why does my laptop screen go black sometimes?

[887]

I have a Toshiba satellite windows 7 laptop that I got in july 2012....its been working ok since I got it.

but recently, 2 times...ill have google chrome browser open, torch browser, internet explorer browser, vlc player , fast stone image viewer, all open.....then the screen just goes ''black'' for a minute or two?

then it goes back to normal, I can see my screen, browsers etc

its done this twice now in the last couple of weeks.

im a computer beginner and my first thought was that maybe I had too many programs open?

but im not sure why its doing it, I hope my laptop is not broke.....its under warranty but im hoping it doesn't have to be sent back for repair as I need my laptop.

also im poor and cant afford to pay out much right now..... the laptop screen is back on now.......so im just looking for advice on what caused this?
thanks

[Don Jeffre]

It is probably switching to sleep mode. Go to Control Panel>Power Options> and set the hard drive to "never sleep"

[joelius24]

if it's just going black for a second now and then between programs, it's likely just your graphics kicking in or changing settings for a program which requires it. if it's for a while, like a minute or more, i imagine you might have a loose wire to your screen led or lamp.