A few days ago I had to repair a notebook with symptoms that didn’t look like a hard drive failure at all. But the problem was fixed after I replace the hard drive.
It was Toshiba Satellite A70-S249 notebook with the following problem.
When I press on the power button, the laptop starts up as usual and a red Toshiba logo appears on the screen. After a moment the logo disappears and the screen turns black without any faint image and flashing cursor. The blue light around the power button stays on and fans continue to spin normal but nothing appears on the screen. I noticed that the hard drive LED blinks green on the startup and after that shows no activity at all. After a closer inspection I noticed that the screen is not completely black (like dead black), it didn’t have any image on it but it had a very faint backlight (I would say about 3-5% of normal brightness). I was able to see that there is some backlight after I pressed on the lid close switch and the screen turned to completely black.
Here are my troubleshooting steps that I went through to find the problem.
First of all, I replaced the memory module and didn’t get any changes. Removed the wireless card, still had the same problem.
After that I removed the hard drive and started the computer. This time I got something. The notebook successfully passed the Toshiba screen and started looking for a boot device. I got some activity on the screen. To make sure that the notebook itself works fine, I booted it from Knoppix (live Linux CD) and successfully loaded the Linux operating system to the desktop. So, that’s the hard drive problem!
I installed the hard drive back in the laptop and tried to boot it again. The same failure occurred again; I got a black screen with a very faint backlight and no hard drive activity at all. I tested the hard drive with Hitachi DFT test and failed an advanced test. The problem is detected!
Finally I installed a new hard drive, reimaged the drive with a recovery DVD and got the laptop back up and running.
By the way, even though the customer’s hard drive failed the DFT test, I still was able to access it from another computer. The customer had important personal files on the failed drive. I connected it to our recovery desktop computer using IDE adapter. The “failed” hard drive was detected without any problem and I was able to recover the data.
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December 7th, 2011 at 10:01 am
My wife’s laptop has been dead for a few weeks now and I am finally working on it at work because I have some time.
I can fix most issues with hardware and sometimes software…but this one has me dumbfounded…
pulled hardrive…got same symptoms as article writer…must be hard drive I automatically assumed..
I have the USB harddrive hook up to pull up the harddrive and I can’t even get that to connect…never had a problem before…
The drive was recognized but I believe it is either literally dead or physically. About to call Toshiba because she has had it less than a year…
November 25th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
@ Christos,
Try using memory modules one by one. Try different slots.
If the laptop still freezes, I guess this is some kind of motherboard related failure. It’s possible there is a micro crack somewhere on the motherboard.
November 25th, 2011 at 6:06 am
@cj2600
After trials with other 2 memory modules tested in both slots (one by one) at all cases i get reboots or freeze. I guess that means either both slots are dead (jack pot for me!) or i should call my motherboard RIP.
Any other ideas or should i start searching for a new laptop?
Regards
Christos
November 24th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
@cj2600
Thank you for your response. Update on my situation…
I changed HDD and got the same problems. I changed my memory modules with 2 others and got the same problems. The point is that BIOS and memtest recognize the modules in all my cases, so i guess based on your response that one of the slots is the problem and loses its connection with the module during operation. So i guess i should find by “try and error” the problematic slot in order to stop using it.
PS sorry for my english not a native speaker
November 24th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Christos,
While running Memtest86+ try applying some pressure on the memory chips. Does it start giving errors after that? It’s possible that one of the memory slots (or memory module) is failing.
November 24th, 2011 at 12:24 am
Hello and thanks for the info. For the last month i have my laptop TOSHIBA A300-1LT with problems. Either freezes or restarts during sturtup while loading the OS or after login or during the usage. Tried EVERYTHING!, Recovers, Hard format, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Ubuntu. All the same symptoms. Hardware problem for sure. The point is that symptoms are not constant. Sympotms are coming up mostly when laptop is cold i.e. the first tries in the morning i always have problems of restarting or freezing. When i say cold i mean the temperature inside the case not environmental. If the whole system become normal warm then becomes more stable. Almost no problems at all. Memtest86+ is OK for 2 passes. HDD diagnostics that included in all OS are OK. Only the GWSCAN from UBCD is the only diagnostic that run on my tohiba HDD in boot mode after the extended test showed sector relocation error (0226). So my question is is it HDD problem? Should i eliminate motherboard or GPU problem? ANyone facing the same “cold” problem?
October 16th, 2011 at 4:58 am
you can use backtrack5 or any other linux live cd……….@cj2600.
@agus
February 24th, 2011 at 3:41 am
laptop restarts itself anytime a cable is connected or disconnected and sometimes the wired and wireless card don’t work.
January 30th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
agus,
Google Knoppix.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:09 pm
How can I find the Knoppix?