Hi there All. I'm a 70 yr. old crinkly, but have done a bit in my time. Now I have a Toshiba laptop and it will not boot up. All I get from a normal boot is the menu for an unexpected shut down last time of usage. The menu recommends normal start up, then locks up followed by a ribbon of short white vertical lines. I would really be thankful for any assistance any one may be able to offer. SmudgeXVI

as you boot up, start tapping the F8 key until you see a black screen offering you several choices. You can choose "safe mode" and try to fix the problems in Control Panel/Display.

Or, if it's available, you can choose last good configuration and back up to the point before you had your problem.

Hi Zeroth.

Thank you very much for your kind efforts, however, I tried the F8 the F2 and the F5 buttons and although I had the black screen to which you described, Once I pressed the Enter button or indeed left it for the 30 second timer the m/c locked up straight away.:(

Still thank you once again.

SmudgeXVI

Hi Zeroth.

Thank you very much for your kind efforts, however, I tried the F8 the F2 and the F5 buttons and although I had the black screen to which you described, Once I pressed the Enter button or indeed left it for the 30 second timer the m/c locked up straight away.:(

Still thank you once again.

SmudgeXVI

When you say the computer locked up right away, your saying it locked up and all the words are left on the screen and does nothing. Is this correct?

If so i would suspect you hard drive may be bad. You can download this file and burn the image to a blank cd to test your hard drive: Drive Fitness Test

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.