Why Toshiba Tecra TE2100 laptop locks up or will not boot at all?
Why Toshiba Tecra TE2100 laptop locks up or will not boot at all?
One of our biggest customers use a lot of different Toshiba laptops and one of the models is Toshiba Tecra TE2100. We repaired many of these units and we noticed that some of them had very similar problems:
- Laptop locks up when you move it or sometimes freezes by itself. The video is still on, but the acupoint (keyboard mouse) and the keyboard itself do not work anymore.
- You can start the laptop, but you see CMOS (RTC) battery error on start up. After you clear the error, the laptop boots fine. After you reboot the laptop, you get the same error.
- Laptop will not boot at all. There is no power or power LED blinking. There is no hard drive activity. There is no external or internal video.
- When you press power button, laptop shows some activity, but there is no video on LCD screen.
At the beginning, when we just started working on this model, we tried to fix CMOS (RTC) battery error by replacing the RTC battery. Unfortunately, it didn’t help to fix the problem at all. We found that the main culprit of the problem is a poor connection between the system board and the power board (CMOS battery is connected to the power board). In some cases you can fix the problem by reseating the power board. Carefully disconnect if from the system board and connect it back. Turn on the laptop and see if it fixed your problem. If it didn’t help, most likely you have to replace the system board and the power board. Unfortunately, I cannot say exactly which one is causing the problem, the system board or the power board. The same story with laptop lock ups, try to reseat the power board.
You can fix a video problem by reseating the video card. We noticed, that over time the video board pops up from its connector on the system board and you can get video if you push it back in place.
Conclusion: before you start replacing parts, disassemble the laptop and try to fix the problem by reseating the power board and the VGA board. My disassembly guide for Toshiba Tecra TE2100 can help you to take apart the laptop.
Entry Filed under: Toshiba Laptop Problems
February 3rd, 2006 at 8:24 am
My Toshiba Laptop turns on but when it turns on it says i need a password to start my computer. I cant go to F12 or get on my computer without this password. Where would i find the password?
February 3rd, 2006 at 9:59 am
It looks like the BIOS password is set and you cannot boot the laptop without it. To remove the BIOS password you can call to Toshiba and ask them to assist you with BIOS password removal. Also you can try to remove the top cover from your laptop and disconnect the RTC (CMOS) battery for a few minutes. It should erase the BIOS password.
February 5th, 2006 at 9:02 am
goog morning , i would like to kown how to clear cmos of my laptop toshiba m30x-125,his serial number is Z4362119K, i’am desperate please !
February 5th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Hi Will,
I would try to remove the RTC (CMOS) battery and wait for 15-20 minutes. It might help to clear the BIOS password. After 15-20 minutes turn on the laptop without RTC battery connected and see if the BIOS password was cleared.
I just found a very interesting link: http://criggie.dyndns.org/tecra530cdt/toshibapassword.shtml. It shows how to create a plug for BIOS password removal for older and newer Toshiba laptops. You make the plug from a standard parallel port cable, plug it into the laptop and start it up. In this case you don’t have to open the laptop case. I haven’t tried it myself but I want to try it.
February 17th, 2006 at 2:39 am
PLEASE I NEED YOUR HELP. MY RTC (CMOS) ERROR MASSEGE APPEAR EVERYTIME I REMOVE THE MAIN BATTERY.
DON’T KNOW WHERE IS THE RTC (CMOS) BATTERY IS LOCATED IN MY TE2100 IVE TRY LOOKING IT UP IN GOOGLE NO HELP! PLEASE I NEED YOUR HELP ON THAT. SEN ME A PICTURE OF WERE IS LOCATED OR HOW I CAN FIND IT.
ME AND MY GIRLFRIENDS THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP
HOPE TO HERE FROM YOU SOON
BYE!
February 17th, 2006 at 8:17 am
Here is Toshiba Tecra TE2100 Disassembly Guide. The RTC (CMOS) battery is pictured on STEP 23. You’ll see the battery in the lower right corner. The RTC battery (green disk) is located on the right side from the screw marked with a red circle.
February 17th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Graphics problem,
When i turn on the labtop the graphics show errors with lines up and down the screen. This mostly restricts start up past the windows logo.
When the start up works through to the desktop it may see a lined square appear around the mouse or when running high memory usage software as DVD or computer gaming (Diablo II) the graphicd error (lines again) appears in the darker parts of the graphic images.
When i purchased the labtop it came without a video driver which i downloaded from nvidia. Tried from Toshiba but came into trouble with a missing file and reverted to nvidia’s option.
The error frequently freezes up the labtop and requires maual reboot. System restore is becoming an often to do exercise. Do i need to rearrange power settings, display options or may it require reseating the video card or is it a heat issue. I am seeking info prior dismantle. I have no warranty as it is second hand.
Help is greatly appreciated, cragles
p.s this is my first labtop and experience with winxp
February 17th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
I assume you have Toshiba TE2100 laptop as you didn’t mention what kind of laptop you have. First, I would try to connect an external monitor and see if you have the same problem with video on the monitor. If you see the same problem on the external monitor then the LCD screen is not your problem. If the video output on the external monitor is good, then it’s possible that your LCD screen is causing the problem. Also I would try to reseat the video card on the system board and all other cables related to the video card. Very often the video card pops up from the connector on the system board and it can cause all kind of problems. Try to press on the video card to make a better connection. I would definitely try to install a video driver provided by Toshiba. I have no idea why you get an error when you try to load the driver. It’s possible that the video card is bad itself.
February 19th, 2006 at 9:07 am
Thanks so much for this excellent service! I am in the middle of disassembling my TE2100 and as a hardware novice I find it fascinating! It’s out of warranty so no risk. One small missed detail - there is a screw that must be removed before you can remove the cover top assembly. It is located at the upper right area between the right LCD assembly screw (to the right) and the right rectangular slot opening (to the left). It would be appropriate to add this screw removal on Step 17. Thanks again!
February 23rd, 2006 at 5:53 am
My laptop (TE2100) was working fine until I lifted and moved it around at which point it turned off and the LED(?) for power flashes orange. In the troubleshooting manual it says if display is flashing orange it has overheated and needs time to cool but given plenty off time the system will not turn on. Any ideas? Thanks,
Brendan
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:30 am
I would say it is a bad connection between the system board and the power board. When you lift up the laptop and move it, you flex the laptop case and the power board gets separated from the system board. I think it is possible fix the laptop if you reseat the power board on the system board. You have to carefully lift up the power board to separate it from the connector on the system board and put it back in. I am not sure 100% that it will fix your laptop, but you can try. When a power LED flashes orange it usually means that you have a serious power issue on the system board.
