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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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 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 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…
June 29th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Jarrod,
Google for it by the part number. V000010510
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 12:13 am
thank you very much. My TE2100 got the same problem. I will try to fix it by myself later.
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 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 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.....m?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 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 [...]