My Toshiba Satellite A105 turns on (power button glows) with battery or AC power, but monitor shows no image at all
I just bought a Toshiba A105 – S1712 notebook computer used (almost new) from a friend three days ago. This is my first notebook computer.
Today something very strange happened (I’m terribly sad about it). Let me describe the steps to repro what happened:
1 – Machine was working fine.
2 – Started machine to see a DVD movie, but used the power button instead of Internet/CD/DVD button
3 – While WindowsXP was starting up I pressed the power button and hold until machine turned off. (Forced power off)
4 – Machine powered off
5 – Pressed the Internet/CD/DVD buttonFrom this time on the machine seems just dead. It turns on (power button glows) with battery or AC power, but monitor shows no image at all.
If I either turn on using the Internet/CD/DVD button or the power button, the same happens, machine seems to turn on (power button lights), but it does not even get to BIOS screen.
Do you have any idea on what may be happening? HELP ME please!!
Is there any way (any key to press while powering on?) to reset all BIOS data for this computer?
When you turn it on, do you hear any activity? Motors start working, fan spinning, etc…? Try to connect an external monitor and start the laptop. Check if you can get any video on the external monitor. If the external monitor is dead too, try to remove the battery and start the laptop from the AC adapter. It also might be a bad memory module or a bad connection between the memory and the motherboard. Try to reseat the memory module, move it to the second slot. If you have two memory modules, try to remove them one by one and turn on the laptop. Also, try to remove the hard drive and see if you can boot it to Toshiba screen without the hard drive installed.
There is no special button to reseat the BIOS settings. To do it, you’ll have to access the BIOS using F2 button on the laptop start up, but as you have no video, you cannot access the BIOS and set it to defaults.
I think this laptop is still under Toshiba warranty, so if you cannot figure out what’s wrong, call them and let them fix it.
August 3rd, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Remove Battery, Unplug power.
Press Power button for 10 secs.
Plug in Power, press power button…
Should work..?!
August 4th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Wyatt Earp,
You got it. Even before reading your post that’s what i did. It may have got stuck into failed windows startup and this standby info was not lwtting machine boot up.
After taking off the battery it went LIVE!!!
thanks!!!
Marcelo
August 4th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Thank you very much for your attention,
I just found out the solution (and it was so simple…)
When I came back home yesterday, (and a lot more calm than when the machine went dead) I realized that it could be stuck with some standby / hybernation information because of the interrupted windows startup.
What I did was to remove laptop battery for some minutes (to erase standby/hybernation data) and when I turned it back on it worked!!
What a Wonderfull image was to see Windows XP logo and those pac man balls running from right to left…
October 20th, 2006 at 11:33 am
I have a Toshiba Sattelite A105-S10154, wHEN I START UP MY COMPUTER IT GOES TO THE “In touch with tommorow TOSHIBA” screen. The blue bar loads about half way then stops. It just stays there and will not boot, It does this every time i try to restart it. What should i do?
October 20th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Conor,
It looks like a software problem. You can try this. Restart the laptop and press on F8 key as soon as “In touch with tomorrow TOSHIBA” screen appears. After that you’ll get an Advanced Option Menu. Using an upper arrow key select Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked) and press Enter. See if it will boot successfully. Let me know.
November 1st, 2006 at 11:55 am
Hey, I just got a ‘broken’ compaq from a friend.
The thing is it goes into the first compaq startup picture then the screen turns black.
I tried setting up an external monitor and it works great….I can’t figure out why its not working.
Do I need to bring this to a computer place to have it fixed? how much do you think it would cost?
Or maybe I can do it, I have some experience working with desktops but not with notebooks.
thx for the help,
-rob G
November 1st, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Robert,
May be the laptop is set to output video only on an external screen? I work mostly with Toshiba laptop and I know that on Toshiba laptops you can set the video output to the following options: LCD only, CRT (external screen) only, LCD+CRT, TV+LCD and TV only. On Toshiba laptop there is a key combination Fn+F5 for changing these modes. I’m not sure if there is a similar key combination for Compaq laptops. Enter the setup (BIOS) and check if you can control the video output from there.
