Toshiba laptop screen stays blank

Hey out there,
I have a Toshiba C585, and the screen ends up black with a moveable cursor on it but you can't access anything. Not with the cursor or the function keys, F8, for example. I was told I needed to reinstall the windows7, an that came preloaded on the laptop, but after reading some of posts here I am not sure. When the laptop is turned on it will have the options for F2 and F12 then it hits a wall. Sometimes the windows loading screen comes fully up and sometimes it lacks the colored windows that pulse. Either way it ultimately ends up with the black screen with the cursor in the middle. I have tried removing the power sources, holding the power button down for 2 mins and repowering. As well as just removing the power sources and restarting. The F8 key function does nothing. But once I did,very briefly see the safe mode screen, but was not quick enough to catch it. I no nothing about computers other than I want to turn it on and be able to use it. Any ideas foe this computer challenged person?