Mass Effect 3 gets stuck on main menu when 'Checking for downloadable content - PC

When starting Mass Effect 3 - Origin logged on/online - main menu fires up but then, after 'checking EA servers' gets stuck on constantly 'Checking for downloadable content'. Have tried the lod log out/in and restarts. It fires up fine when not online (but, obviously, it afftects downloadable content/multiplayer and won't get back up again when put back online).  Basically, I can't play it...