Here’s one more question. When the screen on your laptop goes black can you see any dim image on the laptop screen? You have to look very close and the image could be very faint. If you can see a faint image, then you might have a bad FL inverter board.
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:15 pm
hey,
I can see a VERY faint image on the screen.
I’m going to buy a new inverter for $36 bucks shipped, and try to do it myself because the computer place I called say they will charge me $250.
Is this an “easy” thing to do? I have alittle experience with this kind of stuff.
-rob G
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:11 pm
Robert,
Here’s some tips before you spend money on a new inverter board.
Make sure the lid close switch (a little button that is usually located somewhere close to laptop hinges) moves freely. Sometimes, when the lid switch is dirty it can get stuck inside and the laptop “thinks” that the display is closed even if it’s open. When the display is closed the backlight is off too. So, check the lid close switch first.
Sometimes the inverter connectors might get oxidized and the inverter board doesn’t get any power. As a result, the backlight will not turn on. Before you buy a new inverter board you can try reseating inverter connectors. Just disconnect them and connect back. I usually spray inverter connectors with ProGold connector cleaner before I reconnect cables.
If reseating cables will not help, I would buy a new inverter board. Most likely you have the backlight problem just because of a bad inverter board.
If I understand right, you are trying to fix a “broken” Compaq laptop that you got from your friend. Is it easy to open up the display assembly on Compaq laptops? It depends on the model. Some of them are a real pain because the LCD mask latches are very tight, but otherwise it’s pretty easy. I believe HP offers most disassembly manuals for downloads, but they don’t show how take apart a laptop display assembly. Do not use screwdrivers to remove the LCD mask or you can damage the screen. To disengage the latches I usually use a guitar pick (because it’s made of a soft plastic) and my fingers.
I’ve creates some display disassembly guides for Toshiba laptops (www.irisvista.com)
The display disassembly steps would be very similar for most laptops. Go through a few guides and you’ll get an idea how to access the inverter board on your laptop.
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:02 am
I checkd the close switch and it moves nicely…I’m sure its not the problem.
The display assembly has six mini hexscrews that I’ll need to take off…the website you posted gave me alot of confidence that I can do this myself, it doesn’t look to hard.
I’m going to try to get to Home Depot today and see if I can get a mini screwdriver kit or something, and will try to order the inverter today.
November 5th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
hello, i bought toshiba notebook satellite a105-s4004
and wanted to know if there is any setup to have fan always on
(like cool and quiet) i have a problem when activates some processes
they have a little dropout (for example the audio editor like cubase
or nuendo stops by a second), i;m from chile
and i don’t know anyone that could help with this,thanks so much.
November 6th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Sebastian,
I own Toshiba Satellite A105-S361. I’m not familiar with any setup to have fans always on. Why do you think that your problem is related to the fan?
Can you provide a better description for your problem?
November 8th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Hey..
So I orderd the inverter and installed it just now…
and its doing the same thing it was befor, although this time it was able to reach windows login screen befor it dimmed out.
But, this may be happening because I bought a used one off ebay that stated it tested and “works great”
I’ll try to get a new one next time…
-rob G
November 17th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
i had a compaq presario notebook with the same problem. i just decided not to bother fixing that crap. i bought another computer, a toshiba satellite a105 s4384. just hope its not another shit on the market. anyone with more experience with the toshiba?
November 26th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Howdy,
My friend’s laptop, an HP Pavilion ze5400, is having a similar problem. When I boot, the screen is blank white backlit with no images displayed, and when I plug in a second monitor it works fine. I tried pulling the power supply and the secondary one on the motherboard, and it has not helped me. I have also reset the bios to no avail. Before I go and spend all my money getting it repaired, is there something I can do to fix this? I would greatly appreciate any help
November 28th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Eli,
The screen is just blank (with backlight turned on) or it’s solid white color? I know that some Toshiba laptops might output solid white color display if the video cable on the LCD is not seated properly and you can fix the problem by reseating the cable.
