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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
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 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 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 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
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.
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 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 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 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 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