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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February 16th, 2007 at 3:42 am
Any one can help me? I have a sat pro m10 toshiba. Always worked well except yesterday the panel went black after I dropped the mouse. I hear it booting but no sound comes from it. I also tried to attach an external monitor but nothing happens the lap does not pick up. I have my essays in there (no data back up
Can anyone tell me what the prob myght be? Pleeez help.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I’m having problems with lcd panel for Toshiba M10. Since dropping my mouse the screen went black. Although the screen was black I could hear the system running and windows starting but now everything seems stopped. Any Idea of what this could be? thanks
January 29th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Just press F1. I have the same exact problem but after I press F1 (for some reason), the HD light comes on and the windows log appears with the loading bar.
January 28th, 2007 at 8:27 am
my problem is that windows xp will load and work in vga mode on an external monitor, and everything runs fine. When trying to switch the resolution, the external monitor goes black just like the laptop monitor ( the laptop monitor shows a faint (about 1% of normal brightness) no matter what mode the pc is running in. Tried reinstalling the video drivers, nothing. HD seems fine. tried reformatting and doing a clean install, the laptop monitor still was virtually black so i tried it with the external monitor and as soon as win xp tried to load for the first time, the external monitor went black too. Any Suggestions?
January 17th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Brian,
I think the only option you have is a clean room recovery.
DON’T do that yourself. You will damage the hard drive and the data would be unrecoverable. But you still have a chance if you use a clean room recovery service.
January 17th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
hpprobem,
Boot the laptop into safe mode. If it will not freeze up in safe mode, probably you have software related problem – reinstall the operating system. Also run memory and hard drive test. If both successfully pass tests, try reinstalling the operating system. There could be hundreds different reasons why the laptop freezes up, there is no simple answer to your question.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:42 am
My Toshiba laptop Hitachi hard drive has completely failed. The machine will not detect the original harddrive but will boot fine with a harddrive out of my other Toshiba laptop.
I have important files on the failed drive that I would like to recover (never were backed up). I purchased a Sata adapter and connected the failed drive to a operational PC and it will not recognize the failed drive. When I put a known good drive into the adapter the PC recognizes the good drive just fine.
What options do I have for trying to retrieve the data. I’m thinking that the only option
is to disassemble the bad drive, and a new drive and switch the actual failed drive disk into a new drive assembly.
Have you ever tried this, is it even possible?
At this point the failed harddrive data is useless, but I hate to buy a new drive and ruin it if this is not even possible to do.
Thanks
January 10th, 2007 at 6:03 am
i have a hp nc6000, it boots into windows and then freezes what could be wrong?
November 30th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I need to replace the hard drive on my HP Pavillion laptop. My question is what does it mean when the drives I am looking up online say 80gb 2.5, but HP part center says a replacement from them is 3.5. Does it matter? Or can I only put in a 2.5? I believe the 3.5 is referring to size? Hope this makes sense.
Thanks
November 16th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
highspeeddirt,
I’ve heard some people complaining about the same problem but I’ve never seen and repaired it myself.
Nope. If you remove the bezel (LCD screen mask) you will get an access to the screen but there is not glass between the mask and the screen. If I understand right, the hair is inside the screen and to remove it you’ll have to dismantle the screen itself.