Laptop problem: Toshiba Satellite M35X-S149 has no video. The customer complained that the laptop LCD video just disappeared without any reason. When he starts the laptop the screen lights but there in no data on it.
Laptop diagnostics: I started the laptop normally and LED showed normal activity. The hard drive started spinning. The LCD screen lighted but it was solid white color without any data on it.
Laptop repair process: when I get a laptop for repair with video problem, I always start with checking an external video. I connected the laptop to the external CRT monitor and started the laptop. The external video was fine and the laptop booted to Windows without any problem. Usually, if the external video is fine, the system board is good and the problem is in the LCD itself, in the video cable or in a bad connection between the LCD and the system board. On the next step, I removed the keyboard and reseated the display video cable on the system board, but it didn’t fix the problem. The laptop still booted without any data on the screen. Finally, I opened up the LCD display and found that the video cable connector on the back of the LCD screen was half way out. I reseated the connector and restarted the laptop. This time the laptop started normally and I got internal video. So, if your laptop starts with solid white screen without any data on it, try to reseat the video cable connector on the back of the LCD screen.
The following guides could be helpful for you:
Complete Toshiba Satellite M35X disassembly guide with instructions
Removing LCD, inverter board, video cable
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December 15th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Just fixed three M35 M35X in a row with the same problem, guys. I couldnt find anything online that gave me ANY CLUE. Video card is bad, right? Wrong. PASS IT ON TO OTHER BLOGS PLEASE, I will get it started here.
Heres the fix to the no video issue:
This requires access to the cpu and heatsink, remove the keyboard and palmrest to access the motherboard, I think you have to remove the screen too. Remove the heatsink and cpu. Reseat the cpu, heres the kicker, press firmly on the center of the cpu while turning the locking screw. Pressing the cpu hard, allows the locking mechinism to get a good bite. Turn the locking screw hard into the end of the turn. Hook up the heatsink and set it back on top of the cpu. Press down on the heatsink over the cpu, fairly strong pressure.
Now test the motherboard, use just cpu, heatsink, memory, power button board and cable and external monitor, you can use your screen instead by just hooking up the cable to motherboard, leave the screen laying flat on the table. Now push the power button with one hand and the other is still applying pressure to the heatsink, no you dont need to screw it down yet. Keep reseating the cpu with varying degrees of pressure if you dont get it go the first time.
The trick will be to get it all assembled with the same results.
There seems to be a problem with the cpu seating correctly, it must come loose and the laptops exhibit the symtoms of no video. It might even be neccessary to insert a wafer thin piece of copper or something in between the cpu and heatsink if the heatsink doesnt apply enough pressure to cpu to keep it seated deep enough to run the computer.
Am I a genius or what, lol. I am not, but I am sure surprised no one else has posted this info over the years.
Hope this helps someone with this frustrating problem with the M35 M35x and many more models.
Hope this helps someone.
November 27th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Eduardo,
Sorry, cannot help you. I do not work on component level. Probably you’ll have to replace the motherboard. I’m not sure if you can fix it at home.
November 27th, 2007 at 2:49 am
Hello
I have a Toshiba m30x-144 with video error like when is on in about 10 minutes extrange lines appears vertically i put termic paste in the processor and the video integrated processor too, i resolded some capacitors and resistenses but the problem still appears, i tried with an external monitor and occours the same, you say in some forum that reemplazing the system board will fix the problem but do you know any trick to resoldering o replacing some transistor o anything that you can tellme.
Thanks for your time.
Eduardo.
October 13th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
James D,
You move the video cable and it affects the video on the screen. Maybe the video cable is bad and there are shorted wires inside the harness? Probably I would try replacing the cable first.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I’ve been through the posts on several web sites and I haven’t yet encountered a problem similar to mine. I had turned my Toshiba Satellite A105 over to plug in an ethernet cable. When I turned it back over the screen waqs all blue with a few vertical and horizontal lines. I brought it to a local repair shop and was told that I needed to replace the display. As this is very costly, I decided to open the display and see what I could do.
I opend the LCD and started to wiggle the wires and cables. When I moved the video cable near the base, the top 2/3 of my display returned to normal, with the bottom 1/3 appearing as blurred color streaks. I then disconnected and reconnected the video cable plug and there was no change. I also reseated both inverter plugs, also with no change.
When the computer is left on and unattended long enough for the power saver to kick in, the screen reverts to all black with color streaks from top to bottom. To get the good 2/3 back I need to turn off my computer, restart it, then it goes to the blue screen with lines. At this point, I disconnect and reconnect the video cable to the LCD and the good 2/3 returns.
What’s going on???
Help!!!!
October 3rd, 2007 at 7:49 am
Julie,
I’ve covered some laptop related video issues in this post: How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems
I think you’ll find answer in this post. In short, it looks like you might have a problem with the LCD screen inverter board, this is a power supply for the backlight lamp.I would try replacing the inverter board firts. If the problem is still there after inverter replacemnt, it could be related to a failing backligth lamp.
October 3rd, 2007 at 7:39 am
I’m running across an error with Dell Latitude D520 and D610 laptops. It is intermittent… There are multiple laptops in our work environment which have the same symptoms. When the user closes the lid and leaves it for a short period of time and reopens it the screen will flicker but not return. The laptop is running because you can hear the applications and their sound bits. The power settings are set to do nothing when the lid is closed. Flicking the lid switch repeatedly can sometimes bring it back but not always. I have seen it, but can not duplicate the error in a controlled environment. I have hooked an external monitor up and everything works as it should on both displays.
It’s a mystery that Dell has been unhelpful in resolving. It is also widely posted, but the resolutions have been unhelpful as well.
May 8th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Robbie Powell,
Sounds like your mate has made things worse. See if you have a recovery cd with your laptop, if you do boot of it and re-load your system backup. If not you will need to re-install windows again!
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Robbie Powell,
Probably your friend deleted some system files. You’ll have to use recovery CDs to reload the operating system back to factory defaults. Find this recovery CD (or CDs), install the first one into the CD-Rom and boot the laptop from this CD (Press F12 for the boot menu and select CD-Rom). Follow the wizard.
NOTE: reloading the operating system from a recovery CD will erase everything from the hard drive. You’ll loose all personal data. So run the restore only if you have nothing to loose on the hard drive.
April 17th, 2007 at 3:59 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 400CS laptop. My friend tryed to upgrade it and deleted some file off of the hard drive. he did not get it upgraded. Now when i turn it on it does nonthing but come to a screen that says invalad system disk replace a push a key. If you know of anything to help please let me know. I use this lapyop for typing. Thanks for any help