Screen black on start, I shut down and start again, it's fine

Hi,

I am staying over at someone's and their computer has a glitch I would like to fix before they come back (I asked for permission) as a thank you for letting me stay. I've been looking for this problem online but seems to be a bit different from all others I came across.
When I turn on the computer the screen is black (no cursor or anything on it) although the fan turns on so it seems the computer is running. I turn it off from the power button (as instructed by the owner) and turn it back on and it starts fine.
How can I get rid of that extra "step" of turning on the laptop?
It's a ThinkPad Edge on Windows 7 that runs pretty smoothly otherwise. Thank you for any suggestions and ideas.