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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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 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 12:40 pm
Alright, thanks for the fast reply, Ill look into getting new parts
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 12:31 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 12:27 pm
Hey Connor,
Did the technician check the AC adapter, may be it’s dead?
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 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 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 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.