Black screen. When I start the laptop up, I can hear Window XP start up but the screen stays black.

After it appears that the computer is on, shine a flashlight on the screen. If you can see a very faint image, you need a new backlight. If you have no image at all, you need an inverter. More likely than not, it's the inverter because backlights last a really long time.

If the screen stays black during the entire boot up process, meaning you never see not one blip on the screen , you have a hardware problem , and the unit needs to go in for service, either a backlight replace , replacement of LCD, or some type of video/motherboard failure....any of these conditions are not fixable by using the f8 function of booting into your operating sytem, as you can not see these options...you might try looking for the RESET button under your laptop, to reset the unit to factory default, this seldom works with the symptoms you are describing , but good luck...and thankyou for using FixYa.com

To get into the Windows XP Safe mode, as the computer is booting press and hold your "F8 Key" which should bring up the "Windows Advanced Options Menu" as shown below. Use your arrow keys to move to " Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked)" and press your Enter key. This should load windows and operate normally. If it doesn't then reboot & press F8 again then select "safe mode". In safe mode, Windows XP starts a minimal set of drivers that the operating system needs to function. Support for devices such as audio devices and most USB devices are disabled to reduce the variables that you need to account for when diagnosing the cause of startup problems, Stop messages, or system instability. If recently installed hardware or software prevents you from starting Windows XP in normal mode, you can use safe mode to uninstall software, or to remove or roll back device drivers. Let us know how you get on - Good Luck!