Black screen at random

2 identical TOSHIBA laptops.. windows 7.. Both BLACK SCREENED. In basement for over 3 years. Got into 1st one and blanked password and deleted programs, updated, removed pop up ''call me'' problem. Was restarted maybe 30 times. No problem. Got into other one.. did much the same... both worked fine. Today.. NEITHER ONE WILL WORK.. Start up and run with BLACK SCREEN. Cannot get into them. Same problem on same type computers.. Wonder if it is a Toshiba thing or I'm thinking a heat and graphics problem. No luck with hooking to another monitor. No indication of logo and such checking with light on monitor.. ANY HELP APPRECIATED.

Your laptop batteries may be bad. Unplug the laptops from AC power, then remove the batteries. Now reconnect your AC adapters and try again. If the laptops work fine without the batteries installed, then you have bad batteries.

Another thing to check: your CMOS batteries might be dead. (A dead CMOS battery can disable various functions in the computer.) Test the batteries with a battery tester or a multimeter, then buy replacements at your local Walgreens/Walmart if they are bad. Or just buy new batteries - it's time to do that anyway.

If you get the Toshiba splash screen right after you power on, but the Windows logo is what is missing, then try going into Safe Mode, to see if Windows will work in that way. If you can work in Safe Mode, then go into your power options, and set everything so that it is always on - no sleep, no hibernate, no power off after x minutes of inactivity. Then reboot into Normal mode, to see if that fixed it.

• To get into Safe Mode, start tapping the F8 key as soon as the Toshiba splash screen disappears. When the Start menu appears, choose Safe Mode.

BEEN THERE DONE ALL THAT/// Except CMOS battery... Will do that before parting them out. Power off-battery out is what fired 1st one up after several tries... won't work now.. batteries are good. 2nd one fired after hooking external monitor up... Now nothing... Tried all the tricks to no avail... Will check graphics card if I go into computer to check CMOS. Thanks anyway...