I turn on the power button on my laptop and it powers up. No Toshiba graphic appears, not even the backlight.
Thanks for making your site; it has some very useful information. Unfortunately I have an error for which I could not find a solution on your site.
I have an M35x-s149 Toshiba laptop. One day it started acting up… I turn on the power button, and the power management system powers up CD-ROM etc has sustainable power. However nothing appears on the screen. No Toshiba graphic appears, not even the backlight. Also the wireless internet connection will not activate, and finally I noticed where normally the green HD light would be blinking rapidly, it will now only blink a couple of times upon pressing the power button then cease to flash until I power off again.
I’ve tried plugging the laptop into an external monitor. No display. And I’ve checked the cooling fan outlet and it doesn’t appear to be clogged.
Any ideas what the problem might be? Is it a burned out hard drive? I would have thought at least the Toshiba graphic would appear if the HD was burnt out. Would appreciate any advice you might have.
You are right; it doesn’t look like a burned hard drive. When a hard drive goes bad, you still should get some video on the screen. I think that you might have a failed memory module. Very often a failed memory module causes a laptop not to boot with symptoms like yours – power LED lights normally, DVD powers up, hard drive LED flashes a couple times, but that’s it. Nothing will appear on the screen and the backlight will not light. If you have 2 memory modules, try to remove them one at a time. If you have only one memory module, try to reseat it. Try to move the memory module into a different slot, because the memory might be good but the memory slot on the system board has failed.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Emil,
Could be bad memory. Do you have two modules installed? Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. Try different combinations, test each modules in each slot.
If your laptop works fine with one module in both slots but will not start with another module in both slots, the second module is bad.
If reseating and moving memory modules will not help, most likely your problem is the motherboard. I think it’s very unlikely if both memory modules fail at the same time.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Hi,
I have toshiba satelite m65. I can’t start it since I shut it down this morning and came to work. The blue light comes on, even fan starts, and after 8 seconds it simply goes off. Nothing appearing on the screen. Tried simple tings like removing the battery, but nothing.
The only cause I can think of is me putting in memory usb stick before I started it.
please help, I’m desperate
Thank You
June 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Hi,
I actually have the same exact problem as “Sunshine.” my Toshiba laptop m65 wont turn on. When i turn the computer on with the battery nothing will show, and the fan comes on for 8 seconds then turn off. But when I use the AC Adapter cord, THE FAN WONT EVEN TURN ON! Sunshine said that it was the motherboard, and not the memory, so do think it is possible to fix this problem myself? or should I take it in? Thank You for your time. I hope to get an answer back.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Thanks for the reply. I tried as explained but still the same.
regards
Thusith
June 25th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Thusith,
That could be memory related issue. Try reseating the memory module. If you have two modules installed, pull them out of the laptop one by one and test the laptop with each memory module separately. It’s possible that one of the modules is bad. If that’s the case, you can remove the bad module and run the laptop on the remaining good module.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Hi There
I got similar problem with when the power is turned on Fans starts for few seconds but no video displayed. but when i pressed DVD, the tray opens up and close normally. nothing more. this happens Last April. I bought this Toshiba A100 Satellite laptop in Aug 2006 from Dicksmith , Auckland, NZ. I am out of country with my laptop and waiting to return to get repaired since I got 5 yrs extended warranty, Now today I just switched on and to see windows XP logo displayed and after few seconds it went off and dead again. Could you please kindly tell someone whether my laptop mother board is gone or something wrong with power supply? I am still waiting to return to NZ for repair but I like to know the real reason for this strange behavior.
thanks
Thusith
May 29th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Good morning,
I have a Toshiba M35X-S149 Laptop. When I turn it on the light for the power comes on. The fan starts to run and the boot process starts. anywhere between 5-20 seconds later the fan stops followed by loss of video. The power light stays on for about 5 – 10 seconds more. Tried switching ram slot, different ram, battery in and Ac power, battery only, AC only, resoldering the DC jack-all no joy! any thoughts?
February 15th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
thanks for the info for the no boot up. was looking online cause my system would show power. replaced three memory chips with no response. i read here that someone pressed the f1 key on boot up and guess what? IT WORKED!!!!!!!!! Thank you vvvverrrrryyyy much! Love this site now.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:22 am
For Tatiana and Other having boot problem with Toshibas like No Toshiba Logo, fan spins, HDD light on ( sometimes flicks 2 to 3 times ) CD / DVD drive spins, u can hear it spin, even u can hear clip clap like sound of hard drive trying to boot, etc etc but SCREEN REMAINS BLACK !! U tried switching RAM from one slot to other, tried connecting to external monitor, BUT NO LUCK. U tried 15 – 20 times by pressing power button and restart it again in hope it boot to windows. Before you come to conclusion that Motherboard is dead or dying and give up hopes, plz note, if ur fan spins, u see HDD lights, cd / dvd spins than ur Motherboard is not dead or dying. If motherboard dies u never get any gadgets to work on. I have Toshiba, I love it, hate loosing it or bring new one. Most likely your power supply is bad. Black box where u connect ur power cord one side to the wall and other side goes in ur laptop. These small black boxes get weak and do not supply enough power to ur laptop to boot. Try charging ur laptop battery once battery is charged take power cord out from ur laptop and try turning it on. If ur laptop boots up than its ur black power supply box is bad. Plz note, ur battery gets weak as soon as u boot ur computer from it. So next time u boot without charging it, it wont help to boot. Boot takes more power. Even if ur unable to boot with battery try connecting it with different power supply, before u spend any money. Test it first.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:55 am
My hp laptop has gone bonkers
I close the lid and it shuts off right away I need to hit the reset button to get it to come back on? Whats going on and how do I correct this. Thank you!!
