Comments on: I’m looking to upgrade two key components in my Toshiba A25 laptop. What memory and hard drive should I install?

By: vanessa

vanessa — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 07:33:57 +0000

can i replace hard disk on Toshiba Satellite A60-S1661 with higher RPM? Any consequences to be aware of?

currently (original) running with 2.5″ Hitachi Travelstar 40GB 4200rpm IDE, 5V 1A.

Any problem to replace with Samsung or Seagate or WD 160GB or 120GB, 5400RPM, 8MB, IDE? It’s hard to find 4200rpm IDE nowadays.
Thank you.

By: Laptop Freak

Laptop Freak — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:36:55 +0000

Jeremy,

I have the Toshiba A25 laptop mentioned in the main posting. Once i have the new HD, can i just use the Toshiba “Recovery and applications/Drivers DVD” that came with it to restore the OS and drivers and restore it to the factory install?

Can you give me any other details regarding this process that would be helpful?

Yes, you can.
Turn on the laptop and press F12 when logo appears on the screen. This will give you a menu of boot devices.
Insert the first recovery disc and select DVD drive from the menu.
Close the drive and press enter.
Follow instructions on the screen.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:33:22 +0000

I have the Toshiba A25 laptop mentioned in the main posting. Once i have the new HD, can i just use the Toshiba “Recovery and applications/Drivers DVD” that came with it to restore the OS and drivers and restore it to the factory install?

Can you give me any other details regarding this process that would be helpful? My HD is going bad.

Thanks for all the GREAT information here.

By: Laptop Freak

Laptop Freak — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:20:28 +0000

Rocco,

I am trying to upgrade the hard drive to a 160G. Is this possible and if so do I need to upgrade anything else?

I cannot tell if it’s possible, Toshiba doesn’t provide this kind of information. You’ll have to try.
Some older laptops cannot recognize large hard drive. It might be necessary to update the BIOS.

I understand the 5400 speed could cause overheating.

I don’t think so. It should work just fine.

By: Rocco

Rocco — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:47:26 +0000

Hi,
I have been reading the problems and solutions here for hard drive upgrades. I have a similar problem. I have a Toshiba Satellite A15-S127 2G processor,768 memory,40G hard drive. I am trying to upgrade the hard drive to a 160G. Is this possible and if so do I need to upgrade anything else? I understand the 5400 speed could cause overheating. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

By: Pinklover84

Pinklover84 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:09:36 +0000

Hi, I own a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V2055 and after checking a few sources I am under the impression that the maximum HDD I can install is 60GB (as any larger will overheat the laptop) and 2GB DDR2 SODIMM 533MHz. Are these details correct or can i go higher on either or both?
Thanks in advance!

By: Roy

Roy — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:44:15 +0000

I have a Toshiba Satellite A25-S307 and was just wondering if I can upgrade the Video card or if it’s integrated into the motherboard? It seems the Trident CyberALADDiN-P4 that it came with dosn’t support pixel shading which is causing some programs not to run properly.

By: Laptop Freak

Laptop Freak — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:48:27 +0000

Hey surv1v0r,
In order to replace the cooling fan on a Satellite L25 laptop you have to remove the motherboard. There is no easy access to the cooling fan from the bottom of the laptop. Now I’m working on a new disassembly guide for a Satellite L25 laptop, it will show step-by-step disassembly process.
I plan to publish this guide soon on http://www.irisvista.com
You should be able to use any larger hard drive 60GB, 80GB, 100GB and 120GB without any problem.
I believe the fan comes with the thermal module (heatsink) and you cannot buy it separately. Here’s a part number for the thermal module for a Satellite L25 laptop: A000004350. If your Satellite L10 is similar to L25, this thermal module should fit into your laptop.

By: surv1v0r

surv1v0r — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:57:31 +0000

Hi Laptop Freak

I (in the UK) have a Toshiba L10 which will not run. I believe that the L10 is the same as the L25 – I have studied your notes on disassembling the latter and the layout of the screws would seem to match those on my L10.

It overheats and the CPU fan doesn’t spin which is I believe one problem. However, on occasion, I do manage to boot it into Windows XP for a while so I don’t think that this is the only problem.

I suspect that the Fujitsu 40Gb HDD may be faulty / flaky because when I try to switch on, there are a couple of muffled clicks from the area of the HDD bay.

I wouldn’t have any difficulty replacing the HDD, but I really wouldn’t know where to start with replacing the CPU cooling fan – can you help?

How extensively would I have to dismantle the laptop in order to get at the CPU cooling fan?
Any suggestions as to where I might get a replacement?

Finally, do you have any idea whether I can fit a larger (replacement) HDD (e.g. 80Gb) to this laptop or will the maximum capacity be fixed?

ps – thanks for the disassembly notes – VERY clear

By: kjm

kjm — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:31:29 +0000

I am upgrading an HP Pavilion ze5730us with memory. I know the memory is PC-2100 but I found a greaqt deal on PC-2700 1gb memory and ordered it. I installed it but it won’t recognize the memory. Previous to this I installed a second 256mb pc-2100 module (as the laptop came standard with only 256mb, so I boosted it to 512mb (256+256). I was intending on making this a 2gb machine (1gb+1gb) but after the 1gb didn’t work I read up on this HP Pavilion and see the max memory is only 1gb Anyways I was assuming this would still work as it would only clock the memory down to pc-2100 speeds. Is the bad news now, in order to have 1gb of memory I need to use both slots of 512 chips? I don’t want to have to return it as I am installing this on someones laptop and I am on vacation and will be leaving here in a few days. Thanks.