LCD works during BIOS & W7 boot then goes black until closed/reopened?

I have an Acer Aspire 3820tg. When I turn on my laptop the LCD screen turns on as well and functions normally throughout BIOS intialization and partway through Windows 7 intialization. Then the screen goes black and stays black until I close the lid and then reopen it (once not multiple times), at which point I can see the Windows 7 log-in screen.

• This is the only time the screen behaves abnormally.

• The laptop restores from sleep or hibernate without a problem.

• There are no problems related to dim brightness levels or unusual color tints or corrupted video artifacts.

• The abnormal behavior does not seem related to the angle of the screen relative to the body of the laptop... It is more like flipping a switch; the lid must be fully closed and then reopened for the screen to turn back on.

• This happens every time that the computer is restarted.

What is causing this and how do I fix it? The problem lacks many of the usual symptoms that point towards a faulty LCD cable or power inverter board, but I don't see how it could possibly be software related.