Screen gone black

plug an external monitor into your laptop(you should have a vga plug on the edge somewhere). VGA plug should be on the rear. If your desktop shows up on the external monitor, chances are your screen has gone bad. If it doesn't, it could be your video card/motherboard. I don't know if you can change a video card only in a laptop. Chances are, you will have to replace the whole motherboard. Recommendation if this is the case: but a new laptop.