John Jones wrote:
When I left on holiday 2 weeks ago my laptop (samsung bought 2011
running windows 7 home premium 64 bit) worked perfectly.
When I booted today it got as far as the desktop screen and then silence
fell.
I rebooted and everything seemed ok again. Until returning after lunch
it woke up, thought about life, went unresponsive, and then gave me the
black screen of death.
I am obviously somewhat perturbed, although by posting this clearly it
is ok at present.
I guess this is a FAQ, but how can I track down any issues, and is it
time to buy a new computer?
Cheers
JJ

After checking the hdd for viruses using a Linux boot disk I would take
it apart and reseat everything that can possibly be reseated.
If that is not an option for you then it may be time for a new machine.