Hi All,
I have a Dell E6500 that had been very reliable until the screen started blinking brightly then the screen turned off. The computer was still running, say a movie, so it was still working but the screen had flickered brightly and then off.

Over time, a few months the problem got worse and worse. I read a great long post in this forum and the issue seems to be the screen, backlight or other part of the screen power/heat sensors. The issue got so bad I decided to replace the computer as people that just replaced the screen components still had issues.
Its very annoying turning the computer and just seeing the Bios load and dell screen for just a moment then it goes blank. Even though you cant see it windows will still start. The screen is just black/blank and video card disabled.
The WORKAROUND is for people with external Monitors. As the laptop screen is faulty, if you open the bottom of the laptop, remove the ribbon cable powering the laptop screen and put some tape over it. Now you have basically removed the problem screen from effecting the display card. Now you can put the bottom cover back on leaving the laptop screen ribbon cable unplugged and you can start the computer with just an external monitor. Ftn F8 to toggle to external monitor as usual.

For older laptops like this it means it can still work for you, but on an external monitor only rather than the actual laptop screen. Typically many laptops are used with external mouse, keyboards and monitors anyway. This way your partially busted laptop can still serve you till it fully dies.

Typed on the DELL E6500 with external monitor (and Mouse/Keyboard).

If I plug the laptop ribbon cable back in I will get a flash of laptop display and then nothing on either the laptop screen or external monitor. I hope this helps others as this would have saved me some dollars rather than chasing and elusive and expensive fix for the actual laptop screen. Cheers