14" iBook screen blacks out

This is the third time it's done it today and the 5th time ever. My AppleCare ran out the middle of March, so I guess they are right on in determining when it's time to get a new computer.
When it blacks out, it just goes immediately, no flickering, no warning whatsoever. I can still see the desktop underneath the black and I can still move the cursor. I don't know anything what the insides are like, but the apple light on the top of the case goes out when the screen blacks out.
When I closed the top and opened it again, it brought the screen back up right away. But this last time, it took a few closing and openings to get it to come back up, making me think it's going to get worse.
Last week was the first time it ever went black. I initially thought it was falling in to sleep mode and held down the power key to get it to reboot. I'm pretty sure sleep has nothing to do with it, but I set my display to not go to sleep at all today to find out. It's blacked out twice since.
I don't use a screen saver, it's happened on battery and power adapter. Other people have mentioned the fan not running, I can't remember ever hearing my fan run or else it's just so quiet I can't tell the difference between it and the hard drive.
My iBook is a late 2004 model 14" 1.33 and, I just upgraded to Tiger (coincidence?) There have been no other problems to speak of other than the keyboard losing letters, battery needing to be replaced and the usual airport glitches. It hasn't been dropped or spilled on. Any suggestions on how to fix this and what I might be looking at when/if taking apart the screen?

It sounds like you might have a bad inverter cable, especially since it is affected by the position of the display. I think this is just a mechanical failure of the cable caused by many openings and closings of the display.
You might check out the troubleshooting section of the ifixit site and read about the inverter cable and see if it sounds like what is happening to you. I gather it is a real job to replace it. Ifixit and Powerbookmedic would be two good resources:
http://www.ifixit.com/
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/
Since the job is considered very difficult, I'm not sure there are any instructions on how to do this on these sites. But there is another manual that might be helpful:
http://node123.cit.geneseo.edu/~stratton/ServiceManuals/
This is just the index. You will have to find the one for your iBook. Powerbookmedic also has a good manual.
It may also be possible to repair the cable, but I don't know. Spudnuty is the real expert here, and hopefully he will see this and be able to offer you more specific advice.
Good luck!

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