Sound, wireless connection and modem on my Toshiba Tecra 9100 notebook failed an the same time
I needed some help on my Toshiba Tecra 9100 notebook. I have three issues that may be related:
1. Sound card is not detected by laptop
2. Wi-Fi card not detected by laptop
3. Modem is listed but not usable – laptop reports that it is used by another software
I have used the rescue CDs that came with the computer to restore the laptop to new condition and I even downloaded the latest drivers for audio from the Toshiba support website. The driver did not install.
I installed a BIOS update months before these problems happened. And these three problems happened at almost the same time
I opened the laptop following your procedure (thanks, by the way) to check for loose connections but everything seemed okay.
The computer still works but there is no sound, modem nor wi-fi. And I can still connect to the internet via LAN cable…but it really sucks that I can’t listen to music or use the modem for dial-up connections.
What could be the problem? Please help me.
All three modules – the sound board, the wireless card and the modem connect to the I/O board and I think that’s your problem. Apparently the I/O board is bad. You can see the I/O board pictured on the step 17.
January 20th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Bobby,
Reinstalling the operating system didn’t fix the problem, so it’s not software related issue. You might have either a bad wireless card or failed PC slot. You’ll have to test the laptop with another PCMCIA card. If the card works fine, probably there is nothing wrong with the PC slot and the wireless card itself is bad.
January 20th, 2007 at 1:10 am
I Have a Tecra 9000 with the exact same problem as the original poster: No sound card recognized, no wireless, also the USB ports work intermittently, any news with that?….. seems to be a very common problem
January 17th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Hi Laptop repair guy,
I have a tecra9100, 2ghz, XP Pro SP2 that has no sound! It had a BSOD ‘io\chk error’ when switched onto battery.
I have followed your tear down instructions(THANKS A MILLION) and applied repair bulletin tcr0312 to reposition motherboard. The laptop now works on battery. Modem & wireless also work.
Yamaha AC-XG device appears in device mgr. with no problem.Driver is Yamaha 6.13.10.2152 as per Microshaft KB. Sounds appear to play,volume knob turned up but no sound. Any ideas on this?
p.s. also received “bad checksum” on boot after mobo repair. I beleive the RTC battery also needs recharge/replace as a result of lying unused for about 6 months.Could that result in problems with windows installer? Some setups, ie OPERA.EXE – come back with “access denied”\”is windows in safe mode” Also “help and support” error msg. “Unsafe Active-X control on this page”. Are these related ??
Thanks,
Joe R
January 17th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Hi,
I have a Toshiba S505 with an external Linksys 802.11G card. The card worked fine for about 3yrs then just started having trouble. after spreking with Linksys they said it was a Toshiba problem. The problem i find is that the card comes up with an error code 12 not enough resources and will not load the card. I have done a fresh restore on the computer and still have the same problem.
I have diabled all other network interfaces to free up resources but to no avail.
January 14th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
To Jay. Modem not connecting.
I had a similar problem setting up my Acer notebook.
The proble was that I made a few mistakes in installing my set up disk. I had to contact my ISP technical support and had them talk me through the set up procedure. Since then everything is working well and the connection is reliable.
Arthur
January 13th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Hi, I just bought a Toshiba Satellite L35 S1054 laptop. Everything seems to work fine and I have run diagnostics, enabled the modem, followed every step, yet I keep getting this error: “no dial tone”. The modem dials but won’t connect. The line is good… I’ve checked it and changed it and used other lines etc. It still won’t go. Any suggestions? I’m sure it’s probably something simple that I’ve overlooked but I’m not up on my stuff anymore. I’m not setup for wireless yet so I’m using my landline. IIRC I got a message like.. “network cable not connected” but I’m not certain about that. It’s a new unit, so I haven’t really even used it yet. Just took it outta the box yesterday. Thanks, Jay
January 9th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
George,
When you say high-speed cable you mean the TV cable, right? You don’t need a new service provider to go wireless. You’ll have to buy a wireless router and plug the Ethernet cable coming from the cable modem into the wireless router. Read the user’s manual to setup the wireless router. These days most wireless routers have at least four Ethernet ports, so you can connect to the router via a network cable or wirelessly.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron laptop at home with a wireless card as well as a wireless router. I moved recently and the internet connection in the new place is highspeed cable. Is there any way to keep my laptop wireless without getting a new service provider? Right now I’m connected to the cable wire and all is well, however, I’d like to be able to take the laptop into different rooms of the house and maintain internet connect. Please inform.
