When I turn on my Dell Inspiron 8500 everything's alright till it enters XP when everything just goes blank. Could it be a monitor problem or a software prob?
If it goes out at the same time, I'd feel quite sure it's software. However, it could be hardware, but I'd suspect it's more than just your monitor. Can you hear the startup sound, or does it just stop doing everything? Can you boot to safe mode?