I lifted the text below from the Acer Aspire manual, which you can download and save in .pdf form from http://www.nodevice.com/user_manual/acer/notebooks/aspire_3660.html ------------------------------------ Nothing appears on the screen. The computer's power management system automatically blanks the screen to save power. Press any key to turn the display back on.If pressing a key does not turn the display back on, three things might be the cause: • The brightness level might be too low. Press <Fn> + <right arrow> (increase) to adjust the brightness level. • The display device might be set to an external monitor. Press the display toggle hotkey <Fn> + <F5> to toggle the display back to the computer. • If the Sleep indicator is lit, the computer is in Sleep mode. Press and release the power button to resume. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I want to restore my computer to its original settings without recovery CDs. Note: If your system is the multilingual version, the operating system and language you choose when you first turn on the system will be the only option for future recovery operations. This recovery process helps you restore the C: drive with the original software content that is installed when you purchase your notebook. Follow the steps below to rebuild your C: drive. (Your C: drive will be reformatted and all data will be erased.) It is important to back up all data files before using this option. Before performing a restore operation, please check the BIOS settings. 1 Check to see if Acer disk-to-disk recovery is enabled or not. 2 Make sure the D2D Recovery setting in Main is Enabled. 3 Exit the BIOS utility and save changes. The system will reboot. Note: To activate the BIOS utility, press <F2> during POST. To start the recovery process: 1 Restart the system. 2 While the Acer logo is showing, press <Alt> + <F10> at the same time to enter the recovery process. 3 Refer to the onscreen instructions to perform system recovery. Important! This feature occupies 4 to 5 GB in a hidden partition on your hard disk. Enable disk-to-disk recovery To enable disk-to-disk recovery (hard disk recovery), activate the BIOS utility, then select Main from the categories listed at the top of the screen. Find D2D Recovery at the bottom of the screen and use the <F5> and <F6> keys to set this value to Enabled ------------------------------------------------ note that you have to press Alt and F10 to initiate the recovery while the splash screen is showing - and do check the brightness first, just in case its been turned down too low. That has happened to me.. :) Hope this helps