Thanks!
January 8th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Mick Johnson,
Probably you have a bad DVD drive, but it also could be a software related issue. Your laptop still should be under warranty, so call Dell. Today one of my customers gave me a laptop (Toshiba) with exactly the same problem. First, I installed a test hard drive and reloaded the operating system but even after that I got the same problem. I ordered a new DVD drive from Toshiba.
January 6th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Hi
I have a Dell Inspiron 640m which has intermittent sound when playing DVDs. It is only a few months old but I have only just tried DVDs. The pictures are ok with no jumps, but the sound constantly breaks up, with lots of very short breaks in the sound (a few times a second). Audio CDs play fine. The problem occurs with 2 different DVD players. One of the DVD players has a pre-recorded video sequence as a sample which plays fine. Any ideas?
Mick
December 30th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Hi.
The modem does not have an ethernet port but naturally the computer does. I do not want to go wireless at the moment. But Imight have to do that to get the computer on line
Arthur
December 29th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Arthur,
That’s very hard to troubleshoot Internet connection issues without touching the equipment. There could be many different problems either on your site or on the site of your Internet provider.
Does the modem have an Ethernet port? Can you connect it to the laptop via the Ethernet cable, not the USB cable?
December 29th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
I recently bought a acer aspire notebook 5102WMLi and have been unable to connect it to the internet using the USB ports. My ISP uses the address ppp0e and every time I plug in my broadband modem I get pings one second apart. USB flash drives are detected and identified CORRECTLY and given a letter designation. The modem is not detected. My first thought was that the Windows Media Edition was not compatable with my ISPs modem Ialso considered that there might be a hardware fault in the USB ports then I thought that the driver for the USB ports was not properly installed at the factory. My wireless modem works in that it detects local wireless networks but I do not have a wireless router yet. Can you advise me on this.
December 28th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
I have repaired dozens of Tecra 9100 and 9000 laptops. Here are the top 3 problems.
1. No sound, SD card reader not working – The upper I/O board connectors that connect to the sound board are the problem. Resolder all 100 pins.
2. No USB, or PS2 port – Resolder USB card connector and mating connector on I/O board.
3. No power, no boot, lockups, flashing amber – Resolder all 480 connector pins on the motherboard to I/O board connectors.
Do not attempt unless you have experience soldering .5mm (.020″) spaced joints.
I list an Ebay auction for this repair occassionally.
Good luck!
December 19th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
I have a toshiba tecra 9100. It turns on but freeze in the middle of being used. There is a problem with my battery so i just use my ac adapter as my power. It freezes often now and want to know how to fix this.
December 19th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite M55-S325. I’m trying to connect to the SBC dsl but unable to. The reps have ruled that it’s not the modem they sent or the ethernet cable, so it must be my local area connection. I have the Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller. It says the device is working properly but I can’t seem to connect my notebook to the modem. They’ve said it might be a software issue where the hardware is working fine but it just doesn’t recognize the cable there. I’ve looked online on the mfr site and other sites but can’t find any software for network drivers for Marvell Yukon. Do you believe it could something else that’s the problem or if not, do you know of other sites I can get to to get the drivers? Thanks a bunch for your help.
December 16th, 2006 at 9:08 am
MikeC,
The only way to say if the problem is hardware of software related is reload the operating system. I think it might be a software related issue.
December 15th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
I have a Dell Latitude X1 laptop. In the past few weeks I’ve started having a problem with intermittent sound. This occurs when I play music, a video, even when the computer is starting up and plays the Windows wave file the sound breaks up. Dell replaced the mother board but it didn’t solve the problem. The problem occurs whether I’m listening through the laptop speakers or through earphones. I’ve run two virus checkers, adaware, disc cleanup, disc defragmenter,. I’ve uninstalled AOL. I’ve taken everything out of my startup tray. I’m at a loss. I don’t know if its a hardware issue or software. Dell had me run their diagnostics and no hardware problems showed up. Please help. Mike
December 14th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Manhas Khan,
You cannot upgrade the sound card and I afraid there is nothing you can do to improve the quality.
