My understanding of this unit's operation is this: The electromagnet is what holds the toast carrier down. When you push the bar down a mechanical switch is closed and that lets current go through the electromagnet holding the carrier down. If the circuit doesn't put current through the electromagnet's coil when the mechanism is pushed down then it will just pop back up. Also if there is something obstructing the electromagnet's iron faces then the magnet won't be able to hold the carrier down. Either situation will cause the problem, When the circuit wants to end the toasting, it interrupts the current going to the electromagnet (thermoelectric switch?) even though the mechanical switch is still closed. This causes the electromagnet to release the carrier so it pops up and doing so, opens the mechanical switch. There is a 12A, 125 VAC relay on the printed circuit board that switches the 120V to the outboard heating elements. Since this relay is driven by the pc board's circuitry, you can turn off the outboard elements by pushing a small button ("Bagel") of a momentary switch mounted on the pc board. On my unit the outboard elements are strong (toasts OK) but the inside heating elements have weakened (need more time to brown toast). I assume that mechanical switch is not making as good contact when closed as it once did. So it appears that the 12A relay is still doing a good job (driving the outboard elements) but the mechanical switch (driving the inboard elements) apparently does not have the low contact resistance it once had. The mechanical switch (has a large black plastic housing) may need to be replaced on my unit and (from what I've heard) on many other owner's units. Does anyone know if it is available?

there could be two possible causes: the switch or the electromagnet that holds the bread carrier down. if the toaster operates (starts to toast) when you manually hold the lever down, then the switch is good and the problem is with the electromagnet. if it doesn't do anything when you hold the lever down then it is the switch. in either case you'll have to open up the toaster to see if something was knocked out of alignment, or possibly a large crumb or debris is fouling up the switch or preventing the magnet from engaging with its keeper

Go to the Hamiton Beach website to see if your series has been recalled. I have same model, can't get base off and found recall notice looking for help. My series wasn't but yours might be. Good luck, might get a new toaster!

Is it plugged in. You may have to do a little handy work, unplug the unit and look to see where it catches when the handle is in down position, you may have to open the bottom door. There is a little catch when the handle is down it may need to be bent a little not much.

When this happens it is usually due to the fact that the electronics inside the unit has failed, and will not activate the hold in relay.
Time for a new one. Repair may be an option, but probably not an ecconomic repair.

When you push the slide down on the side, there's a wire that it pushes down inside the toaster. If the wire gets bent down a bit, pushing the slide down doesn't push the wire down enough. The wire is like a teeter totter. When it gets pushed down, it closes the circuit which turns the toaster on. The reason why the slide doesn't stay down is without energy, the electromagnet doesn't get engaged. That's what keeps the slide down. You need to remove the 4 screws on the bottom, and the 2 screws that hold the legs on that also hold the side on with the slide. Once the side is off, take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the wire up a bit that acts as the teeter totter.

I have the 4-slice oster, but I bet the control mechanism is the same. When you take it apart you will see a small steel bar held by two plastic fingers. When you push the lever down the steel bar moves down and contacts a small square electromagnet. The electromagnet holds the lever down during toasting and releases the lever when done. On mine there was a compressed layer of bread crumbs covering the electromagnet. Cleaned it off and now it works again.

To take the toaster apart, pull the down lever straight out and then unfasten the screws on the bottom base (5 on mine) and pull the top off carefully. There are wires connecting the control face to the base, but they have enough slack to let you separate the top/bottom and access the mechanism.

have you tried to turn up the heat thermostat on the side.

You can access it from the side where the lever is, pull out the knob, remove the edge panel, remove the plastic cover and you will get to the lever and the electromagnet. Most likely the contacts have become dirty clean them up and also remove all bread crumbs from there

I solved this problem on my Cuisinart CPT-90 Classic Style Toaster twice for two different problems. Of course: make sure it's UNPLUGGED while working on it and WATCH IT several times when testing so you can unplug it first and then extinguish it if it catches on fire.

1st time: There is a small solenoid mounted in the center of the circuit board. When the pop up mechanism is pressed down the circuit energizes and the the solenoid magnetically locks a plastic clip that holds the spring loaded pop up mechanism down until it's done toasting. The plastic mounts for the circuit board broke or weakened until the whole circuit board would tilt up and the solenoid clip would slip under the spring tension. I used a plastic tie-wrap to hold the circuit board firmly in place and that worked to this day.

2nd time : The four copper reed tabs can be miss aligned. If they
do not make contact, the circuit will not energize the solenoid.
The reason they warped was that, over time, the contacts build up carbon and have more resistance. Resistance equals heat. The
plastic base of the copper reed switch melted and misaligned the reeds. The second time I cleaned the reeds and bent them back into position, The third time the the plastic was to badly burned to be reliable. If I had cleaned the contacts once a year, it probably would still work now. I haven't found a place to buy a replacement reed switch so my toaster is toast. If anyone knows where to order them, I'd like to know. If the white plastic base of the reed switch is not melted, then they can be cleaned and aligned.

Note: When aligning the copper contacts, don't just hold down the pop up mechanism. The pop up mechanism will push lower than the position for toasting. Push it down and then hold the solenoid clip instead. Then the two center reeds will be at the correct spread.