November 28th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I am sure it is your motherboard, i am working on one that is identical. I have traced the power and it seems to actually only power the processor and the cdrom and nithing else. I have been a tech for 10 years and I work on TONS of laptops.. Its your motherboard stop wasting time and money on it lol…
November 27th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Tatiana,
I would probably check the memory first. How many RAM sticks you have installed? Try reseating the RAM module, move it from one slot to another. If you have two sticks, remove them one by one.
By the way, try this. Remove all RAM modules and turn the laptop on. Does it give you a beep error without memory modules installed? From my experience, a Satellite M35X laptop will give you a beep error if there are no memory modules installed. If it will not beep without RAM, there could be a problem with the motherboard.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Hello,
I have a toshiba m35x-s149 and I just received it back after having the AC adaptor coming lose and my video connection being faulty (The display was there but it was flickering, the tech said it was just a lose wire) I had been using the laptop for about 3 weeks after it was returned to me and it just all of a sudden turned off after saying that the virtual memory was low.
I tried to power it on, like others, the fan ran and power light, battery and AC lights are all on but no display. I can get the laptop to boot up and operate normally maybe 1 per 10-15 times of turning it on, the video seems fine when it does power on, but it seems to only be doing it when it wants to. What do you think the problem could be? I tried hooking it up to an external monitor when it decided not to boot and they is not any display.
Please help… thanks
November 18th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Lal Anar,
Did you test the laptop with an external monitor? Find out if the laptop works with the external monitor even though the laptop screen appears to be black.
Did you try reseating/replacing the memory module as it described in the initial post?
November 17th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I have same problem with my Toshiba Tecra A3-S611. Its two years old. Never gave me any problem, one night it froze. I clicked shut down or re-start from Windows, did not do anything. Power light on, Fan works, CD rom spins, HDD light on, but SCREEN remains BLACK. No red TOSHIBA screen came up before loading windows. I manually turned power on and off several times before it loads or boot to windows. Sometimes I spend over 45 minutes turning power on and off praying it boots and load windows. Now I keep it on Standby mode at least it wont bother me. But I can not install my wireles card or any other software because it asks to restart the system. Is this bad mobo or is it a software related issue ?
November 8th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Clei,
I think something is wrong. PC2 is DDR2 memory but PC333 is DDR. DDR2 is not the same as DDR, so PC333 cannot be DDR2.
You can use the system scanner tool or memory advisor at Crucial.com. These tools will help you to find the correct memory module for your laptop.
November 5th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for the help. It was a memory problem. I’m replacing my 512MB RAM with a 1GB. Not sure though what kind of memory this is. It says 512MB 2Rx16 PC2-3200S-333-11-AO in the component. It seems to me that I should buy a PC333 DDR2. Is this correct? I couldn’t find this in the stores. Is this because it’s too old? I was usually offered with a PC533 and PC667. Would my laptop still recognize the memory if I inserted a PC533 or PC667 in the slot? And what would be a good brand to buy? Thanks!
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:45 am
Hi. I have a NEC Versa M320 notebook and when I powered up, the power LED is fine, HD LED blink is a few times
and CD Drive LED stays on. Nothing came up screen (screen remains blank), not even the setup menu was displayed. I presumed it could be the motherboard which is bad news … but I was hoping not. It can be charged, the battery run fine. But NOTHING was displayed .. blank dark screen. After a few seconds of power up, the HD LED is off, leaving the CD Drive and Power Up LED on. If I placed a bootable CD on the cd drive, nothing happens.
I was thinking could a dead CMOS battery cause this problem? Anyone has any experience with a dead CMOS battery before? Do you see the setup menu if the CMOS battery is dead? Thank you.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Clei,
I agree with Brad. It’s very likely that you have a problem with the video card. But the same problem might happen because of failed memory module.
In order to start any laptop with video you need three main parts: motherboard (with video card), processor, memory. With these three parts you should be able to get video on internal or external screens. If there is no video check the memory module first, try reconnection it. If the laptop still has no video even after you install a known good memory stick, probably you have a problem with the video card. On most laptops the video card is integrated into the motherboard and if it’s bad you have to replace the whole motherboard.
