Although my laptop turns itself off when the fan is obscured (not good fan clearly) it turns itself off when playing games even when I raise the laptop to give the fan space. Could it be related to the processor usage related to running a game. I am sure this is not a software problem. I live in Sierra Leone and computer fixers are few and far between, what can I do myself when spare parts are not available?

I think the laptop turns off because the processor overheats. Could it be related to the processor usage related to running a game? Definitely! Higher processor usage generates more heat.
If the heatsink in your laptop is clogged with dust, raising the laptop will not help. The laptop shuts down because dust inside the heatsink kills normal airflow.
Remove dust from the heatsink and most likely it will fix your problem. The easiest way to clean the heatsink is to spray compressed air inside the air intakes on the bottom of the laptop.

My laptop hard disk crashed along with optical drive. I have got the new parts in place now. I am connecting my old hard disk in an USB enclosure to the laptop. I cannot see the drive in My computer though it shows up in disk management as healthy. It is FAT 32.
Please help me to recover the data. Do I need any recovery software?

If the old drive appears in the disk management but not in My Computer, apparently the file structure on the hard drive is corrupted. In this case you’ll have to use data recovery software. It’s still possible to get personal files with the data recovery software even though the hard drive will not appear in My Computer.

Also, you can try this method but it’ll take some time. It’s free. Download a copy of Knoppix - live Linux and burn it on a CD. Boot your desktop (with the laptop hard drive attached to it) from this CD. The desktop will boot to a Windows-like environment and you should see the laptop hard drive icon along with the desktop hard drive icon on the desktop. Click on the laptop hard drive and find if you can see any data this way. Sometimes Linux can see what Windows cannot see. You can burn it on a CD or DVD if your desktop has two optical drives. Knoppix comes with CD/DVD burning software. Alternatively, you can transfer data to an external flash drive/hard drive formatted with FAT or FAT32 (not NTFS). You’ll have to enable writing to the flash drive/hard drive through the drive property settings.

I bought Toshiba Portege laptop and when you turn it on it the Toshiba logo comes on then a screen comes up asking for a password, it doesn’t say what the password is for. It just shows Password = and that is it. I replaced the HHD but it hasn’t made a difference.

This is not the hard drive password, this is the BIOS password.
If you are not sure witch password the laptop is asking for, remove the hard dive and turn on the laptop. If you can enter the BIOS setup menu when the hard dive is removed, it was asking for the hard drive password. If the laptop still asking for the password even when the hard drive is removed, it’s asking for the BIOS password.
Removing the BIOS password from newer Portege laptops could be a pain. For example, in order to remove the BIOS password from Portege A100, M100, M200, R100 you’ll have to take it to the authorized repair center. The authorized technician will have to call Toshiba and get a special code. Only after entering this special code you can clear the BIOS password.

You can remove the BIOS password from older Toshiba laptop with a special parallel plug witch you can make at home.
If you set and forgot the hard drive password, most likely you will not be able to recover it. You’ll have to replace the hard drive. I’ve seen some HDD password recovery software on the internet but I’m not sure if it works, never tried it myself.

I have a problem with my Toshiba Satellite A215 laptop. The screen goes blank intermittently. I know this is not related to settings because the screen goes blank even when I’m working on the laptop or watching a movie. Do you know what is wrong and how I can fix this problem with my laptop?

First of all, find out which version of BIOS you have installed on your laptop, then go to the Toshiba website and find out if they have more recent version available for downloads. I’ve seen this problem with Toshiba Satellite A215 laptops before and it looks like Toshiba addresses this issue in the latest BIOS release. They do not explain what exactly is wrong but the BIOS change history says: “Corrected an intermittent black screen issue”. Update the BIOS and see if it fixes your problem.
If the problem is still there and the screen still goes blank, apparently there is something wrong with the inverter or backlight. Read this posts for more information on how to troubleshoot backlight issues.

Once battery in my laptop is partially discharged and connected to the AC Power, it starts charging and then somewhere down the line, the laptop suspends with the ‘battery low’ pop up. When I bring it out of suspension, it shows the battery completely depleted, for whatever reason. Then, the second I power down, the battery starts charging. This isn’t normal behavior. If anyone can shower some light on this, I’d be really really grateful.

I think your laptop may have a problem with the DC power connector (AKA power jack). Even though the AC adapter is plugged, the laptop runs on the battery power. It happens because the power jack is not making good connection with the motherboard. As a result, the motherboard is not getting power from the adapter and runs on the battery power instead. The laptop works until the battery dries out and then it suspends. Did you notice if the battery starts charging if you wiggle the power plug inside the power jack a little bit? If it does, most likely the problem is related to the power jack and it has to be resoldered or replaced. Please read this post for more information: Laptop switching to battery while connected to AC adapter.

