He lives 40 miles from me. I believe that windows is working because when he shut off the PC and checked the cables and plug than restarted it he could hear what sounded like a normal startup. The light on Tower was going thru normal blink and no Beeping sounds of concern. I'm calling him this morning to see what happened. It could be the Monitor though, right? Opps, just wondering, can you plug a monitor into a laptop PC?? Just a dopey ?? probably.
~Paul

 

AWESOME PETE!!!! Thank you,,I'll give that a try, the kids (nephews) each have a laptop.
I'll let you know what happened....
~Paul