If you feel comfortable taking the laptop apart, you can try reseating the video cable.
December 4th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
I have a compaq presario900 laptop where the screen goes black can just make out some background,Iuse an external monitor but have just purchased a new inverter and replcaed the existing one but problem still exists… do not know what to do now
December 5th, 2006 at 5:29 am
hi, i got a toshiba m60 last summer with 1 year warranty, the warranty is over now, i was updating the bios from windows and it crashed(i waited 2 hours) then i shut it down by removing the battery since no other method was working,now when i turn the laptop on,i see nothing on the screen,im sure the bios is screwed so i took it to a toshiba repairman in my area and he said that we have to replace the motherboard and the vga(not built in), he said it’ll cost a total of 863$ US, should i do it or send it to the states where it might be cheaper? isnt there a device to flash the bios? and why would the vga be affected from a bios update? thanks for ur help
December 6th, 2006 at 12:16 am
Bernie,
From my experience, when you can see a very faint image on the laptop LCD screen and the backlight will not turn on, in most cases the problem would be related to the inverter board, but sometimes it could be something else. It’s hard to say what is wrong in your case just from the description provided in the comment 17. It could be a bad video cable, bad backlight bulb or even bad system board.
To find out exactly witch module is causing the problem it’s necessary to install a test backlight bulb and test inverter board. I understand that most likely you don’t have all these equipment, so I would suggest taking the laptop to a repair shop (at least for diagnostics).
December 6th, 2006 at 12:29 am
Johny,
If the BIOS crashed and the laptop will not boot anymore then you’ll have to replace the motherboard. I’m not sure why the repairman quoted to you a new video card, most likely it’s still fine. System boards for this model are not very expensive; I would say that an exchange price (you have to return the old board) is inexpensive compare to other Toshiba models. You can get an idea about the price if you search for your laptop model here.
December 15th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite M35X-S163. This morning i went to turn it on and nothing appeared on the screen, eventhough all the lights were on indicating power was on. Could there be a problem with the wires connection to the motherboard and if so how much is that likely to cost to repair?
December 16th, 2006 at 10:01 am
Alexandra,
Are you aware that Toshiba issues a 12 months warranty extension for Satellite M30X, M35X, A70 and A75 laptops sold in the USA? It’s possible that you can fix the laptop at no charge. Call Toshiba customer support and ask them if your laptop qualify for a free repair or just bring it to a local service center.
December 29th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
i have a toshiba satellite 2210xcds is berry old and the screen turns white, and i can hear the computter running, is so old that i went to a computter repair shop,they told me to buy another ,,,i like my computter,is part of me ,,tell me what can i do..
January 1st, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Cesar,
The screen turns white after a while or it’s white all the time, as soon as you turn on the laptop? If the screen is white from the startup, it’s possible that you have a loose video cable connection on the LCD screen. It’s necessary to take apart the laptop display and check/reseat the video cable on the back of the screen.
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I have an A70 that is having video problem. It came to me with no video. I have tried hooking up an external screen, the svideo output and no video at all. The backlight doesn’t even light up on the screen. The HD lights look like it’s booting up fine. I tried the screen in my another A70, so I know its not the backlight or anything but something with the motherboard. The laptop came to me not working after a liquid spill. Does anyone have any idea where I should be looking for loose resistors or anything. I’m comfortable soldering SMD sized components, I’m just not sure where to start looking on the motherboard.
January 6th, 2007 at 8:57 am
I have a a22e thinkpad with a similar video problem. i can’t find any information on it anywhere. The problem is with the internal LCD, the laptop will boot/works fine with an external monitor but if I try to switch to the LCD, the laptop shuts down within a couple of seconds(I might see a very light white flash from the lcd). I must remove all power to get it to reboot after that. I removed all extra components as well as the lcd panel and cable and it still acts the same(as without the lcd being hooked up?). Thinking it is a bad motherboard even though it works fine when the CRT only is used. One other interesting note is that the a22e, 2655-a7u originally came with a Pentium with a MBoard built-in savage video card but now has a celeron chip(originally not with a savage video card) in it. The most recent bios is set for the pentium mb and will not accept the celeron bios version.
