I have my sister in laws Toshiba Satellite l500-19z laptop , which would not connect to her internet .
I tried it on my own (different server) but still no connection. Even though it showed that it was connected to our internet ,we couldn't get on line .
I tried to scan the pc with a fix programme that she had on it , it said restart the pc after it had scanned it .
After I tried to restart it,it would not go to the sign in screen just stay blank with the cursor showing . You can move the cursor around the screen .
If you try to start in safe mode the whole thing freezes after about one and a half SCREENS or drivers.
It does say (forgot to mention ) that windows did not shut down successfully due to system not responding .
Also forgot to say os is windows 7 , its about 15 months old .
Thanks for any help , I'am very poor with computers but would like to learn more .
Are there any good books for beginners that people would recommend. A very similar thing happened to me not long ago. My PC Windows 7 refused to COMPLETE startup. In Safe Mode, the list of opening files would scroll by and then SUDDENLY stop and never continue.

I did a Google search with a phrase like “windows 7 hangs on boot” and found this article which fixed the problem.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-hangs-on-startup/12b2cc64-bdaf-4183-9a0d-22a73b72f6d6

The article describes how to perform the built-in Startup Repair procedure.

It might also be helpful to note that the computer in the article always stopped, in Safe Mode, at the same FILE [in his case, classpnp.sys], so you might try searching for the particular file your computer stops at, for example, ‘windows 7 hangs on classpnp.sys’, or whatever file it might be. This article includes many comments from other people who had the same problem. You might want to read them if this solution doesn’t work for you.

I happened to have an installation disk on hand because I had upgraded from Windows XP, so I used that to run the Startup Repair. If you don’t have a disk try following the instructions for ‘To run the Startup Repair tool if the computer has preinstalled recovery options’ part way through the article. I hope it works for you too.
Thanks Bromide for the reply . When in safe mode it does stop at (classpnp.sys).
I viewed the link and it had some good points which makes it more a software/os ISSUE rather than the pc .
As I said before it's not my pc and I'am very new to this , so I choose not to mess with any settings.
I gave the pc to a bloke at work who likes messing ( and knows ) his way around a pc.
I know this defeats the object of learning about them but it's not mine to kill !!!
If he comes up with any good ideas or solutions I will post them here . NOT GOOD NEWS .
I have the laptop back from my friend at work . He was unable to do anything to get it working in the condition I gave it to him .
He did find a virus on it (one which steals passwords ) , if this had anything to do with it he doesn't know.
The only way he could fix it was to clear the hard drive and reinstall windows . He seems to know what he is doing and says reinstalling was the only way .
I hope this is of help .If he did a wipe and clean install not sure what his skill level is or was...
There were other avenues that could have been done without wiping all your data..
However if all is good then good news...If he did a wipe and clean install not sure what his skill level is or was...
There were other avenues that could have been done without wiping all your data..
However if all is good then good news..

I have this problem so would love to know what the other options are - I don't want to wipe my computer!
Gwawr