March 8th, 2006 at 11:51 am
My TE2100, WinXP is stuck in a boot loop. Press power and the toshiba welcome screen comes on and then the WinXP screen appears, but it then restarts itself. Occasionally, this process will be interupted by a black screen with a warning that says a system file is missing. I have been unable to change the restarting pattern by using safe mode, debugging mode, etc. I can’t figure out how to get into bios to try to boot from the CD.
How can I either (1) get to bios to change the boot order, or (2) reformat the HDD?
This may be a stupid question: If I take a magnet to the HDD will I be able to reformat with my winXP?
Thanks for your help.
March 8th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Hi Matt,
To boot your laptop from a CD-ROM you can do next:
1. Turn on the laptop and tap on C key a few times, it should boot the unit directly from the CD drive.
2. Turn on the laptop and tap on ESC key. After that you should see the boot menu. F12 for newer laptops.
3. Turn on the laptop and tap on F1 or F2 (do not remember). It should take you to the BIOS where you can change the boot order. On newer laptops press ESC key first and then F1 to get to the BIOS setup.
You can also try to use “Last Known Good Configuration” option. It might help you to take your OS to the last successful login.
It is very possible that you have a failed hard drive. I would test the hard drive first. To test it you can use Hitachi Drive Fitness Test (find in through google).
You cannot reformat the hard drive using a magnet. To reload the OS you should use a recovery CDs or a generic Windows XP CD. If you use a generic Windows XP CD, you will have to download and install all missing device drivers from Toshiba website. Put it in the drive and press C key during start up. Follow the instructions.
March 9th, 2006 at 11:32 am
I have a toshiba te2100. The problem i get with it is when the battery gets to about 54%, it says the battery level is critical and hibernates immediately. I changed the battery amd still experience the same problem what could be the problem
March 9th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Hi Dee,
Check your Power Option settings in Control Panel.
Open Control Panel, click on Power Options tab, click on Alarms tab.
You will see to sliders for Low Battery Alarm and Critical Battery Alarm. Normally first one is set to 10% and second one set to 4%. I guess in your case it is set to 54%. Apparently your laptop is set up to go to hibernation after the battery level riches 54%.
March 16th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Hi cj2600,
I have checked the Power Options settings and the Critical Battery Alarm is set to even 2%. And the laptop still hibernates at about 54%. What usually happens is when it is about 54% it brings on the Critical Battery Alarm message and by then the battery level is reading 3% and it hibernates shortly afterwards. The laptop runs XP with no Service Pack installed. I am wondering if that could be the problem
March 16th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Hi Dee,
Most likely the battery is bad and should be replaced. Last week I had to troubleshoot a laptop with the same problem. After I charged the battery 100%, I remove the power jack and left the laptop to run off the battery. After about 15-20 minutes the battery level dropped to 75%. 1-2 minutes the low battery level message popped up and the laptop turned off. There shouldn’t be a problem if you run Windows XP without Service Pack.
You can also try to download and reinstall Toshiba Power Management software. It is possible the software was corrupted and causing the problem.
March 19th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
I just wanted to thank you for explaining how to fix the boot problem. For me my laptop slowly degraded to the point where it was useless. Now, it works! it still will randomly reboot and lock on start up but atleast it works!!! Usually I find removing the hard drive or disconnctiong the keyboard helps it get started. Then again I could be crazy. I carry a set of screwdrivers around with my laptop now
On problem I did have.. how to get the cdrom drive out? I couldn’t pull it out from the side.
March 21st, 2006 at 6:10 pm
On the bottom of the laptop there is a latch for the CD-ROM drive. On the left side from the latch there is a screw. Remove the screw, open the latch and slide the CD-ROM drive away from the computer.
March 25th, 2006 at 10:25 am
Reseating the power board helped but did not fix it completely. But I did find another way to make it work ***flawlessly***. The solution for me was to put something underneath the laptop- to make it sit at a slight incline. Position a wedge on the right hand side, somewhere below the HD at an angle around 15 derees. After considerable efforts - I don’t believe it has to do with straining the motherboard in any way. A buddy told me maybe a capacitor has fluid in it and it has been ‘draining’ over the last few years, the slight angle would help. Sounds a little crazy to me, but like I said - I don’t think it has anything to do with straining the mother board. I’ve tried to emulate it without gravity by pushing on it - for hours - and couldn’t get it to be as stable as a small incline. Anyways, I hope someone out there finds this useful.
March 30th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
I have a TE2100 with the power in light flashing orange it turns out to be a hex code of 4F or 79 in decimal the binary is 01001111. I tried to find a service manual to translate this message, but the manual I found wasn’t for the Tecra TE2100 and the code wasn’t listed. The laptop is having a power problem of some sort. It charges the battery and I can reset the computer only to get the same non booting behavior and the error code flashes again. I would like to pin point the problem before trial and error disassembly. I haven’t had the best of luck with disassembly. Do you have a lead on the error codes?
Cool manual. Looks like a fun job. :o)
March 30th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Hi Tamsey,
When you translate the power LED flashing code you have to read it backward. If it flashes 01001111 you should read 11110010 or F2 in hex.
Here is what Toshiba says about F2h error for Toshiba Tecra TE2100 laptop: CPUVCC voltage is 1.08 V or less with the power turned on.
March 31st, 2006 at 4:07 pm
CJ you rock man.
Thanks a bunch. I totally missed the read backwards thing.
So I did disassemble the unit and tried your disconnecting the power card connectors and then reconnecting them solution. Then after reassembly. It worked and I used it 2 times, then the software locked and didn’t respond to the cont alt del commard interrupt. Then I bumped the laptop and it did the power crash again. With the same code.
Do you have any other suggestion in light of the error code?
March 31st, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Hey tamsey,
We used to repair a lot of these units some time ago. We noticed that the majority of all TE2100 laptops fail to boot because of a bad connection between the system board and the power board. I cannot say witch one was causing the problem. Laptops we repaired were under Toshiba warranty and we replaced both boards.
BTW, may be I misunderstood you, but you have to reseat the power board itself not just the connectors. You have to lift it up the power board to disconnect it from the system board. The connector is located under the power board.
April 2nd, 2006 at 8:32 pm
My computer worked fine until my wife deleted some files in registry to clear a virus. Now after typing the password the computer starts to load then logs straight back out again to password prompt. It’s a Toshiba satellite A25-S207. I’d be grateful for any assistance.
