Monitor flashes display 2-3 times then goes blank on initial boot

If you hit <F12> key upon boot-up and the monitor displays a boot menu, then you probably have an issue with your XP software. Meaning that you may have to re-install XP (by the way, XP is no longer supported).

The splash screen with the LG Flatron logo is the monitor's splash screen not the PCs.
The machine is NOT booting up the splash screen is the monitor coming on.
Remove the 1Gb stick an see if the machine performs normally.
If it does then power it off, remove the power cord and CAREFULLY reinstall the new stick.
If it fails to boot you may have a defective memory module.
If the machine fails to boot with the new stick removed make sure you have the original memory seated properly and all cables securely attached

When you say screen goes very dark when it booted to windows so it means that when you turned on the laptop when the dell logo flashes the screen was fine? if thats the case could you please try this. after turning on the laptop you will see the dell logo flashes immediately keep tapping on F2 and then it will show you the BIOS setup utility, please check if in BIOS setup display goes dark as well. If yes then try this, after turning on the computer when dell logo flashes keep tapping on F12 to boot menu then select utility partition to run the diagnostics. Please run test on the LCD check if display goes black when running the LCD test. Then try this when you sees the dell logo keep tapping on F8 to boot in safe mode check if in safe mode display goes very dark. Try this too, boot in F8 then select last known good configuration check if the settings on your display will be fix. If you can boot to safe mode no problem then uninstall the display or video driver. then restart computer.
You can also try to connect an external monitor if you have one just try to isolate if issue is on the LCD or the video card. If the display is dark as well in external monitor then video card needs to be reseated if fails then replaced. In situation like this most video cards is integrated to the motherboards. So replace motherboard.

johnerm, Good going John! At least YOU tried doing a swapout to another KNOWN GOOD pc to prove out that the E153FP is indeed the culprit!!! Now for the hard part. Do you have a bright flashlight? Reconnect E153FP to pc with WIN-desktop as the displayed image. then and only then turn on E153FP and note the time it takes to GO TO BLACK SCREEN. Is it 1, 2, --5,---20 seconds???? Now point at different angels about 1 inch from screen a bright flashlight to an area that "should" have a desktop "icon" showing. LOOK very closely!! If you SEE a very faint image of the desktop the units "switch-mode-power-supply" is in PARTIAL SHUTDOWN mode. (still has +5v or +3.3v to supply vga/lcd interface board) If you SEE NOTHING, then SMPS is in FULL SHUTDOWN mode. Get back to me, 12fixlouie with your SMPS flashlight evaluation and pay a visit to YOUTUBE fyi search and view video clips of "LCD monitor disassembly" and "LCD monitor repair" to see if DIY interests you! Also try www.ccl-la.com/badcaps.htm run by another tech on fixya nickname "buddymc" fyi. If this was of some help, rate this response on fixya. 12fixlouie aka louie12fix or lmistyrel @ aim.com

If display issue: connect an external monitor to see if any change.

Could be spyware - boot in Safe Mode (F8) - download, install and run SpyBot (spybot.com).

Good luck.

There should be a display toggle key on your keyboard. This will toggle the display from the external display to the laptop lcd. Try pressing the Fn + F5 key to toggle the display.

did u replace the video card with the same kind of model ? i guess yes ... when system starts hit the f8 key and than go in to safe mode ... mouse wont work so use arrow on the keyboard .. and in the safe mode just log in to admin account if available or login to ur account and see if that still happens .. and if it doesnt ... remove the drivers for the graphic card from add and remove programs and restart the system and go in the normal mode and than install the drivers again ... and if the display disappears in the safe mode or u have install a different graphic card than ... reseat the memory cards and that should resolve the issue .... if that doesnt work out when the system starts hit f1 and stay on the BIOS screen for 30 mins if the system doesnt loose display than u need to reinstall OS ... that will surely work out ... the resolutions given above if u follow them correctly u will have a working system in no time

If tried the monitor on two other computers with the same result -- definitly your monitor is faulty. Take it to the repair shop. To make double sure, run your computer with another monitor. If everything is fine now; you can blame the monitor.

boot in safe mode and remove the display driver and reboot in normally

There are different reasons why this might happen. Let's try some. 1.) Does your board have an onboard video card, cause if it does, then XP might be using that as the primary monitor. TRy plugging into the onboard video when you start up! If that works then you need to disable the onboard video.(try disabling it in bios!) if not then 2.)When booting at the select xp or recovery console, press F8. You'll get the menu with safe mode and what not. Go down to Enable VGA Mode then press enter. If that works, go to display settings and lower your resolution then restart. But usually when this happens your monitor says "Out of Range" but u can still try Well if that doesn't work, tell me more! Regards, Armando