I viewed your photos on disassembling a Toshiba Satellite M65 series laptop and found a problem that I have not been able to get the Toshiba techs to assist me in regarding the DC jack. My jack is exactly as appears in your photos. The problem is the white connector on the board containing the four wires that attach to the DC power jack has separated from the board. I cannot find a replacement part and cannot get a number from Toshiba as they want a serial number, but it is unreadable on the label and unavailable since the computer will not start due to no power from the battery or the DC jack port. Toshiba said to take it to one of their repair centers. Unfortunately, the closest one is 200 miles away.
I have taken it to four different computer repair shops and they have not been able to find a part that is like mine. The closest they have come is a jack that has four wires with no connector. Their solution is to hard wire (solder) the wires to the short small stubs on the mother board that are located under where the old connector was attached. Their thought is the connector is part of the motherboard assembly and comes attached from the factory with no way to repair short of replacing the entire board.
Do you know anything about this DC jack and the white connector? Do you know of a source and/or part number? How does the connector attach to the motherboard? What is the best way to repair this port? Is there a way to reattach the existing connector? The wires are held in the connector by spring clips that can be removed by inserting a narrow blade under the retaining piece. But, nobody seems to know how the connector is attached to the motherboard.
I apologize for this email inquiry, but am very frustrated about not being able to get any answers from Toshiba and other sources. I have spent 5 days trying to get it fixed and am very close to just eliminating the connector all together and soldering directly to the board as I am not going to expense of replacing the motherboard in order to fix the DC jack.
Thanks for reading this inquiry and I appreciate any assistance or contacts you can offer.

Unfortunately, the DC power jack in a Toshiba Satellite M65 laptop is a part of the motherboard. It comes with the motherboard and you cannot order the jack separately. Even if you take your laptop to the authorized repair center they will not be able to find the jack part number and will offer to replace the whole motherboard, that’s for sure.
I think the solution offered by your local computer repair shop should work. You can fix the power jack problem if you solder wires directly to the motherboard. Cut off the white connector and solder all four wires directly to the motherboard. Remember to make notes how power jack wires are positioned and in what order they have to be soldered before you cut off the white connector.

My Compaq Presario V3000 laptop makes funny noise if I turn up volume..it comes from the speakers and its noisy when hearing music. What will be the solution?

First of all, test the laptop with headphones. If your headphones make the same noise, it’s possible you have a software related problem. Try reinstalling the sound driver. You should be able to download the sound driver from the manufacturer’s website. If reinstalling the sound driver doesn’t help, you can try reinstalling the operating system. If you still have the same noise coming from the laptop speakers and headphones even after you reinstalled the operating system, apparently you have a problem with the sound card.
If headphones work fine and you hear noise only from the external speakers, apparently there is something wrong with the laptop speakers and they have to be replaced.

I have a Toshiba Satellite A135-S2266. I will not start up. When i push the power button the little light above it comes on. The CD/DVD drive will run and the fan will too. But nothing will come up on the screen. I have used an external screen and nothing has happened. I have switched the RAM with good ones and nothing. I have taken the battery out and tried AC power and nothing. I do not have a hard drive in it but thought it should boot to the BIOS but it dose not. Do you need a hard drive for it to boot? I have had one other Toshiba that had a bad motherboard in it but i got lucky and got it fixed for free. Can you help me?

You don’t need the hard drive in order to start the laptop and boot it with video on internal or external screen. Normally you can get into the BIOS even without hard drive.
All you need is motherboard, processor and memory. If one of these parts is bad, the laptop will not start.
It looks like you have a problem with the motherboard or CPU. Most likely it’s bad motherboard because CPU failures are not common.

I have Inspiron 9100 notebook. The screen is very dim using battery power. Is this a backlight problem and if so is backlight built into the screen or is there a bulb to replace?

If the notebook screen is very dim only when it runs on the battery power, most likely this is not a hardware related issue. Check your notebook power settings in the control panel. It’s possible that your LCD screen brightness is set to minimum when the notebook runs on the battery power. Usually, you can adjust settings in the control panel, in the power management utility. You can change screen brightness for AC and battery modes separately. On some laptops you can change screen brightness settings in the BIOS setup menu.

Here’s an example of adjusting the LCD screen brightness on a Toshiba laptop. You can do it through Toshiba Power Saver utility in the control panel.
As you see, when the notebook runs on the battery power, you can you can adjust the screen brightness at a few different levels.
When the battery power goes down, the LCD screen gets darker.

Different notebooks use different power management utilities, but the idea is the same.

I saw your website on how to pull apart my Toshiba Tecra S2 it was perfect as I knew what to expect as I was pulling it apart… The reason I pulled it apart was because my fan would not stop running and the laptop was running extremely hot… I could only hold my hand on the bottom for a little while before it burnt. I discovered a thick (about 3mm) blanket of dust covering the heatsink where the fan blows out the air. The main reason I was emailing you is because now I think my fan is reaching the end of it’s life. It is making some real weird noises and some rattling noises when I first start up the computer. I was wondering if you knew anywhere I could purchase a new fan for it. I have searched on Ebay just a Toshiba laptop CPU fan but I’m not sure of an exact model and who would sell it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You can find a new replacement fan for your Tecra S2 if you google for this part number: K000023650.