For all “happy” Toshiba Satellite M35X laptop owners.
I just received a very interesting comment for one of my posts. I think that this comment would be very useful for many Toshiba Satellite M35X laptop users and deserves to be published as a standalone post. The comment was submitted by user Hack.
In the following article the author mentions the picture posted here: Toshiba Satellite 1900. Laptop loses power and shuts down without warning.
Here it is:
Well I have arrived with the same problem as the rest of you. I bought a M35X-S149, my first mistake. Let me say that I think Toshiba robbed us all. What a LEMON. My LCD backlight inverter burnt out at 3 months, and now at 12 months and 2 weeks my laptop won’t charge. I called Toshiba and they WILL NOT SEND ME A #041011, nor will anyone who will repair the board for $150-$200. The spring in the audio out jack that holds a plug snug is shot, all output is crackling and worthless.
Talk about pissed. Oh yea I almost forgot, the recall too. The idiots forgot to install proper shielding for the motherboard causing freezing and reboots; of course Toshiba never notified me about the problem. Anyway my anger is causing me to loose my focus.
The author is 95% correct, resolder the circled points in the picture and you should be back in business. Although if the jack itself has problems like mine did, all resoldering the jack will do is PISS YOU OFF. The way that the jack is designed provides a poor connection. There is only one tiny piece of metal that makes contact to the outer negative part of the plug.
Don’t be fooled by looking at the jack from the outside. All of those daisy petals that look like they hug the outside of the plug don’t do anything electrically; they just attempt to hold in the plug in place against a tiny contact at the bottom of the jack in between the daisy petals. The power connection was gradually getting harder and harder to get the orange light to stay lit so it would charge. That was my jack slowly wearing out or quickly wearing out. It took about a month or two. Then finally the jack was noticeably loose, that was the day that the solder point on the positive connection broke loose. It didn’t break loose from the board; the metal pin broke loose inside the solder itself. The craptop would no longer show any lights at all except the blinking orange light of rage. Someone please call Toshiba and tell them to USE FLUX!In the photo, the two solder points on the left and the right hold the outer shielding over the jack and hold it in place. At no point does the outer shielding make contact with the inside of the jack, even though on the board they are all connected. The top center solder point is the negative connection, and the bottom center is the positive. That tip is for those who want to do what I did to fix my craptop.
A new Motherboard is $250 F That
I soldered the wires from an adapt plug [part #64-026] from Radio Shack directly to the board, and then the male version [part #273-1742] to the freshly beheaded power cord. Make sure to only cut the end off, just the plug. If you attempt this you will need some solder wick and at least a 25w iron to pull the jack from the board. Use a 15w iron to solder the new wires in place. Make sure you don’t plug the wires in backwards. The + on the male must line up with the “tip” stamped on the female side, that is the only point of caution. Don’t leave your fixed craptop alone in the presence of useful idiots.
I would just recommend going with the pig tail method for the simple fact that the jack itself is cheap and will stretch and stretch until your craptop no longer charges. So really, who wants to take their laptop apart 2x. The first time my laptop wouldn’t charge unless I slightly pulled it to one side or the other I took the board out only to find only the solder points on the board were solid. The temp fix for that was to make a tiny L shape with a paper clip, crimp it flat, then get it inside the jack and bend out the daisy petals a little bit so it holds the plug in a little better. That fix lasted for a month, the second time 3 weeks, and it wasn’t worth a third attempt, because at this point the wiggle made it obvious that the jack was now loose on the board.
If you want some solid laptop advice, buy a HP/Compaq I Image laptops and desktops in a 3,000+ workstation environment day in and day out. All the machines are HP. I can’t speak for the new models, but the N610c is a nice. I have seen at least 200 of them after 3 years of abuse in the field, and not a single one with a power problem.
Related posts:
Toshiba Satellite M35X, A70 or A75 locks up, freezes up or reboots when you touch the laptop speakers.
Toshiba Satellite 1900. Laptop loses power and shuts down without warning.
Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite A75 power jack and battery charge problem.
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May 30th, 2006 at 9:58 am
OMG!! I’m also having problems with my M35X!! It will not charge at all.. and now I’m stuck using the home computer !! the bad part…I was thinking that the problem was the adapter..sooo…. .I had just ordered a new adapter in hope that it will work.. Now that I have read all the comments.. I’m assuming it will not work at all..awwwhh crap!! I’m SO MADDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 29th, 2006 at 11:21 am
in my quest to gain more power from an older Toshiba 1675CDS, i removed the Cel 550 cpu to install an 850 (both mobile cpu’s). Well the 850 didn’t boot so i decided to re-install the Cel 550 and now it won’t boot either. I did do some damage to the top half of the socket and it’s hard to get the cpu locked in, but i think it is locked in. Would swapping the cpu’s do irreversible damage to the m’board? would clearing the cmos help? do I scrap the laptop? It also needs a keyboard, but i found a replacement on ebay. help please so i know whether or not to purchase the replacement keyboard or not.
