My Toshiba Satellite locks up at startup.

[Baitball Blogger]

I get as far as the Toshiba Leading Innovation screen and the system goes no further.. I swear I did nothing but ignore the laptop for a week or so. Was it a battery power problem?

[teach1st]

1. What operating system?

What operating system are you using? Windows? Windows XP, 7, 10?

Before trying time-consuming fixes, try taking out the battery for a while and then restarting.

If that doesn't work, try booting into Windows safe mode. I'm pretty sure your problem won't let you boot into safe mode, though.

EDIT: Also, try starting without the battery in, just the power cord connected. Remove battery, unplug, HOLD DOWN POWER BUTTON for a full 20 seconds, reconnect power cord and give it a whirl.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. It was window 10

I gave up and I'm resetting everything. Will probably have to update Windows. No idea how to reload all the programs that I purchased and downloaded.

[teach1st]

3. Sucks, huh?

Most programs I purchase for download send an email with the activation code. Some of them have a time limit on downloads, though.

I own a lot of programs. I keep a data base of program names and activation code and make sure the data base and the downloadable installation files are backed up to removable media not usually connected to a computer.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Yup.

Pain in the butt. But I made sure I had CDs for the important ones. I think.

[ucrdem]

5. It sounds like it might be a capacitor.

They blow up when it overheats, and then it won't run off the powercord. The good news is that the battery will still charge, and it will run fine off the battery, but it won't do both at the same time. There are nostrums a-plenty on the web but basically it's a hardware problem that can't be fixed and the only practical work-around is to buy a spare battery or two.

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/70948/Freezes+whenever+AC+plugged+in

Hope that's all it is!