My screen keeps blacking out

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I'm worried I will lose my computer if it stops working, and if it does, I won't be getting another anytime soon, so my life will be a lot harder.

See, the screen will sometimes black out. It scares me, I mean, what if it causes the computer to break down? And it is the actually computer, it's a netbook, not a proper full computerwith a harddrive and monitor separate and stuff.

It says when it happens somehting about a disc failing to work but the problem being fixed almost immediately after. But what if it doesn't fix it for once?

Sounds like you're describing a driver crash.

What operating system do you run? Did it recently prompt you to update the drivers? Have you ever updated the drivers? Did you install or start using a program you normally didn't have/use when this first started?

I use Windows 7, and don't remember getting anything like that. I don't know of any programs that could have made it go that way.

Other than running a full virus scan and perhaps a malware scan, it sounds like a driver crash. I get them from time to time, and as the driver has updated, it's not been consistent.

All you need is an odd instruction to the GPU that buggers the driver enough that it "dumps" everything and reloads the driver. This is an improvement to when everything would just crash and force you to reboot.

I have an nVidia card, and when it happens, I get a "bubble" telling me there was an error and that the video driver had to reload. It doesn't sound like that's what you're getting, but I don't know who made the hardware or software your video card uses.

Sorry, I have no idea how to understand stuff like that.

My best advice is to have a computer-savvy friend over and hope it does it when s/he's around.

Well, there's my stepdad, and then there's also a relative who's apparently good with computers. But what if it can't be fixed? Then what?

If it's a software issue, at worst, you back up all your important files, "nuke" the hard drive and reinstall everything.

If it's a hardware issue, then it depends on what you have. A PC can easily be fixed with an inexpensive graphics card. Most PCs, if they have onboard video, will have a slot for a video card anyway. A laptop is more trouble, but replacement graphics cards can be had and some places will switch them out at a low cost. Of course, for a laptop, price the work first. It might be better to spend a bit more and get a new laptop.

There should be programs you can download that will "stress test" your video card. If the problem doesn't happen with that, it's definitely not a hardware issue. If it does happen, the question is if it was a hardware issue or if the stress test "tripped" the problem in software. Software glitches are hard to diagnose unless the computer gives you a message describing with some detail what went wrong. If you get a prompt to save a "report" on the incident, do that...it can be helpful.

I had a quirky video card at work. Turned out the cooling fan's bearing failed, so it wasn't running. The heat of the video card made it act funny as soon as I did anything that put a strain on the card. Replacing the fan with an aftermarket one solved the problem and salvaged the card.