Ok here goes...

The pull cord is stuck. Its pulls out about 4 inches then the cord stops. Looking into the cord area ontop of mower, I notice a small white plastic piece getting caught in a notch built into the cord housing. Now... when I loosen the cord a little bit, I can slide a butter knife through the cord house and push in the little white plastic piece that's sticking into the cord housing preventing the cord from extending all the way out. When I push in that little white piece, the cord pulls out another 4inches or so, as it rotates to the next notch in the cord housing. Now... it seems originally that there was something that keeps this little white plastice piece pushed in at all times allowing the cord to pull start normally. The mower is a briggs and stratton 650series white outdoor mower. I wasn't using the mower when this problem occurred, but now I'm stuck trying to fix it. Any help? I hope that better describes the problem so I can get some help.

Was any one using it or was it just sitting.did you sharpen the blade or lay it on its side?
Lay it on the muffler side,undo the spark plug wire first,then see if you can turn the blade by hand.

A friend of my friend was using it. It started normally and he was out mowing... he then killed it for whatever reason, but when he tried to restart it, the problem was there. I personally wasn't there so I don't know the exact details. Tomorrow I'll place mower on its side, remove spark plug wire and see if I can turn blade. My next question based off that is...

1. What if the blade can turn?

2. What if the blade can't turn?

If the blade turns then it means it could be in the recoil assy.
If it doesn't turn then your at probabaly a seized engine ,or if some one had it on the wrong side it could have a cylinder full of oil.

I can get a butter knife, and pull this little white plastic piece in, allowing the cord to pull out more, it then gets caught on the next notch that looks built in to the base of the pull cord housing.

It seems... there should be something that keeps this plastic piece compressed, allowing pull cord to extend all the way out. Is there a way to bypass pull cord start, and start mower a diff way?