Gateway laptop black screen

I have a Gateway laptop model number 400VTX. Goodness, I must have gotten it early 2000's some time while I was in college. It worked fine up until last year. I was watching a movie on it that I was streaming from the internet. In the middle of the movie the screen went black. I have tried restarting it. When it starts it sounds like it is searching the cd drive for a disk. The lights on the bottom half/keyboard come on. The screen stays black. I am not sure if I need to take it in or if I can fix it myself. Any help you can offer?

Thanks.
 
Can you try connecting an external monitor and see if you get video? If you do, the LCD display is the problem (inverter, backlight, LCD panel or cables). If you still get no video, the motherboard may be the cause
 
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