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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November 18th, 2010 at 6:05 am
Hey, this information was great! With the photos showing how to disassemble, my friend and I were able to take apart my laptop, reseat the video cable, and bring the display back. I took it to a tech who had no idea what was wrong and couldn’t fix it. And he had it for 4 days. My freind and I had it fixed in less than an hour!! Thanks again for the great info.
October 11th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Rivette65,
Minimize the laptop as much as you can. Remove battery, hard drive, wireless card, disconnect LCD screen, etc…
Make a barebone system: motherboard, CPU (with cooling fan), memory and try turning it on with an external monitor and external keyboard. If it boots fast, start adding other components one by one. This method will help you to find the faulty component.
If your system still very slow even when disassembled, probably this is motherboard failure.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:30 am
hi i have a big strange problem with a laptop of a customer
it’s an hp 6730S
it hangs at the HP logo with the message “press the esc key …..”
when i press the esc or any key nothing happen . it hangs there
i ‘m an electronic engeneer specialised in laptop repair ! so i have programmed the eeprom but the problem is the same . dismounted the laptop ,changed the processor , the memory , changed a new eeprom chip but the problem is the same.
so i decided to reboot the laptop , to press the esc key and to wait . after 40 min it goes to the setup . i have tried every thing there but after rebooting the same thing happend and must wait for 40 min again to see it going to setup . i putted a virtual windows on a cd and after 40 min it boots on it and begins to load windows but veryyyyyyyyy veryyyyyyy slowly until it rises the windows desk …
strange problem.
can someone help me ?
June 6th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
thank you so much for the graphical presentation of disassembling the M35X Toshiba notebook. i found it very informative and very useful indeed. i had a similar problem with the M35X-S149 model. it wont boot up. the DC power jack was okay. there was LED activity going on but not the HDD. i guess it’s a motherboard problem. i even checked the video cable at the back of the LCD display and connected the laptop to an external monitor. still it wont boot. there was only one option left. replace the MOBO.
thanks again and more power!!
March 10th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Thanks so much for your great information and pictures, it helps a lot when I am reading the problems you had with your customers because it save me so much time. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your work and keep up the good work! Thanks
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:04 am
Hi, my gf’s Toshiba m40X has just had the screen go. It is bleeding colours all over the place, then the screen has horizontal lines and the screen becomes unreadable. I have tried to reseat all the video leads, connections to the Fl inverter etc. Would a colour bleeding screen more likly be a LCD prob, cable, or FL inverter problem. Id like to note that when i hook up a external screen it works fine.
December 12th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
To Greg who wrote post number 60, you sir are a genius. I had taken apart my wife’s Toshiba M35X laptop due to a power issue. Once inside I was able to fix the power but upon putting it back together the video WOULD NOT WORK!!! So after trying just about everything I assumed that I had fried the video chip and would need to get a new board. After I read your post about resetting the processor I decided to try it… at first it didn’t work and would beep like it couldn’t post so the next thing I did was to change the memory chip to the alternate slot.. and then I tried resetting the processor one more time according to your specification… low and behold it booted right up! The monitor came on and it’s working now! I can’t thank you enough for this astute observation and will be spreading the word on this. This is such a great site and such a great service. I hope all of you are able to fix your problems here. GOOD LUCK!!
September 25th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I wonder if you can advise. My A30′s video out does not appear to work anymore. It use to but had a cable connected to my tv when we had a power cut… that was it it still thinks it is switching from the laptop screen to the external screen but nothing comes up on the external screen.
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:13 am
Hi,I have a problem with my hp nx7300 laptop,it doesnt’start anymore, I found the problem TPS51120(stand by power 5v,3.3V and drives the mos transistors),and VK1 which is located under modem,and in it enters the 5V stand by current.
I post some photos with them
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/3620/vk1.jpg
http://img90.imageshack.us/img.....01193t.jpg
Please help me,you’ve my email address,thanks
March 13th, 2009 at 9:38 am
I have a Gateway 280 laptop that has an issue with external monitor. There are times when I connect an external monitor and then switch the laptop LCD to the external display and the external display has a major green tint to it. You can see the icons, with a little skewing of font image, but the entire screen has a green look to it. I tried another cable, no luck. The crazy thing is that when I connect it to a projector system at work, the projector does not even see the laptop. The message on the projector screen just says “no signal”. When I connect the projector then reboot the machine, Windows boots up with the image on the external monitor, but by the time it reaches the log-in screen, it disappears again. After log-in, there is nothing on the projector screen. The vga connector port on the laptop seems fine, but what gives? Please help. I will have to buy another laptop if I cannot get this fixed by this weekend.