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.
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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 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 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 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 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 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 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/tecr.....word.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 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 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 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?