December 13th, 2006 at 4:55 am
Hi,
I have a Toshiba Tecra A5, which is now 8 months old. My main problem is that the sound quality is not so good. I invested a lot on gooood headphones, but that has not helped me. I would like to know if, like desktops, i can upgrade the sound card. If not, what is the next best option!!!
Please advise me further on the matter!!!
December 5th, 2006 at 1:11 am
Hi, Ive recently bought a new toshiba satellite 100 and just last night the sound starting crackling and it just went really slow starting up programmes, I really dont know what the matter is, Any ideas???
Stuart
November 30th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Kevin,
If I understand right, you have 2 sound boards now. Have you tried swapping the sound boards? Make sure that cables between the sound board and the I/O board are connected properly. Check all other connections. A volume wheel on the sound board is turned all the way up, right?
At this point it’s really hard to determine the problem without looking at the laptop.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
I have a toshiba tecra 9100. I bought a motherboard, IO board, and sound board from another person after having the above mentioned “sound card not recognized” issue. The person that sold me the board demonstrated it for me and it worked fine. When I put the boards into my own laptop, Windows XP SP2 with updated drivers recognized the sound card. But, no sound! I tried headphones as well and still no sound. I pulled up the sound recorder and spoke into the onboard microphone but didn’t see a response. I then plugged in an external mic and was able to see that sound was getting in. Still, though, no sound comes out.
I tried another hard drive with multiple variations of XP and service packs but keep running into the same problem.
Any suggestions?
November 25th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
Sheree,
I would try to download and install the audio driver. Usually you can find drivers on the manufacturer’s website.
November 24th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
hello can you please help me i have a sony vaio laptop i had sound an all of a sudden it has gone i went into the controll panel where all the sound is an it dosnt give me any option says no audio device this is not rite how can i get the sound back.. if you could help that would be great… sheree …
October 24th, 2006 at 5:17 am
I have this same problem too with tecra 9100, sound card and modem not listed on device manager !!! Is hardware demaged ? I founded on google many same problems with toshiba tecra 9100 !!! I opened the computer and cleaning two cords (sd, sound, ir, wifi-swith board) – i/o board but any results
(( How to repair this damege ? Thanks
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Bill,
The fastest internal wireless card that Toshiba offers for this laptop is 802.11G (54Mbps). I don’t think that you can upgrade the internal wireless card at this time.
I guess you can use Belkin Pre-N PC Card. Toshiba offers this card for $82. I would call them and ask if this card has any known issues with your model. If Toshiba sells this card, probably they know the answer.
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:58 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite M55-S325 with integrated wireless at 54mps. My home wireless network is “pre-N,” 108mps, I think. Is there a way to either upgrade the integrated wireless card on my laptop to accept the faster speed or to use an inserted wireless card that matches my home network (Belkin)? I seem to recall that when I tried using an inserted wireless card on a previous laptop it often froze the laptop. I am looking for as seamless and fast a connection as possible. Thanks!
September 4th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Willie,
It looks like the problem could be related to a bad memory module (or a bad memory slot on the motherboard). Try to install the memory module into the second slot. It would be nice if you can find a good test memory and install it instead your current module. It would help to rule out the memory related issues.
If it’s not the memory problem and the harddrive is fine, then I would suspect the system board. In this model the system board is sandwiched from 2 different boards. The main board – bottom board (with the CPU socket) and the I/O board – the top board. Your problem also could be related to a bad hardware (system board or I/O board) or a bad connection between these boards. I don’t know if you tried to reconnect the I/O board to the main board, but I would definitely try it. The I/O board removal is shown on the step 16.
September 4th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
I have found your site very helpful with lots of excellent advice, thanks.
I have a faithful Tecra 9100 which started to fail a couple of weeks ago. At first I had various system halts, blue screens of death etc., but one evening it just froze. Since then I’ve only been able to use it for a few minutes at a time.
I’ve disassembled and re-assembled as per instructions found on your site to make sure all connectors etc are firmly in place. I’ve removed HDD (it works fine in another T9000).
I can boot a memory test (most of the time) from CD. It runs OK but then just freezes after about 4 minutes: clock stops and display remains (with a flashing cross near the top). Hard reboot is all that works.
I suspect a heating problem, or possibly a static build-up. Perhaps it’s just a faulty main board, bad solder joint, etc, in which case I’ll probably keep it for spares and buy a newer laptop.