My Toshiba Satellite A85-S107 will not boot
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.
Entry Filed under: Everyday Laptop Repair
71 Responses to “My Toshiba Satellite A85-S107 will not boot”
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Pages: « 8 7 6 [5] 4 3 2 1 » Show All
February 28th, 2007 at 12:25 am
i own an A-85 S107 model (2006), it worked fine till last night when i finished work and closed notebook to go in hibernation. Today morning, when i opened the top, expecting the notebook to resume the overnight session, it never resumed. it was on battery. i then connected AC but the result remained same. i noticed “AC source” LED lit-on while “battery” LED did not. So the problem was obviously with battery pack. i ended up in this discussion and used tip by CJ (48) to insert battery pack after 2 minutes. i did and it worked.
Thanks to CJ for quick relief from worry. Does anybody know why it happens and what is philosophy of de-taching the battery for 2 minutes or so???????
February 19th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
CJ,
Thank you for the information.
Why do you think it’s late? People still have Satellite A85 laptops.
February 13th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
This is late in the thread and nobody is listening, but my son has this very model and when he had this problem awhile back, he called tech support. They had him remove all power sources, battery & AC for two minutes. Then reattach them and restart. It happened again this evening and he took the battery out and had no success. He forgot to disconnect the pwr cord and finnally did that and it worked.
I hope this helps someone.
CJ
February 7th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
thank you for your help, I got it to work, dunno how, but it is probably something simple I did
I also replaced the processor in the laptop…I hated the celeron. The battery itself is toast, hasn’t held a charge since before I stopped using it…actually one of the reasons, too. If anyone is interested, it is possible to switch out the processor…just requires that the FSB is the same, the power requirements are the same or lover, and that the Motherboard can support the processor speed…anywho, thank you for your help!
February 5th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Twinblade,
Sounds like a system board problem, you’ll have to replace it. You cannot replace the original memory because it’s permanently soldered to the system board.
By the way, it’s possible you have a bad AC adapter. Test it with a voltmeter. Maybe the battery still has some charge, enough just to power up the unit for a few seconds.
February 4th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I have the same problem with my A65…anyone know how to fix it? Mine doesn’t even get lucky and boot…:( I push the power button, it lights up, LEDs light up, five to ten seconds go by, and it shuts down. no screen activity, nothing except the sound of it powering up, then down, and the lights. I hadn’t used it for over a year and then fairly recently started using it for some computer-related classes I have. I would also like to know if there is a way to replace the original memory, if I ever get it to work again…Please help, I’d greatly appreciate it.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Meadowlark Bradsher,
Is this extra wire is brown? May be it’s a Bluetooth antenna cable (usually brown). Sometimes you might have this antenna installed, but there is no Bluetooth module. In this case tape it to the plastic somewhere. There also could be a modem cable, it plugs into the modem (cannot see on the picture). Remove the modem and turn it over, you’ll see the connector on the side.
January 14th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Sapan,
To start any laptop with video you need three essential components: motherboard, processor and memory. The blue light around the power button comes on, so most likely there is nothing wrong with the AC adapter. Here’s what you can try. If you have any extra memory module installed remove it and start the laptop just with the base memory (this model comes with onboard memory). If you still have the same problem, there is not much you can do. I would assume that you have either a bad motherboard or bad RAM, but it doesn’t make any difference because RAM is integrated into the motherboard. If you want to fix the problem, most likely you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
I had been able to finagle the AC to work until now, so I finally tried to use your guide. It made everything so much easier. I found the the broken plastic widget that made the DC-In recede and super glued it back on. Then I patched the laptop back up but when I got to the third wire near the WiFi and Modem I got stumped. I can’t figure out where I unplugged it from.yesterday night.
Can you tell me where it goes? I linked to the picture that shows it, as my “website”. I have Aux and Main but where does the third wire plug back into??!? I can’t correspond this pic to your “step-by-step” because it was never highlighted in a photo.
January 8th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I have a satellite A65 (toshiba) notebook. It worked fine until recently. I have two problems now:
1) When I push the power button, the blue light around the button comes on and the LEDs on the key board and in front come on. However there is no activity on the screen and the laptop shuts down soon after. I have put this on direct AC power but no improvements. If I keep trying to boot the laptop I may get lucky and the system will boot normally. Please tell me what may be causing this. Earlier the problem would come up once in a while, now it is every time I try to boot the system
2) The laptop has stopped recognising the BIOS password, I cannot find the CMOS battery or the jumpers on the mother board, please tell me whats a good way to get past the prompt and be able to boot windows
thanks