Old W7 laptop black startup screen (Toshiba Satellite L350D)

[niknak]

Hi. I'm basic computer user posting on behalf of my grandad who lives several hours away. I've been trying to help him by phone but no success so far.

He has Toshiba Satellite L350D running Windows 7. For several days he's met black screen on startup. He's tried a few online suggestions (that I found via Google) that didn't help (hold power 30 secs, hold power 60 secs, remove battery, external monitor, several function keys). A couple of times he found tapping f11 during startup enabled him to use laptop, but that way has since failed to work.

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[AmericanPharaoh]

Hello niknak,

Does it appear to try to start normally, before going into a black screen? Does the black screen have a cursor showing?

Try taking out the battery and putting it back in. Then press shift, F8, and the power button at the same time.

Didn't work, try Booting into Safe Mode. Restart PC, start taping the (F8) key to enter Advanced Boot Options menu, select Safe Mode. Once Safe Mode is up running, go to the search box, type System Restore, select a Restore point. Reboot

Didn't work, can you get into the BIOS screen? At Boot start taping the, F12, F10, or F2 key.
Does the Hard Drive show up in BIOS?

Other things to try:

Tell him to pickup the Laptop and listen at the fan vent to see if he can hear the fan running. If he can hear the fan.
Try connecting an external Monitor the Laptop, if no picture. Some Laptops require you to press the FN key, then press the F-key which has a picture of a monitor on it to active the external monitor. Didn't work.

Try removing the battery and AC Adapter, making sure he is grounded. Remove one Memory stick. Put the Battery back in and power up the PC, see if there's a picture now, if not, put the Memory stick back in and remove the other Memory stick, put the battery in again see if there's a picture.

John

 

[niknak]

Thanks for helpful reply. We've tried removing battery but I'll ask him to try it again and the other suggestions you mention and see what happens.

 

[AmericanPharaoh]

OK, great. Just work through the steps with him. Please, keep us informed of your progress.

John