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Hi Steve,
You can try to boot the laptop in Safe mode and then use the system restore utility. Try to revert the operating system before the time when your wife deleted files. It is just a guess and I’m not sure if you will be able to login in safe mode.
To access the system restore utility go to: Start-All Programs-Accessories-System Tools-System Restore.
You can also try Last Know Good Configuration option.
To access the boot menu you have to restart the laptop and press on the F8 key as soon as Toshiba logo appears. After that you can choose to boot you computer in Safe mode or boot it to Last Known Good Configuration.
April 4th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
CJ
thanks for all the help I did disassemble the Tecra again and this time I removed the power card and reattached it to the system board. After reassemble it had the correct led lights for charging, the then when I tried to power up it gave me a new led error code. The new one is (read backwards) is 10110001 which translates to 177 and B1. Would you look in the tecra manual for the error code translation? Thanks dude.
Tamsey
April 4th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Tamsey,
There is no such a code like B1. Check it again. Emailed to you.
April 4th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
[…] Why Toshiba Tecra TE2100 laptop locks up or will not boot at all? […]
April 11th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
I have a toshiba tecra m2v-s310
The problem i am having is after running my laptop for about an hour or two it freezes up. I dont move it or anything. I was wondering if you have seen this before and if there is anything i can do about it. When it freezes up it will show the screen but nothing responds, or if i hard shut down then go to start it back up it will freeze and still show the boot screen. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Hey Jason,
If your laptop freezes up after an hour or two after you turn it on then it might be a heat related issue. Check the heatsink first, clean it up if it is clogged with lint. To apply new thermal grease on the CPU, you have to remove the top cover assembly. Also I would check the hard drive. It is possible the hard drive fails when it is getting hot. One more thing is to check the laptop memory. If the memory slot on the bottom is not taken already, try to move the main memory to this slot. The main memory is located under the keyboard and it’s possible that the memory slot or the memory module itself fails when it is getting hot. If both memory slots are taken, try to remove the memory sticks one by one and see if fixes the problem.
Here is Toshiba Tecra M2 laptop disassembly guide. You can use this guide if you want to apply new thermal grease yourself. Also this guide will help you to remove the main memory from under the keyboard.
April 12th, 2006 at 4:15 am
i reformated HDD of my TE2100 TECRA laptop and afetr that when i tried to reinstall window xp proffessional..problem which i faced are.
1, installation process become very very slow
2, after window installed the processing was and is very very slow
plz help me how to fix the problem
** RAM and hdd i cheked they r absoluotly fine
regards
April 12th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Hey Mohsin,
Do you have enough RAM installed? I would suggest at least 256MB. Check if the CPU heatsink is clogged or if the CPU cooling fan actually spins. It is possible that the CPU overheats and runs slower, making the entire system to slow down. If you have original restore CDs, try to install OS from them and see if it makes any difference. Check the hard drive again. Sometimes it doesn’t work properly even if it passed the hard drive test.
April 13th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
My Toshiba Tecra TE 2100 is having the third issue: Laptop will not boot at all. There is no power or power LED blinking. There is no hard drive activity. There is no external or internal video.
I hyave a computer tecnhinican over at my house now, who just tried to reseat the powerboard, but it still didnt work. Are there any other things we can try?
Thanks
April 13th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Hey Connor,
Did the technician check the AC adapter, may be it’s dead?
April 13th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
We tried tusing just the battery, and then just the AC adapter to power it up. All we can get out of it is just flashing orange light.
Thanks
April 13th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
If you reseated the power board and it didn’t help, then most likely the system board and the power board have to be replaced. The problem occurs because of a bad connection between the system board and the power board. I always quote to my customer both parts because you never know witch one is causing the problem.
Good luck.
April 13th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Alright, thanks for the fast reply, Ill look into getting new parts
April 13th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Here’s something new:
I just went to try to turn it on, and it did..but only for about a second. It came up with the Toshiba start screen (like it alwawys does) but then it turned off and went back to flashing orange. Does this mean that it has a bad connection or what?
Thanks a million,
Connor
April 13th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Yes, it looks like a bad/defective connector. At first, you cannot start it one-two times a week, then once a day and finally not at all.
I would think twice before I invest any money into a failed Toshiba TE2100. I’ve seen a lot of laptops coming back for repair with the same problem a few months later after we replaced the system board and the power board.
April 13th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Alrighty, thanks
About how much do you think it would cost to fix it?
April 13th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
If you take it to a Toshiba repair center it would approximately cost you:
$280 USD for the system board
$240 USD for the power board
Plus labor and tax.
April 13th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Oh wow
I bought this on eBay for around $430, so I guess it really isnt worth fixing. Thanks for all your help.
April 22nd, 2006 at 1:13 pm
HI.
I have a Satellite A75, out of warranty, of course. When it’s turned on, it begins to boot and can usually get to the desktop and then the screen freezes with colored lines. It usually stays on for >1 minute before this happens. Everything pointed towards a video problem and I have gone through 4 motherboards purchased on ebay trying to fix this! My computer tech. finds each one doing the same thing. What is going on???
Thank you very much,
Joseph Henson
April 22nd, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Hey Joseph,
Here are some tips on troubleshooting laptop video problems. First of all, if you experience the same problem with 4 different motherboards then I’m 99.9% sure that it is not a motherboard problem.
I would try the following troubleshooting steps:
1. Connect the laptop to an external monitor and see what video output you get on the external monitor. Is it freezing too?
2. Boot the laptop in the safe mode. If you get a good video output is the safe mode, then most likely it is just a software problem. You can try to reload the operating system back to factory settings from a restore DVD (backup all important data before you run the restore DVD).
3. Disconnect the display from the system board and try to start the laptop only with an external monitor attached. If you get a good video output, then most likely the display assembly is causing the problem.
4. Test the memory modules if you have any extra memory modules installed.
5. Try to start the laptop without the wireless card installed. Sometimes a bad wireless card can cause very strange laptop problems.
By the way, have you tried to reinstall the video driver?
April 22nd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
CJ,
Thanks. The external monitor test yields the same results: lines. How do I reinstall the driver? I only have a few seconds before it freezes up on me.
joseph
April 23rd, 2006 at 10:36 am
OK, Here’s what I’ve tried so far.
1. External monitor-lines
2. Boot in Safe Mode-lines
3. Boot in bios- lines
4. disconnect wireless card-lines
5. 3 motherboards-lines!!!!!
Wow, should I just dig a hole and gently place it in?