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:15 pm
[...] About 3 weeks ago I received a comment from a user who described his experience with Toshiba Satellite M35X. Today I got one more for Toshiba Satellite A75. Even though these are completely different models, they have very similar problems: laptop heatsink gets clogged and the laptop overheats, improperly grounded top cover causes the laptop to freeze up and reboot, badly designed DC jack causes the power failure. May be your experience is more positive? [...]
May 14th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
What a piece of junk! I am so frustrated with Toshiba it is insane! Not only my M35X — their customer service alone will make never want to buy one of their products.
I don’t understand how a company like this can stay in business! Thank god they don’t just make laptops… I don’t think they would have lasted this long if they did!
I am refusing to purchase a new motherboard for this laptop and have ordered an HP instead. Does anyone know where, or if there is a market for, a used laptop with a bad board? I’m thinking it might be able to be sold for parts? I don’t know… I just want it out of my house!
May 9th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Lara,
Usually the fan turns on more often then before because the heatsink is clogged. May be it’s a time to clean up the heatsink in your laptop. Here is a fast solution. When the fan spins, a heat from the CPU is coming out from an opening on the right side of your laptop. Buy a can of compressed air and blow inside the opening on the side. It will help you to clean up the heatsink.
If the fan is making a grinding sound when it spins, then the fan must be replaced.
May 9th, 2006 at 2:19 am
For the most part, I’m happy with the M35X. My only complaint is that not only does the fan turn on quite often, it’s also quite loud. Any suggestions as to how/if I can minimize the fan?
May 6th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
How to replace your inverter
Your Inverter is located behind the “Toshiba” on your LCD. You will have to remove the LCD.
Here’s How to do it.
Right above your keyboard is the first piece to be removed. Open your laptop as wide as it goes, then pry something thin and flat right above the “F” Keys. The silver piece and the two black plastic pieces that curve around the monitor hinges is one big piece and only pops into place. Start at one side and pop it, then work your way towards the other side. There is approx 4-5 places where it snaps in.
Once that is removed their will be 2 screws that hold the keyboard in place. Remove them and then flip the keyboard towards you to give room to work. Under the keyboard there are two access panels each with one screw. The one on the left hides the modem. The one on the right with the white and black wires coming out is your atheros internal wireless adapter. Remove that screw, then you will see your atheros card. The card pops out like a stick of ram. Once that is free there are 4 screws that hold the LCD in place. 2 on the top, and 2 on the back. Next Unplug the video plug to the monitor and it will be free from the laptop.
Now that the LCD has been separated from the laptop you can now take it apart to access the Inverter. Behind the 6 flat rubber discs along the edge of the LCD are screws. The little rubber discs are adhesive, so just pry underneath them,
Once those screws are out, the black trim can be removed around the LCD exposing the inverter. Replace it, and reverse the disassembly process to put it back together.
Good Luck
Hack
May 6th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Try to boot into safe mode, then remove your video adapter. I have had this issue before. The XP is defaulting to your S-Video as the output.
OR
Try Function F5 That will change output devices,
I’m leaning more towards the XP Problem since you see the XP Splash screen.
Since you get video on boot it is probably not a bad video adapter
I would try the Function F5 first since its the easiest,
Then Try it with an external monitor, or external S-Video
Try to boot to safemode
If none of that works you probably have a bad LCD Inverter. I had one at 3 months after purchase, and now that I think about the symptoms you describe that may be it, Right before mine died I would get video, see the bios splash, then NOTHING, Take a flashlight and shine it at the screen. If you see the screen, Its your inverter.
Also try holding down the little white button that tells the laptop that the screen is closed. Hold it and release…If you see the screen for a second then nothing, its definately your invertor, The good news is that the invertor is about $50.
I hope this helps
Hack
May 2nd, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Nocturnal,
Toshiba Satellite M35X has a video chip integrated into the system board. So, if the video is bad, the entire system board has to be replaced. Are you getting any LED activity at all when you turn on the laptop? May be the power jack on the system board is bad and the laptop doesn’t get any power.
The video harness in this model has a ground cable located close to the connector that plugs into the system board. You do not have to connect it to anything, just place it alone with the harness when you assemble the laptop.
May 2nd, 2006 at 9:35 am
Hey, I’m currently trying to fix a M35X. Basically the main issue is that when turned on, it was booting up and there was video right up to before the XP splash screen appears. The video stops appearing right before the splash screen. And now, it doesn’t even turn on at all. I tried moving the ram stick from one slot to the other, and I also tested the memory slots by putting in another test working memory that I had. I can’t even get external video now. I’m guessing it’s the video card onboard or it’s the motherboard. But I also have one more question, I noticed when I removed the LCD cable from the motherboard, that the ground plug was loose. Where does that normally screw down or get held down? Thank you. If you can contact me at work AT supz dot NET I’d truly appreciate it.