Laptop screen doesn't seem to be recognised

I have a Dell Inspiron N5110 from 2011. Windows 10 is installed and working, Using it right now but with an external monitor. Found several posts about booting into a black screen but they seem to only be the case when there is a cursor floating round as well.

My problem is that when I boot up the laptop I get the windows 10 loading screen. Then it goes black and stays black. The screen is definitely on but not showing anything. And I've left it for an hour and nothing happens. But when I plug in a second monitor it works on there and seems to detect this second monitor as the only one. Once this monitor is attached, the laptop screen turns itself off and cannot be turned back on, not even to the state it was in before of just being black.

Checked and all drivers are up to date. If I change the settings, by hitting windows key and p, to extend the screen then i can drag the mouse from the second monitor into apparently nothing so I really can't tell if the computer knows about its own screen or not. Also sound is working through the laptop, don't know if this helps.

Any help is greatly appreciated, kind of need this laptop for work but would like it to be running win 10.

Try going to setting's > system display > scroll down to, Advanced display setting's >

Multiple display's > click on the drop down arrow > choose Duplicate these displays > Apply.

This will have both screen's active.

I just tried this on my laptop and external monitor and it work's perfect.

This doesn't work, I'm guessing this only works if both monitors are already working? I tried it anyway but it doesn't recognise that there are two monitors, it only recognises the second monitor which it thinks is the main screen. The laptop screen still stays turned off

Dam, this was such an easy fix. Running Dell's driver update, it was telling me everything was fine. But going onto their website I saw there was a bios update that it wasn't telling me about from A09 to A11, updating this now lets my screen work.

Dam, this was such an easy fix. Running Dell's driver update, it was telling me everything was fine. But going onto their website I saw there was a bios update that it wasn't telling me about from A09 to A11, updating this now lets my screen work.

Great, I glad to hear its taken care of.

Is there a way of re-install the BIOS?

I've have the same problem, with the black screen, even for a few secs the pc starts good, but after showing everythng It should, the screen turns black... I can start the aplications from administrator manager and even surf trough my files.

The problem is that I installed A11 BIOS long time ago, then updated to Windows 10 and got the black screen, I downloaded the BIOS again but just got a message: "Can't flash to the same Bios version. Press Ok to exit."

Also can't go back to A9 Bios due to another message: "You are about to flash your bios to an older Bios version. Dell does not recommend flashing your Bios to an older version. Press Ok button to exit."

Any Ideas?

Is there a way of re-install the BIOS?

I've have the same problem, with the black screen, even for a few secs the pc starts good, but after showing everythng It should, the screen turns black... I can start the aplications from administrator manager and even surf trough my files.

The problem is that I installed A11 BIOS long time ago, then updated to Windows 10 and got the black screen, I downloaded the BIOS again but just got a message: "Can't flash to the same Bios version. Press Ok to exit."

Also can't go back to A9 Bios due to another message: "You are about to flash your bios to an older Bios version. Dell does not recommend flashing your Bios to an older version. Press Ok button to exit."

Any Ideas?

Did you try to adjust screen brightness from Fn key command on keyboard? I have a Dell latitude E4300 with latest BIOS, after I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, the system booted up normally (with Windows logo, etc.) but at some point the screen went dark/black (the system worked with an external monitor). Then I found out that the screen brightness was turned to 0% (could be something about auto-adjust brightness).

Did you try to adjust screen brightness from Fn key command on keyboard? I have a Dell latitude E4300 with latest BIOS, after I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, the system booted up normally(with Windows logo, etc.) but at some point the screen went dark/black (the system worked with an external monitor). Then I found out that the screen brightness was turned to 0% (could be something about auto-adjust brightness).

Hi Cameos, Everything else in you Dell Latitude E4300 works with Win10? (Retro-illuminated keyboard, Fingerprint scanner, etc?...)
Thanks