toshiba Laptop – Disc I/O Error

Hi guys,
I’ve just tryed to switch on my other Toshiba laptop (sorry not sure on model number) the red *Toshiba, In Touch With Tec* screen comes up, but nothing else happens… Pressing Esc does nothing, pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del brings up a black screen with *Disc I/O Error – Replace the disc and press any key*

Extra Info:
There is no disc in the disc drive
Last time i used the laptop was around an hour ago – the battry died but it has been charging since
I have been formatting an External harddrive to FAT32 – but this is currently not pluged in so i wouldnt think it’s the cause of the error

PLEASE HELP!