Monitor/Graphics/General Screen Problem

Hi All,

I have a Dell Inspiron n5050 Laptop. Yesterday I attempted to turn the laptop on and the screen worked perfectly until it reached what should have been the log in screen. At this point the screen went black but was still backlit. I could still hear sounds when I typed and attempted to log in so I plugged in an external monitor and sure enough it displayed the screen on the external monitor and for some reason then also displayed it on the laptop. Then when I unplugged the monitor the screen stopped working again.

Next I used the shortcut fn+f1 which changes the screen output, and I switched it to extend monitor and that caused the laptop screen to come back on, thinking it had now extend my screen onto this mysterious other monitor that is non-existent. This also worked if I selected 'duplicate monitor'. However If I selected 'disconnect monitor' then the laptop screen went black and backlit again.

I right-clicked on the desktop and when to graphics options and for some reason the default monitor output is 'Monitor' rather than 'Built-in monitor'and if I change this back it works.. until I plug in or unplug my charger and at that point it reverts back to 'monitor'

Thanks in advance for your help,

Bejul