Joseph
April 23rd, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Joseph,
It’s a very weird problem! I would suspect the system board first, because it displays lines on the LCD and the external monitor. But you say that the board was replaced 3 times. Weird!!! You can try to take the laptop apart completely and assemble it on the bench, without the laptop case. With Toshiba Satellite A75 you will only need the system board and the CPU with heatsink and fans attached. The board already has an integrated memory module. After that connect it to the external monitor and turn it on. You should be able to get Toshiba welcome screen. If you still get the same lines then it could be the CPU problem. I have never seen before a CPU causing lines on the screen.
April 24th, 2006 at 9:12 am
CJ,
Guess what, last night I went for it with one last board and whalaa, a fully functioning A75 again. No lines, etc. The only thing was the AC seems to have a short or something. Could be the power cable, we’ll see. Functions beautifully on the battery. After all this trouble, I’m a happy camper. Thanks for all your help.
Joseph, VA
April 25th, 2006 at 6:55 am
hi there. any advice for someone who didn’t keep track of which screws gp where? i thought they were all alike, but i see there are actually four different lengths plus the hex screws. any advice is much appreciated.
cathi
April 28th, 2006 at 11:01 am
[…] Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 disassembly guide will help you completely take apart the notebook to remove and replace the system board, the power board and the video board. Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 notebook has some known problems very similar to Toshiba Tecra TE2100. Overtime the video card pops up from the connector on the system board causing unpredictable video problems. If you experience a video problem try to press on the video board so it makes a better connection with the system board. Also you can experience a problem with starting the laptop. When you press on the power button the laptop will not start and the power LED flashes orange. Most of the time it happens because of a poor connection between the power board and the system board. In some cased you can fix the problem by reseating the power board. If reseating the board doesn’t help then the system board and the power board has to be replaced. One more problem – you can get the CMOS (RTC) battery error each time you turn on the laptop. If replacing the battery doesn’t fix the problem then it might be also caused a bad connection between the power board and the system board. Try to reseat the power board. […]
April 28th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Hi there,
Thank you very much for the disassembly guide for TE2100. Mine had the “fainted screen” problem. (you know, the screen blanks, and if you look really closely, it’s actually fainted). I’ve sent my laptop to the repair centre twice for this problem, and they’ve replaced the video board, but nonetheless the problem is still recurring.
After searching around the net, I’ve come across some articles pointing that the problem might be with the FL invertor. There’s a guide on how to pull out the FL inverter on TE8100. I wonder is that the same for TE2100? I’d appreciate it if you could answer my question.
Kevin
April 28th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Kevin,
Removing and replacing the FL inverter board from Toshiba TE2100 would be almost the same as for Toshiba Tecra 8100. The only difference would be:
1.Toshiba TE2100 LCD mask is secured by four screws. Two on the top and two on the bottom of the LCD mask. You’ll find these screws under the screw seals.
2. The FL inverter board in Toshiba TE2100 is secured by one silver screw in the middle.
That’s it.
May 3rd, 2006 at 10:33 am
I have a TE2100 and the cooling fan will not come on. I have tested the fan with an external 5V source and it runs fine. Could you tell me what might be the problem with the fan control.
Thank You
May 3rd, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Trevis,
The fan controlling circuit is located somewhere on the system board and I have no idea where it is. Just in case try to upgrade or reflash the BIOS. It is possible that the BIOS got corrupted somehow and doesn’t interact properly with the fan. That’s just a guess.
May 28th, 2006 at 10:09 am
In your introductory comment, you have made several sweeping statements that would otherwise make people believe that these machines ALL have inherent faults.
I would like you to be more clear about the number of units with problems in comparison to the number of units in service.
I would also like you to clarify the specific Toshiba part number which you refer to because different units were assembled in different locations and furthermore, it could be that you have experienced a specific batch.
There is also the fact that certain machines released in North America are released in other countries with different builds ie Satellite Pro 1900 and not to mention that this particular model was released as both a TECRA and Satellite Pro with different builds.
I believe that you are entitled to offer advice, however, the advice has to be accurate and not by making generalisations or sweeping statements that make it seem that every one of Toshiba’s TE2100 series has an inherent fault.
That is how I read it, and that is certainly far from the truth.
We service many Laptops but would never say that one particular model had a common regular issue, only that some models have a likely issue if and when certain traits are evident in the unit’s functionality (or non)
As with any laptop, you may get a common problem when there is a problem such as IBM T22 DC Jack failures are more common than motherboard failures but people assume it is the board.
It could well be your intentions are good but your choice of wording could be extending a direputable message about what would otherwise be a reputable machine
Thank you
May 29th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Hi Adam, I don’t think cj has done anything wrong. In fact I have two te2100 which performs the same way as the question item 3 and 4 mentioned(which makes me crazy). I would be very keen on trying what CJ has suggested. However if Adam knows anything better, he is more than wellcome to raise his advice. we don’t want someone does nothing but just discourage good people’s warmheart service.
May 31st, 2006 at 12:19 am
The LCD screen on my TE 2100 flickers when I turned it on. However, if I moved the cover up and down, it will sometime return to normal. It has been like that for quite some time until two weeks ago, it starts to fickering becomes non-stop.
When I connect to an external monitor, everything is perfect. Can someone advise me on this. Thanks
May 31st, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Hey Robin,
It is possible that the screen flickers because a connection inside the display assembly is loose. How it flickers? The backlight turns on and off or the data on the screen is on and off? If you loosing the backlight, I would try to reconnect cables on the FL inverter board firs. If you loosing the data, them I would try to reconnect the video cable on the back of the LCD screen and on the system board.
There is a possibility that the hardware is failing (FL inverter, backlight bulb or the video cable). In this case the hardware parts have to be replaced. It’s impossible to say witch part is failing. To narrow it down we usually replace above mentioned parts one-by-one with our test equipment until the problem disappears.
June 5th, 2006 at 10:25 am
#57 I stated that there is nothing wrong with providing advice, however, the opening blurb has made it sound as though ALL TE2100 have an inherent problem.
This is NOT the case.
I asked them to quantify their statements, they have not done so.
We have sold hundreds of these in the past both as new machines as well as used machines.
The problem rate is insignificant probably 3%-5% of the pool of units handled but who knows how insignificant to those that were built and YES he has identified common problems when there are such problem evident within the small percentage.
I was not happy with the representation as if to say that all of these models had THIS problem - that is how I read it, that is how others will read it.
He stated “As a laptop repair technician I see a lot of different problems with this model” and that is a total discreditation of the unit.
