Comments on: Toshiba Satellite M35X owners, are you happy with your laptop?

By: SKM2009

SKM2009 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 08:26:50 +0000

I need help to remove the back cover of a Toshiba laptop, Satellite M35X-S161 to access the hard drive. Does some one know which screws I need to work on in the back and the front(if needed) or any hidden ones? There are just too many of them in the back cover.I need to access the hard drive to retrieve the data since I cannot boot the system because of an error message “windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\windows\system32\config\system
Using the recovery disk that came with Toshiba would erase the data per the message on the screen. Many many thanks in advance.

Also, how can we mass advertise, after reading all the comments here at the site, to let the public know, to stay away from Toshiba laptops?

By: jakezt

jakezt — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:10:44 +0000

I totally agree with this person. Toshiba doesn’t even have any service manual on their site. Any company that hides critical info from its customers should not be given any sale and should be forced to release those info. same goes for sony! they all suck!

By: Prabhakar

Prabhakar — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:15:22 +0000

I have toshiba Satellite m35x laptop. It worked fine for about 4 years . now it is getting hanged say abt after 2 or 3 min after starting it. and when I press power button it will start. I have to do it 3 or 4 times then it comes up.

Can any help me out in this regard

Thanks in advance for your help

By: cj2600

cj2600 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:45:42 +0000

Matt DeHaven,

i want to purchase a better computer but i have my iTunes memory on my toshiba.. so i need to get this thing fixed, or jus take the memory out of this computer and put it on another (if thats possible?)

You can remove the hard drive, install it into an external USB enclosure and access all personal data from another computer. Of course if there is nothing wrong with the hard drive. I explained this process in more details in this post: Accessing notebook hard drive using USB enclosure.

By: Matt DeHaven

Matt DeHaven — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:17:51 +0000

I have a Toshiba Satellite M35-S114, ive had for a couple years now and it was fine until recently. I pressed the power button and it turned on. so i left it alone, then came back later to find it was still starting up. so i watched for a few minutes and found that it just keeps rebooting itself and windows will not start up.. i dont know what to do with the thing.. i want to purchase a better computer but i have my iTunes memory on my toshiba.. so i need to get this thing fixed, or jus take the memory out of this computer and put it on another (if thats possible?) so any help is greatly appreciated, you can e-mail me at Mrdhavn@aol.com.. Thanks

By: cj2600

cj2600 — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:01:02 +0000

speedyplastic,

I’m in the same boat as you Kyle Smith. i tried removing the memory, HDD, still nothing. its getting power but its not even getting to POST.

You have a Satellite M35X, right?
When you remove memory from a working Satellite M35X and turn it on, it beeps (three short and one long beep). When you remove memory and start your laptop, will it give you a beep error message?
If not, apparently you have a problem with the motherboard and it has to be replaced.

By: speedyplastic

speedyplastic — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:35:31 +0000

I’m in the same boat as you Kyle Smith. i tried removing the memory, HDD, still nothing. its getting power but its not even getting to POST. i’m kinda stumped there was no warning it just one day shut down and now it wont boot.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:36:19 +0000

I had to break in and see what was up, as the )_*(^) thing didn’t respond at all. I found a little oxidation on some of the ground contacts, noting major. (Also a loose and mismatched W2 screw, perhaps from when the power plug was resoldered under warranty. But it was trapped where it could have done no harm.) I treated the contacts with a pencil eraser & auto dielectric grease. Nothing else looked bad, fan was clean, I reassembled and found it was still dead.

Except.. I could now lift the keyboard and press directly on the metal shield covering the BIOS chip. That worked every time, but I had to keep pressing. Hard. A tab on that shield contacts the BIOS I took it apart again, and bent the tab to keep pressure on the BIOS chip. Now it boots every time, but will eventually shut down abruptly. The first time it was 15 minutes, but now I rarely finish the boot. Maybe I now have the overheating problem! If I ever get it up long enough, I will use Ultimate Boot CD to check the temp.

Anyway, seems to me it’s either a bad contact on the motherboard that flexing the board connects, or a badly mounted BIOS chip. Any ideas how to fix that? It seems permanently glued on the motherboard.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:43:13 +0000

I had been able to defeat this problem on my Toshiba 35x-S149 for over a year by pressing briefly on the silver cover behind the keyboard just to the left of middle; the on-disk LED came on and away it went! I had the power jack replace under warranty after 5 months, and they changed the silver cover then. It had been getting harder and harder. Now it doesn’t work, and Kyle Smith and I are in the same boat.
But today I discovered that removing and replacing all power, then pressing the spot WHILE pressing the On button works, but I have to keep pressing the spot or it stops. Since I’m not much of a one-handed typist, and my hand gets tired, this is not a good solution. I will dig into the case & see what I can see, & get back to you all.
HP, you say? Sounds good right now.

By: Craig H

Craig H — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:55:31 +0000

Hi I am having the same problems as Kyle Smith, However after trying the memory diagnosis test, after trying to switch on, no beeps or anything, not a sausage! does anyone have any clues, sure the motherboard might be busted, but any idea to narrow down what might be gone? specifically?