Laptop problem(help needed please)

[chopp]

Hi, my brother has a laptop computer that has a problem . it seemed like the battery was starting to wear out quicker , but now , when you turn it on , you hear it start up , you can open and close the dvd drive , but nothing comes up on the screen , it just stays black , blank. is there any way of working out what the problem is if the screen won't start up . or has anyone had a similar problem. any help would be great .thanks.

[Moof]

You could try it with an external monitor plugged in.
This may tell you if it is a screen problem, or something else