The customer brought his Toshiba Satellite A85-S107 and complained that the laptop will not boot. First of all, I tried to start the laptop with a known good AC adapter, to make sure that the customers AC adapter is not a problem. The laptop didn’t start and there were no LED activity, the unit was “dead”. The good AC adapter wasn’t able to start the laptop. I started removing the laptop components one by one trying to eliminate the problem. I removed the battery, the memory module, the wireless card, the DVD drive and it didn’t fix the problem. I had just very few parts left: the system board, the CPU and the switch board. I remove the keyboard to check the power switch board and found that the switch board cable wasn’t properly connected to the system board, it was half way out. I reseated the cable on the system board and the laptop started properly.
BTW, the system board has 2 memory slots and by default the memory stick is located in the slot hidden under the keyboard. BUT, it is not enough to remove the keyboard if you want to replace the original memory module. After you remove the keyboard, you still will not be able to remove the memory because it is hidden under the top cover. To replace the original memory stick in Toshiba Satellite A85 you have to remove the entire top cover!!! It sucks!
Here’s a disassembly guide that shows how to replace a memory module on Toshiba Satellite A85.
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December 11th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
So I took my lap top bakck to the authorized warrantee repair provider and they fixed it. They said they didn’t know what the problem was and hadn’t encountered those symptoms before. They simply replaced my motherboard. This was during the 11th hour of my warantee. Thank you for the advise.
Now I have a new problem. The AC plug keeps popping out of the AC adapter on the back of my laptop. At first it was being slippery but the battery would charge again when I replaced it. Now it never stays in and I have around 23% battery power to work with so I never turn the thing on. I know if I turn it on I had better get whatever I need done quick!
Isn’t power a common problem with Toshiba. Any recommendation. No warantee any more.
September 20th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
I dropped my Tecra 9100 last week, and thought I had done permanent damage to my hard drvie because everytime I started the computer up (whether battery or AC only) it would start up normally for about 5 seconds, then shut down and flash a yellow light on the power indicator. After reading the first comment above, I unscrewed my keyboard, detached it from the laptop, and then re-seated it. NOw, it’s powering up normally again! PTL!!
August 31st, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Kim,
You’ve made the right decision. I didn’t know that the laptop is still under warranty. The cracked screen will not be replaced under warranty, but everything else should be covered.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:00 pm
cj2600: I took the laptop into a toshiba service center today to see if they can figure out why the ext. monitor will not work. It is still under warranty until the end of Sept. so rather than chuck it in the trash, I am giving the machine to a service center. Maybe they can get it working with an external monitor..
August 31st, 2006 at 7:17 am
cj2600: thanks for the reply. I have hooked up the external monitor and when I start the laptop, it briefly (nanosecond) flashes toshiba on the external monitor and then immediately goes black with “resuming windows” displayed on the external monitor. It also flashes the resolution display box which then goes away. Hitting the f8 key doesn’t seem to do anything different.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
Kim,
The external monitor is black all the time, or it goes black after Toshiba logo is displayed on it? Try to use Fn+F5 key combination. Press and hold down Fn and tap on F5 for a few times. With this key combination you can switch the video output between the internal LCD and external monitors.
If the external monitor goes back after Toshiba logo flashes, you can boot into safe mode by using F8 key (hit it when you see Toshiba logo on the screen). You can try restoring the OS using the system restore utility.
If the external monitor not turning on at all and Fn+F5 key combination doesn’t help, then you might have a hardware related issue.
August 27th, 2006 at 6:21 am
My son accidentally broke the LCD screen on his Toshiba A85 S107. For a while we just plugged in an external monitor and all was well. Then he attempted to change screen resolution for a game he was playing and now he can get nothing on the external monitor. (I think he has instructed the computer to only display on the broken LCD). Is there anything I can do to change this command as whatever is shown on the broken LCD cannot be viewed anymore. Any assistance would be appreciated. I am close to putting this laptop on ebay for parts!!
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Meadowlark Bradsher,
Do not wait until your warranty expires, call to Toshiba and try to resolve the problem. Even if it takes more then 21 days, you’ll get some records on your case. When you call, take a case number for the future reference. If you registered your laptop, you do not need a proof or purchase. You can check the warranty status on Toshiba website.
It’s hard to say what is causing the problem in your laptop. It might be a bad wireless card, bad socket, or something else… It’s very possible that the system board is bad and must be replaced to resolve the problem.
Call Toshiba, do not wait until it’s too late.
August 1st, 2006 at 12:28 pm
I have the A85 as well, about 11months ago.
I bought it with an extended waranty from CompUSA but the next day I brought it back because of sound problems. They subsequently gave me a new laptop but didn’t transfer the warranty, as I was to learn later. So they snagged $200 free money right there. I was a fool to buy it in the first place. Anyway lesson learned. Caveat to all CompUSA buyers
So anyway with 1 month left I can’t find the new proof of purchase, only the old proof of purchase (for the comp with the sound problem) which now belongs to someone named “Dennis”. Unless this turns up, or if I can go through Toshiba in the 21 days left on the 1 yr warranty, I have to fix this by myself.
Problem: I believe I have a resource conflict problem. I have never done one of these. The first thing it says is NIC or (once upon a time) Cardbus conflict, then it crashes and the PCMCIA disappears and the NIC and Wifi NIC become unknown hardware with unfindable drivers. Then subsequent boots gives an Unknown PIC error, which can not be refound.
So am I to take it that there is a conflict between the PCMCIA and the 2 NIC’s both on IRQ 11? Device Manager doesn’t find any conflicts, nor does BIOS have a IRQ assignment features. How then am I supposed to resolve this? Does anyone know what make of these kinds of problems?
July 30th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
Laptop is getting power from the AC adapter or from the battery. That’s it. Just in case try to remove the battery, connect the adapter and turn on the laptop (without the battery installed).
Now, when you mentioned that that the power LED on the front lights up but button LED doesn’t, I think that you might have a bigger problem then just a failed memory. The power button LED should light up when you press on the button even with the failed memory module. It might be the system board issue.
You can check if your laptop is still under warranty on the Toshiba website.