J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

VanguardLH wrote ...

Some laptops won't run without a [working] main battery installed.

I don't think those are common now though.

The OP isn't asking about recent hardware that is "common now". The OP
is asking about something that has sat in closet for many years while
its battery deteriorated and its CMOS battery died. Toshiba introduced
their Satellite family in the early 90's. As yet, we don't know what
model the OP has or its age.

If it got that far, that message came from something loaded from the HD,
so the HD is at least working some of the time. It also _sounds_ like
the problem might be entirely software, i. e. some important OS file has
or files have been corrrupted.

The HDD should be removable: open an access panel, remove a couple
screws (if used), and pull out the HDD. The laptop should boot to the
POST screen and then fail with a message saying the OS loader could not
be found. That would prove the laptop's hardware can do a cold boot.