January 8th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
My laptop does the same. I have found that the computer is booting up correctly there is just a problem with the monitor. If I close my laptop and open it again several times I get the monitor to work. I imagine that there are possible some loose cable in there or something like that. Does anyone have more information?
January 9th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Hello,
I’d be extremely grateful for help with my problem. I have a Toshiba M30 (Centrino) Satellite Notebook approx. 2 years old. I have 2 USB External Hard Disk’s running off it. I have only just noticed that when either of the hard disks access-light flashes, so does the laptop screen. It pretty much flashs off then on in quick succession (flickering off then on in rapid succession) when the transfer light of the hard disk flashes. I have tested each drive in isolation (ie only running one at a time) and it does the same thing no matter which one is connected. If I access a folder containing a large file, say a DVD image then the flickering is much more pronounced. Its not really noticeable normally except when accessing “larger” files.
Apart from when accessing the external hard disks the lcd display is perfect, no flickering. This is really, really annoying! I’d love some help with this, thanks in advance!
January 9th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Johnny,
Yep, sounds like a bad motherboard.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:40 am
So even though it works 100% with a CRT hooked up, it’s a bad motherboard. Is it the built in video. Just curious as to why it works with the CRT output and shutsdown in a couple of seconds when the bios points to the LCD. Is there a subboard that can replaced. And replacing the celeron with a Pentium won’t help then? Thanks for you help.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Johnny,
That’s very unusual. If the laptop screen doesn’t work but the laptop itself works fine with an external monitor, in most cases I would say that there is a problem with the LCD or video cable. But in your case I think that’s a bad board.
I’m pretty sure that replacing the processor will not help. The laptop still works with the external monitor, right? So the CPU is fine.
In the comment 26 you said:
so you unplugged the video cable from the motherboard and the laptop still shuts down when you switch video to the LCD, right? Take a look inside the video connector on the motherboard. May be it has bent/damaged/shorted pins?
January 12th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I just bought a Compaq Evo N610c from a friend of mine. He warned me about the video problem. The video works fine when using the AC adapter, but as soon as I switch to battery, the screen turns dark. The computer however still continue to work in the background, just that I don’t see anything on the screen unless I connect the power cord into a power outlet.
My first thought was a bad battery, and I bought a new battery; but the problem still exist. I can boot up into windows, just that I don’t see anything until I connect the power cord, then I will see my desktop.
Please help!
January 13th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Joni Lincoln,
Check the power management settings in the control panel. May be the screen brightness is set to minimum when the laptop runs off the battery.
The screen shouldn’t be completely black even the brightness is set to minimum, but anyway it’s worth trying.
By the way, start the laptop from the battery power. The screen stays black all the time or it goes black only when Windows is loading?
Check if there are any LCD brightness settings in BIOS, may be brightness is set to minimum when the laptop runs from the battery.
January 18th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I took a look inside the video connector on the motherboard but there didn’t seem to be any bent/damaged/shorted pins? Is there anywhere else I can look other than where the video connects to the motherboard for a short?
Anybody run a laptop without the lcd or cable hooked up. Will it shutdown or just continue running but without video.
January 20th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Hello,
i have Toshiba Satellite M55, i got it recently with video problem. The machine start up, start the windows but after a while i get message: the driver “ialmrnt5″ stopped and the computer needs to be restarted. after i restart the machine the screen is black, i cant even see the “in touch with toshiba” screen. I shut the machine down, and after a let say 10 min im able to start it. but the windows will not stay longer that 20min. s tried ubuntu, safe mode still the same. actually now im running DOS memory test. Seems to be good. any advices?
thanks a lot
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I have a satellite M55 also, I have run into a couple of problems with it. I had a pretty bad virus on my computer. I ended up doing a virus scan on there and the computer froze. I did a force shutoff ad when I tried to turn it back on, the computer sounded like it was turning on but it also sounded like it was hanging on something. I’ve tried another monitor and that did not work. Please help me out, college kid with no money
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Tom,
Are you getting any video on the laptop LCD when you turn it on at all? Remove the hard drive and turn it on again, any video? If you have two memory sticks installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop after each removed module. I think you might have a problem with memory.