Well as a laptop repair technician myself, I DO NOT see a lot of problems with this unit . However whenever a problem unit has been encountered, there is uniformity in the issue but there is no MORE problems inherent with this model than any other make or model of laptop produced.
A statement has been made and I want quantification and clarification so that any person out there pondering the purchase of one of these units in the second hand market does not get misinformation or misrepresentation to make them shy away from purchase of the unit on the basis that they read that this model is riddled with problems.
I don’t think there is any complexity in responding to the questions raised and I still await a response and preferably a correction to the terminology and wording used
June 5th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Hey Adam,
First of all, thanks for your comments. I didn’t really intent to say that ALL TE2100 laptops are bad. I just wanted to share my observations based on my experience. I’ve changed “several sweeping statements” so people will not assume that ALL TE2100 laptops have inherent faults.
I didn’t quantify “my statement” because we do not sell laptops, we repair them. We see only failed laptops. I cannot give you a ratio of failed laptops to not failed laptops. From my own observation, about 80% of all TE2100 laptops I had to repair had one of the above listed problems and laptops were 2-3 years old. I guess this number is high because our customer has their own technicians and they can handle simple stuff like failed memory or failed hard drive themselves. They gave us only laptops that they were not able to repair.
June 17th, 2006 at 2:47 am
Hi. My TE2100 is facing one of the problems you guys have mentioned — the most left LED keeps on flashing (orange in colour) after I have pluged it out from the sockets (when someone expeled me from a room few days ago. yes it has been flashing for a few days). I read some of your comments and said it was due to a poor connection of blah blah blah board and blah blah blah board. Sorry I ain’t really sure how to fix it. Can anyone give me some advise?
June 17th, 2006 at 5:27 am
my te 2100 (purchased new) had a HD failure (travelstar) and then the flashing power light (apparently syndrome),i replaced the motherboard not knowing about the power board contact issue,and it has worked fine for my son for the last 6 months,it now suddenly displays the same flashing power light issue,i will try the suggested fix from this valuable resource,then i think ill cut my costs and bin it thankyou for the efforts o this site,regards.lee in Australia
June 18th, 2006 at 5:43 am
I have a te2100 with some probs, the LCD flickers back and forth from crystal clear to what looks like safe mode colors? then the screen starts to jump around then it clears up like nothing is wrong then a few minutes later it starts up again this thing had been nothing but a headache i used the step by step instructions to take the cover off and check and see if the monitor ribbon was loose but it wasnt when i put it back together the mouse buttons on the laptop didnt work anymore? and the screen kept freaking out, Now when i plug in my monitor in to it its great, works just fine no probs at all does anyone have a guess on whats wrong with this thing and maybe a solution other than buy a new laptop… Thanks for any help, Smokie
June 18th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Smokie,
Check if the keyboard is connected properly to the motherboard. A bad connection might cause the mouse not to work. Also check if it is not disabled in software settings. Check if you can use a combination of keyboard keys to disable/enable the mouse (something like Fn+F9). I think that the video cable in your laptop is bad and video card is OK, because you have a normal video on the external monitor.
June 19th, 2006 at 3:03 am
Ty CJ thats a pretty cheap fix…i will give it a shot
June 20th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
Hi. I’ve just had my 2yr out of wty TE2100 had the pcb replaced for FREE! The service shop diagnosed it and if it matched their criteria for the rtc ‘fault’ they would replace the pcb for free, but if it wasn’t the ‘fault’ they would charge me $75 just for looking at it or $450 if I wanted to replace the PCB. Luckily it matched their ‘fault’. Now I’ve just bought a Broadcom mini-pci 11g wlan for it, still good enough to run xp sp2, office, ie, etc.
June 21st, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Congratulations John,
I didn’t know that you can fix this problem for FREE.
BTW, I found that Toshiba lists only 802.11b wireless card for this model. Did you get your 11g working? Did you find correct drivers?
June 24th, 2006 at 12:09 am
It is just a generic Broadcom mini pci wlan card. You don’t have to buy a toshiba branded one (i.e. selling an arm to get one). It is $189 for a Toshiba 11b one, and I bought my 11g one for $65. Just make sure you find a place that will let you try the card in your notebook first so you can verify that it works. Also its easier if your notebook has the antenna there already, saves you having to wire that up.
June 25th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Hi CJ2600, I am having the boot up issue on my TE2000 (starts intermittently). Not having found any mention of the TE2000 on this site, I am wondering how close the TE2000 and TE2100 are in terms of design, assembly and hence disassembly. In particular the reseating the power board seems like it could fix the symptoms my laptop is displaying.
June 25th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
[…] Disassembly guide for Toshiba TE2000 should be sufficiently close to Toshiba TE2100, I guess even the same. We noticed that most of the time a laptop fails on boot up because of a faulty connection between the power board and the system board. You can try to reconnect the power board to the system board. Occasionally reseating the power board fixes the problem. I have posted some tips for faulty Toshiba TE2100 laptops here. Posted by Laptop Freak on June 25th, 2006 Filed in Laptop Boot Problem, Power Problem […]
June 26th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Update (to save CJ having to answer this again). I have taken theTE2000 apart following the TE2100 guide and had success. There are a couple of differences - mainly things that the TE2000 doesn’t have, like the wifi card or the yellow ribbon cable going to the graphics card which aren’t there either. Also, there is one screw at step 17 that holds down the top cover which is mentioned above already. Basically, be gentle and if it doesn’t want to move look again, more closely…
I am following up a suggested fix I found which goes into remelting solder on some motherboard pins.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=499023
Laptopfreak doesn’t deal with modifying actual components so don’t bother CJ with questions about this. I’ll probably end up trying it and post back here with how it worked (or not).
Digikiwi
June 27th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
It’s fixed. Thanks you so very much CJ2600 for your detailed guide. I not only saved a heap of money but also learned a whole lot about my laptop.
For anyone else with a TE2000, I’ll try to detail what differences you might expect to find. Bear in mind that my laptop might have slight differences from yours for whatever reason, but this ought to be a reasonable guide. Also if CJ2600 finds the need to correct any of the below - I’d put my money on his opinion…
Notes for TE2000 users following the TE2100 pictorial dis-assembly guide:
Step 9: This screw was a T7 security Torx screw requiring a Torx screw bit which is hollow. It might be a different screw on your machine but be prepared.
Step 10: Not applicable, the TE2000 was not usually shipped with a wireless card.
Step 17: There is one extra screw securing the top cover assembly to the left of the rights-side LCD mount
Step 19: Not applicable - hardware not installed
Step 20: Not applicable - hardware not installed. There is no VGA board.