October 18th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
POWER ON LAPTOP NO DISPLAY OPERATED NOT EVEN WHEN EXTERNAL MONITOR HOOKED UP. SOLUTION IS NOT ONE ANYONE CARES TO HEAR. IF AN EXTERNAL MONITOR DOES NOT WOK, MORE THAN LIKELY IT IS THE BUILT ON GRAPHICS CARD THAT IS AFIXED TO THE MOTHERBOARD. GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS: IF YOU HAVE WARRANTY UTILIZE IT DO WAIT. A NEW MOTHERBOARD RUNS ANYWHERE FROM $149 UPTO $800 DEPENDING UPON THE QUALITY OF THE LAPTOP. THERE IS NO WAY AROUND REPAIRING THIS OR CHEATING BY USING A GRAPHICS CARD. LAPTOPS HAVE THE INABILITY TO UPGRADE IN THAT NATURE. SORRY FELLOW COMPUTER FRIENDS. BEST WISHES. IF THE LAPTOP COST LESS THAN $650 BRAND NEW AND IS MORE THAN 3 YEARS OLD IT MAY BE CHEAPER TO UPGRADE THE WHOLE UNIT.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I forgot to mention, I tried to plugged in an external monitor and still, there was no display. Please help.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Hi. I have a Sony VAIO laptop and it has been working OK for three years. Just recently, when I turn it ON, there was no display, just complete black. LED lights are OK though, and I can hear the hard disk spin. Would you know the cause of this problem? Thanks for the help.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
My husband knocked his laptop of a chair and now it won’t boot up normally. It takes a while to get to the password and once you put it in, it just processes forever and never boots up. The only way I have access is through safe mode. How can I get it to boot up?
September 17th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
I have a similar issue and am really at wits end. I have just purchased 3 used laptops non work. I work on desktops and couldn’t pass up the deal. All three are GATEWAY 450′s from 2003 loaded with Pentium M Centrino and 512 ram, HD’s are: 30gig, 40gig and 60gig They all do the same thing, Turn on and nothing happenes. Fans start up, sometimes the screen flickers to let you know there is power, and once in a while they load XP or sometimes try, I get an error message that gateway can’t determine. I tried a restore cd, tried to flash the bios, twice out of 300 times I have had winxp load, and the other times nothing. Then about 30 of 300 I have had the Gateway screen flash and thats it. I have interacted with bios about 10 times total. I am getting stressed. I have interchanged HD’s and Mem Mods, Decreased even removed, one time heard three beeps too. What could possibly be wrong. is it the display CRT I have had a picture a few times and then it went all haywire like from the movies HACKERS.
Please let me know if anyone figures this out. Thanks!
September 10th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Abi,
Could be memory related problem. Try reseating the memory module.
The laptop is still under warranty, right?
September 10th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
hey i have an acer aspire 5610…i jus bought it today and it was working fine..whilst i was configuring i had to restart my laptop so i shut it down correctly and then when i pressed the p[ower button again i could hear the processor running and everything bt then it stopped. my screen was blank the whole time despite the fact thwere was still power..i dunno what 2 do so please help me as soon as possible…
from abi
August 27th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Hi,
i posted here because i didn´t find a “new thread” button..(maybe i’m blind lol
)…
i have an old toshiba 200cds. It was working fine ’til some days ago…it powered on but nothing on screen…it was frozen…then i pulled out the 32mb memory module and the laptop worked just fine again but only with the 8mb onboard (not much huh). So i went for a new memory module but it was the same thing the computer powers but nohing on screen…i tried 10 different memory modules from which 2 were EDO; with those EDO PC started fine but wont recognize them (because of memory type compatibility ofcourse) but the remaining 8 were the same memory type and nothing even with Kingston and Generic modules from the same memory type including 8,16 and 32 Mb ones…… is there a chance that mainboard has a failure? its curious because without memory in the slot PC works really fine no frezes or resets or any kind of problem…just that i’m only using 8 mb…so it seems that the main board “is working fine” right?
but im really confused because if it is ok, then why i can´t start with the 32mb module or any other module?
i hope someone could give me some clues…thanks a lot for your time.
Luigui.
May 16th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Hello. I have a toshiba sat. a-65-s126. I run two versions of linux and have grub as my boot loader. A few days ago my system when in to idle stage and i gt a black background. I thought nothing of this but when I tryed to use it again it would not come back up. Turning it off I nodice when it started the toshiba bios image was chopy and had lines going north to south on it. And when my boot loader came in It was all messed up like I had a bad resolution. I selected each of my options ranging from full use of the kernal and everything to the bare.i After each time it loaded a few things then the kernal paniced. Complaining about an itle task that it could not end. I tryed booking with a cd and that failed to. After trying to find the memory I soon found out that I have an upgrade slot but my memory seems like it may be build in. I have takin it completely apart and cleaned everything adn still nothing. Please. Your my last resort befor I cut the motherboard out and use it as a speaker.
May 13th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Is it difficult to replace a backlight inverter for gateway solo pro 9300
March 11th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Steve,
Sounds like the laptop has a problem with the motherboard. Try using Toshiba extended warranty.