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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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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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.