Step 24: Pay particular attention - From my understanding it is the small white 80-pin connector between the motherboard and the powerboard that tends to fail, labeled a design flaw by some authors. You can see it on picture 24 on the motherboard immediately to the left of the top-left side of the battery bay.
I found my fix by airbrush cleaning it up and making sure this connection was really well seated. This is the one that one forum thread talks about soldering (see post 72).
Thanks again CJ2600 - you made it possible.
Good luck to all who venture into this journey :), I hope this post helps a little
Digikiwi
June 28th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Hey Digikiwi,
Thank you for a nice writeup. Good luck.
I’m glad that my disassembly guide helped to fix your problem and save some money.
June 29th, 2006 at 12:13 am
thank you very much. My TE2100 got the same problem. I will try to fix it by myself later.
June 29th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Where did you find a replacement RTC battery for this model? I can’t find one anywhere!
June 29th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Jarrod,
Google for it by the part number. V000010510
July 2nd, 2006 at 5:53 pm
Hi.
I have a TE2100, like most of the peeps here and I’ve had it for 4 years now. trust me, it was a disaster. I’ve changed my system board and power board at least 5 times (Thank God it was still covered by the 3 yr warranty). and now, the same LED/doesnt boot up problem comes back again. I’m just wondering if i’ve “overused” the laptop? i do keep my laptop on for more than 10 hours either due to work or cos of gaming.
i’ve read here that it’s due to overheating, so I’m asking if there is any way to prevent it frm overheating.. Mine’s a 1.8GHz model with upgraded ram of 768MB…
July 3rd, 2006 at 1:42 am
cj2600, I have disassemble my laptop and found the RTC battery. But do you think replacing the RTC battery will help the unbootable problem? Someone said it won’t help. Is it true?
July 4th, 2006 at 9:21 am
Lee,
I tried to fix a RTC battery error on this model by replacing the battery itself and it didn’t work for me. I’m not sure if it will work in your situation.
July 7th, 2006 at 2:47 am
Thanks cj2600, I think I will just disassemble the laptop and sell all the parts. It’s no point to spend the money again to fix the RTC battery as the LCD screen is already damaged and I am using a LCD monitor previously before it become unbootable.
August 30th, 2006 at 1:54 am
Re: posts #7 & #8
I have the same problem with the vertical lines, etc. I connected an external monitor and it had the same problem so I assume the cause is the video card. I will dismantle it tonight and let you know how I go.
Thanks.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:42 am
I am quite amazed to find that weird TE2100 models have same symptons. I have bought a secondhand one last two weeks ago. It was working fine for the first week except it had a lock up problem when moved and that stupid RTC battery issue. And I am experiencing more crazy problems starting from the second week.
1.) DVD/CDRW drive is working (spinning) constantly without any discs in it. I can see the led light on the drive is lit and when ejected the drive, I can see the motor was spinning until it was ejected.
2.) Occasionally, the LCD’s backlight was off an on every two or three hours at first. And later, it is happening every minute and then constantly off and on.
I was quite annoyed with the issues and tried to figure out what is happening by taking the laptop part’s apart and disconnect/reconnect every modules, connectors and boards. It didn’t work on the first attempt. But the LCD’s backlight flickering issue is no more happening after a few disconnect/reconnect to the ribbons and the boards again. The DVD/CDRW drive spinning without any disc mystery also ended.
However, the CMOS RTC issue still exists. On top of that, my laptop hang every few hours or so. Even worst, it hangs every few minutes after the first hang. I had removed the CPU’s heatsinks and reapply the new thermal compound. But it is still happening. And it is quite strange to notice that the heat generating is not much from the CPU itself but from the location where the gaphic board is located (just above the main memory’s location.) There is a chip there underneath the graphic board too covered by a heat cover. (I think it is a northbridge but not sure). I removed the heat cover from that chip and reapplied the new thermal compoud there too. But it didn’t help either.
And I started searching on the internet for those mysteries and found this site. Quite amaze to know about how similar problems with this stupid TE2100 models. I really liked Toshiba laptops before. But with this model I really dissapointed with TOSHIBA products now. Especailly, this particular TE2100. It really sucks. I can say that, the good name of TOSHIBA models are only back in the history of it’s old pentium series with gray solid books. I like them really much and I still have Satellite 220CDS with me which is still working. Well, anyway, that was just off topic and I really in need of a help for the current problems which I am facing with the devil TE2100 of mine.
I will try to reseat back the power board again to check whether it fix for the frequent lockup issue. Will post here again if it works. (But actually, I already did that just a few minutes ago before getting to this website and notice about that stupid mysteries with TE2100.) Now, I can pay more attention to this particular power board and check.
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:08 pm
I can’t get the DVD-ROM drive out. Any tips? Do you just remove all the screws and tug like hell?
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Nope,
You don’t have to remove all the screws. All you have to do is slide the DVD drive lock into UNLOCKED position and remove the drive. If the lock doesn’t move, remove one screw securing the lock (the screw is located on the left side).
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:37 pm
Hey Aung,
When you disassemble the laptop, take a closer look at the connectors on the power board and the system board. You should use a magnifying glass. Check the pins. I believe that the problem with the connection happens because some pins are not connected properly to the motherboard, there could be a microcrack in the solder between the pin and the motherboard. In the latest motherboard revisions Toshiba fortified the connector on the motherboard by applying some kind of glue on it.
September 8th, 2006 at 11:58 am
cj2600, is it possible to upgrade the graphics card on the TE2100?
Does it come in mini AGP or something like that?
September 8th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Wayne,
The video card in TE2100 is a removable separate module but I don’t think that you can upgrade it. From my knowledge, there is only one type of the video card for TE2100.
September 8th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Thanks cj2600.
My TE2100 also has the problem of shutting down suddenly without any warning. Its not very frequent though.
Guess I have to clean the heatsink.
September 8th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
hi there. my laptop is not running like it should be or to be more specific, it’s not running at all! i try to turn it on and then it turns on for like.. 5 seconds and turns back off. it’ll turn on every once in a blue moon! and when it does turn on.. it turns back off sometimes so i have to keep pressing the on button over and over again until it turns on without shutting off. what’s wrong with my laptop??
September 10th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Amanda,
In order to successfully start, any laptop needs 3 main components – motherboard, processor and memory. From these three components, the memory module fails more often then others and when it fails a laptop can experience an intermittent start up problem as you mentioned in your comment.
