Display is on, but only seeing black screen. I can mouse to the screen, since I am using 2 screens, but nothing displays

Sounds like one of two issues,

1. You have the internal display turned off. When you turn the laptop on you should hear a single beep. Do you see the Sony Logo during bootup? Have you tried to turn the display back on? Try pressing the Fn+F7, or Fn+F8, key combination. There are only three modes and these key combinations allow you to cycle through these modes. Either the Primary Screen is on, or the External Screen is on, or both are on.

2. You may have a bad video card or the screen is dead. When you power up the laptop, can you see a glow, but the screen is black? Can you see the Bootup Screen with the Sony Logo, but barely? Have you tried to connect an external monitor to the laptop to see if the video card is working? If you get video to the external monitor, the video card is working. If you don't, then the video card may be bad. If you are getting video on the external monitor, try using the key combinations listed above and try to cycle through your Internal/External display modes.If nothing shows up on the laptop display then the LCD screen may be bad. It could be the back light. Those are internal to the LCD. That means you will have to replace the entire LCD display on the laptop.

Hope that helps.

When you say "screen goes black," does the computer power down, or is it still operating? Does the sleep light come on? Does it respond to the keyboard and mouse? (Example: press the power button momentarily, wait a few seconds for the "Do you really want to shut down" message to appear, even though you can't see it, then hit the return key to answer "OK," and see if it shuts down.) Does the screen go black or come out of black if you tap the computer?
While your computer is working, go to System Preferences / Desktop & Screen Saver, the Screen Saver tab, click Hot Corners, and set a corner of your screen to Put Display to Sleep. Then next time your screen goes black, mouse your way into that corner, pause a few seconds, then mouse back out and see if your screen returns.

First, you want to make sure the laptop's internal/external display mode is set properly. On Acer netbooks, this is usually changed by holding the "Fn" key, and pressing "F5". Either the TV or the computer display should flicker when you do this. There are 3 modes:

1 Computer only
2 TV Only
3 Computer and TV

If changing between thos emodes doens't work, continue on.


I am going to assume you are running Windows XP. Please correct me if I am wrong.

To display your desktop on an external monitor, you'll need to change/check some settings. Your netbook is most likely attempting to set it's display settings automatically, but it is expecting a computer display, not a television, so the resolutions and refresh rates are conflicting. That's why it will only display on one and not the other. Before Windows loads, the netbook is using a very low resolution,so it displays on the TV. Once Windows loads, it switches to some non-standard resolution that your TV cannot display and defaults back to your netbook screen.

The solution is to find a resolution that your television will display:

1.Right-click the desktop, and then click Properties.

2.In the DisplayProperties dialog box, click the Settings tab.

3.Click the Display list and select your external monitor (..the TV. It will most likely be display #2).

4.Select the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor option.

5.Select 640x480 in the "Screen Reolution" section for Display #2.

6.Click Apply or OK.

Note: If you see the background change on your television, mmove your mous there to make sure it's working. If it DOES work, go back to the "Screen resolution" section for Display #2 and find the highest resolution your television will display

First of all, check that the laptop is set to output video to the LCD. There should be a function key which will determine whether it is outputting video to the built-in LCD, the external monitor, or both. That should be holding down your "FN" key and hitting "F8." If it is on CRT ONLY, it should switch within 1-2 keypresses.

Secondly, take a good bright flashlight and shine it directly at the LCD panel from about 1-2 inches away. If you can actually see the graphics on the screen faintly in the background, your backlight is not turning on. The backlight is literally a bulb which lights up the screen, and they can burn out. It is repairable, and shouldn't cost more than $150.00 from a reputable repair shop.

You may have an infection.
Anyways...this is what you should do to regain control.
When you get to the black screen and the mouse pointer, press Ctrl+Alt+Del
The next screen will ask you what do you want to do...
Select Task Management....(one of the last if not the last option)
You'll get the Task Manager Windows.
Go to the Processes tab
On the File menu choose New Task (Run), and type: explorer.exe
Wait a little bit, and your desktop should come up.
Once there, run an antivirus antyspyware, anti adware etc, to get rid of the problem.
Once you KNOW you're clean and back in track, I recommend you to look into www.labellpcsolutions.com.
They have a product called Pc Guard, that protect your computer from all this problems effectively.

Please don't forget to rate this answer if helps.

If you can see a mouse pointer clearly, you have a software issue especally if see a post..

It is leaning towards your screen is going out and needs replaced.

Startup while tapping the F8 key,this should open the startup options screen,Select start up in VGA mode,If that works,then you need to update the video drivers

Sometimes the function keys get depressed by accident and it takes away your display. Press the FN+F5 and FN+F6 three times each and see if your display comes back on.

start your laptop in a safe mode by pressing f8 during booting