How can i turn off my inspiron 6400 laptop screen while it is processing??

I have my laptop on for over 12 hours at a time analyzing music files for my DJ software sometimes and i want to turn off the screen because its a waste. Anyways, when i close the lid the screen would turn off but it enters standby mode. So i turned off standby mode and set it to "do nothing" when closed. Now when i close the lid the screen just stays on. I tried setting the turn off monitor power setting to after 1 min and it doesn't work. I also tried setting the screen saver to come on after 1 mine and that doesn't work either. Any suggestions? Is it because the program has windows constantly popping up that the screen wont act normal? The program is M-Audio Torq DJ software and after it finalizes a track a new window pops up to finalize another track so this window cant even be minimized, is this the reason the monitor wont turn off?

Its also plugged into the charger the whole time, and i have a fan cooling off the charger and also another fan running under the laptop.

 

In XP, just go to where you change your screen saver and all, there will be a button for power settings, click on it When the new window pops up, you should see a bunch of drop down boxes. The first drop down box will be for turning the screen off. I usually set mine to like 10 minutes. Then I put all of the other stuff below it on never (i.e. turn off hard disks, etc). There will be two columns. one for being plugged in and one for being unplugged.

 

I tried that and set it to turn off after 1 minute but it never turned off lol. Hmmmm maybe its the program im using thats not letting the screen turn off. let me see if it turns off while other programs are running.

 

Yes, most often, the application you run will not let you turn off the monitor. Some apps have the option of letting you do so (Windows Media Player is one of them).