Try to reseat the memory module, move it into another slot. Test the memory module with Memtest 86+ utility and if it fails the test for a few times, replace it. That’s what I would try first.
September 14th, 2006 at 2:41 am
What might be the system hang problems after a few minutes of the system start up? It seems like the overheat issue. I even applied the new thermal compounds but still it wasn’t the solution. Does it still the issue of the connector problem between the motherboard and the powerboard?
September 14th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Aung,
It’s hard to say from your description. It could be a hard drive issue (test hard drive), an overheating problem (check if the fan spins), a bad connection between the system board and the power board (read the post), a software issue, etc…
September 16th, 2006 at 11:21 am
CJ2600
I read your post #37 dated April 13,2006 with interest.
I own a TE2100 TECRA. I bought it from internet last October.
The ad said factory warranty was available so I called and bought extended 1 year warranty for 116.10 that was billed thru my Capital One Card. In February the problem you mentioned and I took it to the recommended Toshiba repair service in St. Louis. The tech told me that the condition I mentioned was a known problem and that it would probably need a power board and a main board. The next day he called me and said I had no warranty.
I paid him 80.00 for checking out the laptop and had him return it to the company in California that I bought it from.
They also took it to Toshiba repair in CA. and were told that there was no warranty. They did replace the power board and ran the unit for about a week before sending it back to me along with a bill for 100.00.
I used it for about a week and it lost power again the same as before. The green power light was blinking and it was dead.
I removed the battery and discharged the system as instructed by Toshibas on first go round. The unit booted up and ran for about ten minted when it died again.
I have called every division of Toshiba and get the run around.
They tell me to write letter to Capital One requesting my money back.
WOW !!
I own quite a few Toshiba items and I wonder if you have any advice.
What would the cost of new system board and a Power board be with labor?
I also noted your #40 post. Should I give up and use it for a door stop? Ha Ha
If I knew who was CEO of Toshiba I would ship it to him with a very discouraging letter.
September 17th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
D Cook,
I think that you should call not to Capital One, but to the company who sold you the warranty on this laptop. It sucks man! I would fight for my money.
The repair would be expensive. As I mentioned before, there is no way to say witch part is failing – the power board or the system board and if you take to a Toshiba repair center they will recommend to replace both parts. To find how much it would cost to buy parts, you can search on Google by the part number. System board: V000010780. Power board: V000010840. And do not forget to add some labor, probably 2 hours at 60-70$/hour. After a quick search I found the system board (exchange) for about $300 and the power board (exchange) for about $160, I guess you can find it cheaper but not much. If you add labor, it takes you to $600. For this money I can buy a brand new laptop with 1 year warranty and much better and faster then Tecra TE2100. Remember, that you cannot buy new parts for TE2100, they would be used – “factory reconditioned”. That means, that you get not more then 30 days warranty and after that they can fail again.
October 8th, 2006 at 2:42 am
Thanks cj2600, the information you have provided and your website has been extremely helpful, my TE2100 recently would not start due to a power problem, a 72h error.
With your information and from the Whirlpool thread posted by digikiwi:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=499023
I managed to fix it by soldering pins 41-45 together and reheating pin 46 on the system board connector.
One question about removing the CPU, you indicate on your website that you slide the CPU to the right, I cannot remove mine no matter what I do, I have undone the locking screw and the socket moves back a millimeter or so, but the chip doesn’t move at all. Do they use some sort of glue to hold the chip in?
October 8th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Nnewton,
A red arrow points to the CPU so you can see where it’s located.
After you unlock the CPU socket on the motherboard by turning the screw into “open” position, lift up the CPU by edges. There should be any problem. There is no glue to hold the chip in.
Be careful, the CPU pins can be easily damaged. When you put it back, make sure that the CPU is positioned correctly. There is only one correct way to put the CPU back into the socket. Make sure that pin layout on the CPU matches holes layout on the socket. When you put the CPU back in place, it should fall down the socket without any pressure. Do not forget to lock the socket after the CPU is back in place or your laptop will not boot.
October 11th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Do not waste time in fixing the problem in Toshiba TE2100. This model has a known problem in the motherboard and the power supply. Our company has over ten units of this model , they all finished not working after 1or 2 years. The Toshiba has a special warranty on this model to replace the motherboard free. But we have a few unit busted again after 2-3 replacement of the motherboard. They all end up sitting in our junk bay. So even if you can fix it , it won;t last long. As a result, our company has moved away from Toshiba laptop computers.
October 17th, 2006 at 12:38 am
Hi CJ!
I have a Toshiba 9000/9100, and it as well is only blinking the power light -> no boot. Taking the battery out does not help. Do you have any suggestions for repair for this kind of device?
October 18th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Manne,
Toshiba Tecra 9100 motherboard actually consists of two different boards: the I/O board and the system board. Take a look at this Tecra 9100 disassembly guide. The I/O board is pictured on the step 17, the system board on the step 20. These two boards are connected by a long narrow connector; you can see this connector on the top of the system board on the step 20. Overtime the screws on the laptop get loose and I/O board (top board) can pop up from the system board (bottom board). As a result the I/O board will not make a good connection with the system board and laptop will not boot up.
When you turn on the laptop and get a flashing orange light it’s usually indicates a major power failure on the motherboard. In Tecra 9100 in might happen because of a bad connection between the I/O board and the system board. I don’t know if you want to try fixing the laptop yourself because it requires laptop disassembly. You can remove the top cover (as shown on the step 10) and push on the I/O board in the area of the connector, to make sure that it’s properly connected to the system board. I’m not sure if it will help you, but that’s what I would try first.
October 18th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Hi!
Can anyone translate what it means when a Tecra 9000 flashes:
Long, short, long, short, long, short, long, short. It won’t start. It was just laying on the table… I am sorry for posting this on the 2100 thread, but I’m desperate…
October 18th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
Manne,
You can write this code as 10101010. When the power LED flashes and you want to find what it means, you believe (do not remember exactly) that you have to revert the code and then translate it to HEX. So it would be 01010101=55. Right?
There is a translation for this error and it says: C5V voltage is less than 4.5V when the computer is starting. But I have no idea what it’s all about and what C5V is. I hope it help.
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:17 am
please help me , i have a laptop tosiba te2100, and nothing hapened when i try to start him, only theyellow power led flashes like this: short-short-long-short-short-long-short-short. anybody can help me what;s mean this code?
i reset the power board but nothing happens .
thank in advance!!
October 24th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
OK. I just disassembled and assembled the laptop. The screws were loose and I tightened them, BUT no help…
Still the same blink.
