Desktop Display/UPDATE, WON'T START, HELP PLEASE : )

Well, now it seems that I have a much worse issue. I was all set to do a
system recovery from the hard drive partition (not a big deal, I have done it
plenty of times) Had everything backed up and was ready to go. I first tried
start/recovery manager/recovery manager. My computer went through the
motions, but never started by itself. I waited for a long time and finally
shut it off and started it back up again. Next I tried rebooting, and was
ready to hit F11 when my computer restarted. Problem with that is that the HP
screen with the F11 prompt didn't come up. (Not sure how long that has been
going on for!) Then I tried rebooting with hitting F8 before the Vista logo
came up, to boot in safe mode. Nothing, it just started as normal. Then I ran
misconfig to manually tell it to start in safe mode (which I have done in the
past with no issues) My computer shut down and hasn't started since! I am
totally sick over this (I even shed a tear or two) I do have the extended
warrantee which I purchased at Circuit City (go figure) that is still good
but I am hesitant to go that route because of the horror stories I have heard
about their CS and repairs!
My computer is only 5 months old, which really irks my toad.
Can any of you computer guru's help me? Please? LOL

I am a mess over this : (

Clark, it never even dawned on me to plug it into an external monitor!! I
haven't had my laptop for that long, so I will use that as my defense : )

I can't remember what driver it was that he instructed me to install, I
guess that is a moot point since I have Intel.

To answer your question RalfG, since you brought it to my attention my
computer DOES have intel!!! Why would Mr. HP assume otherwise? Oh, that's
right, it was an HP service rep I talked to @@
Quite possibly if I was told to install the correct driver I wouldn't be in
this situation. Then again, there is obviously something wrong if I wasn't
getting the HP screen at startup.
I checked and rechecked the resolution and kept coming up with the 1024x768.
The only option I had was the 1024x768, and something else that was quite
low, and that wasn't right either.

I TOTALLY APPRECIATE THE HELP/ADVICE FROM BOTH OF YOU : )



Thank you so much,
Robyn