Black screen on XPS 1210

Just got a used XPS 1210. So far a great little computer except
for....
I decide to go to the next room. I close the lid. Walk into the next
room and open the lid. Well, the screen is black, and nothing I can
do will bring it back. From the led's and stuff blinking, the
computer is still on and is running, but no screen.
I received this laptop 3 days ago. It was doing this when I got it.
I installed my personal software on it, and the black screen problem
went away. However, I did notice that when the lid was down, the glow
from the screen could be seen. So, today, for no real reason, the
black screen thing started again. The only way to get back is to hold
down the power button till it powers down. On reboot, the screen is
fine till I close the lid.
Any Ideas? This is windows xp pro media center, and has lots of bells
and whistles for adjusting monitor and sound. Could I have a swith
flipped?
Any insight would be great, I'm don't know if I should install an
updated graphics driver or not.
Thanks,
Ron

In news:4875652a.53656984@news.houston.sbcglobal.net,
ronnienospamholland typed on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:35:28 GMT:
> Just got a used XPS 1210. So far a great little computer except
> for....
> I decide to go to the next room. I close the lid. Walk into the next
> room and open the lid. Well, the screen is black, and nothing I can
> do will bring it back. From the led's and stuff blinking, the
> computer is still on and is running, but no screen.

If the power light is flashing, the computer went into sleep mode. Which is
the default action for the lid switch. Pressing the power button briefly
should wake it up again. You can usually change this action in the Power
Options (Advanced tab) in the Control Panel.

> I received this laptop 3 days ago. It was doing this when I got it.
> I installed my personal software on it, and the black screen problem
> went away. However, I did notice that when the lid was down, the glow
> from the screen could be seen. So, today, for no real reason, the
> black screen thing started again. The only way to get back is to hold
> down the power button till it powers down. On reboot, the screen is
> fine till I close the lid.
> Any Ideas? This is windows xp pro media center, and has lots of bells
> and whistles for adjusting monitor and sound. Could I have a swith
> flipped?
> Any insight would be great, I'm don't know if I should install an
> updated graphics driver or not.
> Thanks,
> Ron

It is possible the lid switch is flaky and sometimes doesn't work. Then
maybe it is best to tell the lid switch to do nothing in the Power Options.
If everything works fine except the screen goes dark when you move the
screen. This is a sign that you have an intermittent connection.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 4GB SSD 2GB SODIMM
Windows XP Home SP2