I have a 3 year old Dell Inspiron 2500 that has started to have screen stability/goes white/goes black problems. However if I plug a Compaq monitor in and have displays on both the Compaq monitor is fine but the problems continue on the Inspiron screen.

Any thoughts?

maybe its a pixel problem, i had a laptop from my school and some crazy fellow came along and hit it off the table...
the screen was ok, but the next day my screen did the same thing as yours, took an got it fixed, not sure what they did

final answer, dieing pixels or just an old monitor that has seen its days

You need a new monitor if the Compag works fine. Sending a monitor in to get repaired is expensive and it is easier to just get a new one. However a lot of Dells have a 3 year warranty you might want to check and see if you are still in for that.