Sometimes the screen stays on, sometimes it dissapears

I have a Toshiba laptop, running WinXP Pro. When I power up and the desktop appears, it may stay on for 2-3 minutes, then it dissapears...like I have the power off...just a blank dark screen, however, it appears that all is still running as it should, but I just can't see where anything is on the screen.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what this might be?

Thanks

A FEW MINUTES LATER: I just started to close the lid and it started to beep and said "preparing to hibernate" This is what it seems to be doing almost immediately after startup. Even if I run my finger over the mouse pad, it will not bring the screen back up. I cannot remember how to undo the hibernate.
Could this be the problem and could someone offer directions as to undo it.

Thanks again.

 

Hi Karen,

Via the Control Panel > power options > Hibernate tab > uncheck the enable box.

That should erase hiberfil.sys (Hidden System file) on the OS drive. This file may have gotten corrupted. Re enabling hibernation with a fresh file may solve the problem.

Look around in the Power options and see the timings for going into hibernate.

Regards - Charles

 

How new is this laptop? I know I ordered a client a brand new Toshiba Laptop, it was working fine for about a month then same problem. If you look very closely you will see that the screen is still on just the backlight seems to be out. This seems to be a known issue. Take the laptop to your closest repair place. There is a control module that caused the problem its faulty. Some places with replace the LCD also to eliminate that. Plug in a monitor and you will know for sure if the machine is still running.