Black Screen, no cursor, on my own

Hello all,
I have a HP dv6 series laptop, 6gb, with an upgraded video card. I'm running Windows home premium 64bit. I've had the computer for six months and have had no problems up until now.

I had it set to sleep when I closed the lid. I opened it up and it seemed to come to life, fans running, etc. but the screen remained black. After trying a few things I shut it down. Now when I start it, the following things happen:

-I have a black screen, no cursor, no beeps, no other sounds, nothing. I tried putting in my password without seeing the screen but it does not respond.
-The hard drive spins for a few seconds, then stops.
-the fan runs constantly
-the caps lock and wireless lights stay on
-the cd tray ejects and seeks discs normally
-the power light and logo lights stay on
-the fingerprint scanner does not light up, but the keyboard backlight control responds normally

I am away from home and will be returning in a couple of days when I can try to reinstall stuff from the CDs. In the meantime, has anyone else encountered this problem?

Thank you kindly in advance!

After the initial panic wore off I more thoroughly checked various blog posts and found one that seemed to describe my problem exactly. I tried the fix and it worked!

Here's what to do:

1. Make sure the computer is unplugged
2. Take out the battery
3. Open the laptop and hold down the power button for 30 to 60 seconds
4. Leave the battery out and connect the power adaptor
5. Power on
6. If it all works, then power off and feel free to reconnect your battery

I'm not computer-savvy enough to know what this did, but it worked. I hope it works for others, too!

Thank you!! This really does work! I can see the screen again. I still have problems booting up, but being able to see will make them much easier to fix. Thanks, again!

See Use Hard Reset to Resolve Hardware and Software Issues HP Pavilion dv5000 Notebook PC series - HP Customer Care (United States - English) for why this works. Let us know if you need further help with your problem, momof8. Suggest starting your own thread if you do, though.

Actually, I had no problem getting my computer fixed. After the screen became visible (and didn't quite boot), I just tried booting again. It suggesting doing a System Restore which fixed the problem. I appreciate your efforts to help me. Thanks!