My friend had that same thing happen to his laptop (don't remembe the model, it is about three years old now). It started with the LCD screen bein very tricky, like it had to be in the right spot or it wouldn't work. Then it just went out all together and the external monitor port would not work. he sent it in and got it worked on, I think it was nder $200 though because his laptop was out of warrenty. There really isn't much you can do about it, you have to have a tech look at it or someone who knows about that stuff.

Just a thought...
~AciD