Is it a blank blue screen or something similar to this? The best option you have is to simply restart it. If it continues to do the same thing, you'll probably need bootable media to attempt an OS reinstallation. Many PC's now have a recovery partition included for this purpose. You can check by restarting the machine and pressing the BIOS shortcut key [usually, F1, or DEL but could be F2, F10 or F12] during startup. If you're able to get into BIOS, look for a boot sub-menu and a recovery partition option.
It’s a blank blue screen, so far. Will try to power it up again, when I get home in a little while.
Do you have a bootable Windows disc? If so [and you haven't already] give that a try.
True but you can buy an external drive that connects via USB for under $50.00.it looks like I may not be able to get another laptop that has a built-in CD drive.
Yes, I've seen these on the shelf at Staples.
Thanks for these suggestions. I think I’ll take a road trip to Staples today. Is this Windows bootable disc something I can find there?
Unless you need it right now, you'll probably do better ordering an optical drive from Amazon.
Unfortunately, no. They have to be created using procedures outlined by Microsoft and require a product key, a sort of digital proof of purchase. Look for a label similar to this one on the laptop.
If reinstalling Win10/11 on the same system you shouldn't need a product key as that'll be stored in your online profile both "require" to do the installation/initial setup. Once installed you can switch to a local account but that info is still in MS's cloud. Most (all?) systems (laptops especially) purchased in the last 5 or so years no longer have that product key label as it's usually imbeded in the BIOS. BUT you can *still* use a Win7 product key to activate Win10. If your laptop *does* have such a label it'll likely be in the battery compartment of a system with a removable battery.
Stores may vary, I guess.
I saw them in two local stores around here when I was shopping for a new desktop for family at the end of July and thought they might need an external drive as they've saved lots of things to CD's over the years and most new computers don't have them built-in. I think they were in the aisle with portable storage items like USB stick drives and SD cards. I recall they weren't actually near the computers in my stores.
Very good news. Not to state the obvious but you need to do a complete backup and create recovery media immediately. It's probably just a matter of time before the problem returns.I guess persistence pays off- computer booted up this morning!
The message on the screen was the battery had no juice, so I assume it took a while for the external power to wake up the battery.
Even so, I would take John's advice and create recovery media. Also, you probably should make a habit of plugging in the laptop, booting it up on occasion, and applying Windows updates. I have a laptop that only gets used when we travel or we have a Zoom call, and I try to do this on a monthly basis. I will update the few applications that I use on it, as well.
Yeah... keep it charged. If it has a replaceable battery maybe look into purchasing a replacement since it took so long for it to charge.