Could the C5V refer to the BIOS battery or something? Or could the power source just be bad?
October 27th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Toshiba satellite dynabook has a trouble of power,
the power cable indicator keep on flashing orange
pls help me rectifier it.
October 29th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Sorry Issa,
I’ve never worked on Dynabook laptops.
November 6th, 2006 at 5:15 am
hey!
I need some help immediately. I’d set the password on my M35X Toshiba notebook. Then I wanted to delete it… I typed my old password and for the new one I press ENTER. While starting up the computer it demends the password but what password? The old one doesn’t work, pressing enter neither. I have no idea why it happened. I need to get to my Master dissertation… Please, help me!
November 8th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
CJ2600,
Good Day, I have here Toshiba Tecra 9100, I hope you could give me some tips or advice on how to fix this problem.
Problem #1: My winxp get hangs or freeze after 2 or 5 minutes. When it hangs or freeze I push the power buttom to shut it down and when I turn in on again it locks up or will not boot at all. But the A/C power, on/of light, main battery and hard disk lights up but no display and hard disk lights does not blink. Sometimes it display a blue screen after loading windows xp logo and the only message I can read is “physical memory dump” at the bottom of the message, it display so fast I can’t read the whole message.
Problem #2: I also noticed that the portion on the button where memory is located is hotter than the portion where cpu and video chip are located.
Problem #3: No audio even though it is installed in device manager and sound driver is updated to winxp sp1.
Problem #4: After Problem 1-3, I decided to disassemble the unit to clean, remove some dust and to replace the old thermal grease of the processor and video chip. I’m also looking for some leak capacitor or loose connection but I didn’t find one. After that I re-assemble it, do fresh installation of windows using recovery cd, I have notice that “NO AUDIO DEVICE” and the modem is not detected anymore. I tried to install sound driver and it says “driver not installed” and same with modem.
I have tried cleaning the flex cable of the sound board and culprit of the modem but still no luck. Do I have to resolder something here specially the soundcard IC, coz I have a friend familiar in replacing IC. Please help me to fix this problem, thank you!
November 9th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Max,
I’ve seen this problem with Tecra 9100 sound before. I think you might have a failing I/O board, this board is shown on the step 14 of this disassembly guide. I’m not sure that you have a failed I/O board, but from my experience it’s very likely. Sorry man, I cannot give you a better advice because it’s impossible to troubleshoot the laptop just basing on your description.
November 10th, 2006 at 2:38 am
Sopunds like what happened to me, the entire XP operating system died without warning. I ended up running the XP disc, but didn’t get the downloads. It has just happened again. and I am looking for a 2nd hand boot disc (mine is lost). Prior to the crash, the system kept failing to recognise USB ports and Wireless Cards etc. So I have lost all of my information, and worse than that the time it takes to collect it.
November 11th, 2006 at 10:36 am
My TE2100 won’t boot. When I try to turn it on the all the LEDs light up as they should except for the HDD light. The LEDs do not flash. There are no POST beeps when I try to start up either.
The screen is black though I was having problems with it flashing so I reseated the FL invertor and the VGA card. I have also reseated the power card.
I have tried a known good HDD in the TE2100 but I get the same results. When I start the TE2100 without the HDD installed the HDD LED is lit but still no screen message or POST beeps.
November 17th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
cj2600,
My friend toshiba 9100 no boot at all and when you press the power on button the adaptor indicator blink into color orange. what is the meaning of this?
November 19th, 2006 at 7:43 am
cj2600,
the blinking error code is 01001011 and we find out that the voltage output of the adaptor is 18v. but in the label of the adaptor it says 15v 5a only.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:11 am
Mhax,
Did you mean that the power LED on the laptop blinking orange? Usually a blinking power LED indicates a major power grid failure.
May be that’s your problem? If the laptop is labeled for 15V-5A, then you must use an adapter that outputs 15V, the amperage could be 5A or more.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:26 am
My problem is on toshiba laptop satellite dynabook model ps181n-q6×0 that has stardby light blinks but does’t boot
December 1st, 2006 at 3:02 pm
I have just installed Windows XP with SP2 on Toshiba TE2000. Everything went well, except when the laptop boots, it takes very long time to get to the XP screen. I can hear the hard disk noise, then the striped bar appears, then it starts to cover the stripes from the left, chunk by chunk, until it is one whole bar and only then the Windows screen apears. The whole process takes almost 5 minutes. During that whole time I can hear the same sequence of the HD head. Can anyone help?
December 2nd, 2006 at 9:40 pm
I since ran the boot in Safe mode and found out that it pauses after loading the following drivers: drvmain.sdbm, compbatt.sys, BATTC.SYS, VolSnap.sys, Mup.sys and finally after alim1541.sys. Tried to play with msconfig - loading only basic config - no change. Reinstalled XP SP2 - no change. I am getting desperate. Please help!!
December 3rd, 2006 at 8:52 am
Hi CJ,
I have a TE2100 and I have this minor problem recently.
When I use my headphones, audio only comes out from the right side. I thought something was wrong with them, so I bought a new one. But the same problem occurs.
I tried the new headphones on another laptop, and it turns out that they are fine. So it is not the headphones’ fault. There is nothing wrong with the soundcard too; the audio works just fine when played from the speakers.
So I think something is wrong with the connection somewhere to the audio-out port.
Can you show me which part(s) might be loose and may need soldering?
Thanks.
December 3rd, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Es,
Test the hard drive. Download Hitachi drive fitness test utility and run an advanced test. This utility is free and I find it very reliable, works on most laptop drives. If the hard dive fails the test, probably you have a bad drive.
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Hi CJ,
Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded the Hitachi utility and ran the advanced test. It came with a problem detected - disposition code 0×70. The manual tells that the drive can be erased and the problem can be fixed, but the utility will not erase non Hitachi/IBM drive. Is there a utility you can recommend to erase the Toshiba hard drive or should I give up and try to buy another disk drive?
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Hi CJ,
How silly of me. After I posted the previous comment, I restarted the laptop, removed the Hitachi CD ROM and to my surprise, the laptop started in no time, even after trying to find a CD ROM first. I then reconfigured the boot sequence to strat from HDD and it now starts in a matter of seconds every time. Some kind of magic?! Can I now trust the hard disk drive after Hitachi reported a problem? I am now totally confused.
December 3rd, 2006 at 9:34 pm
es,
Run the DFT utility 2-3 more times to confirm the hard drive failure. Probably the utility detects bad sectors and you can “fix” it for a