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I get nothing on my laptop, I’ve tried taking out the memory but with the m55 laptop the OEM memory cannot be taken out without disassembly of the laptop. I don’t hear a post test at all. I’m not sure what it can be
February 16th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
hello people
i got a dell 1100 and after a fall of like +- 4 ft.
on a tile floor the laptop video does not work anymore.
what i did is 1. i hooked up the laptop hdd to an other computer and looks to turn on and work fine.
2. i did hook up an monitor to the laptop still no video 3. then i took of almost everything mouse pad/housing
cpu video card, the lcd ,memory even the dvd and battery
4. i did replace everything on the board one by one but not the hdd or lcd hooked up to a monitor.
5. turned the laptop on and i did see a black screen a messages that it was missing the hdd that was good i guess
6. i hooked up the lcd and yes it was working this was great right ?????
7. turned of the laptop and i did try to reboot with this time the hard drive and yes i was working fine
i worked a little bit with the laptop that was still flat on the floor…
This comment has been published here.
July 1st, 2007 at 11:17 pm
well.. i have a toshiba laptop and it pretty much sucks.. i will never buy a toshiba product again!! ok now to my problem.. i have the power cord hooked up, battery is in the laptop.. well when my computer is on it just decides to go to the battary automatically for some reason.. i have to unplug the cord from the back and put it back in for it to come on.. it just does this at like random times.. i dont know what the problem is man.. wait yeah i do, its toshiba.. but any help would be greatly appriciated.. thanks
July 13th, 2007 at 8:59 am
I have a Toshiba SM30 laptop.
I left it on and went out all day, when I came back there was no image on the screen.
The laptop works fine with an external monitor, the back light on the monitor still works in fact you can still alter the brightness using the shortcut key.
But the screen stubbornly remains black with no image
I have stripped the laptop and reseated the video cable on the motherboard but to no avail.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:49 am
Regarding the laptop not displaying while power is ON. i tried the method explained below. I removed the memory slot and connected it back. After which the laptop started working fine!!!
Thanks a ton, the tip was really useful.
September 1st, 2007 at 4:39 am
Hi,
I have a Tecra S1. Yesterday, the laptop froze. I restarted it, and got back in XP. Then the screen started to show some lines, and froze again. This is now the norm. I can sometimes go for about 2 minutes before freezing. BSOD stated problems with the video. Can I replace the video on the S1, or do I need a new MoBo?
Thanks.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105-s1712. During startup (not sure at what point) the screen went to a dark grey but looked shimmery and was definitely “live” (the LCD would ripple when touched with a fingernail.) After watching nothing happening for several minutes I powered it down and tried again — this time, nothing from LCD, no sign of life from screen (looks black, no hint of ghost image, no ripple when touched, looks just like it does when turned off.)
The laptop still works fine when attached to an external monitor — but the LCD remains stubbornly black. I have tried the following:
–When using external monitor, switched to each of the 5 LCD/CRT/TV settings in turn. No change.
–Removed screen mask, unhooked two inverter cables and re-attached. No change at next startup, screen still black.
I haven’t yet opened up the case of the laptop or attempted anything else such as messing with the back of the LCD. I do have your disassembly instructions, but thought I would check for your input as to a next step before cracking into it. Thoughts? Thanks!
P.S. An old credit card works pretty well for removing the screen mask too, and might be more available for those having trouble locating a guitar pick.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Rebeca,
Try reseating the video cable on the back of the LCD screen and also on the motherboard. The connection on the motherboard is located right under the keyboard bezel. Just unplug the cable from the LCD/motherboard and plug back in place. It’s possible that the video cable is not making a good connection with the LCD/motherboard.
BTW, when the screen went gray did you notice a few white horizontal lines on the screen?
September 13th, 2007 at 10:15 am
SUCCESS!! I tried the motherboard first with no results, then went behind the LCD. There was a satisfying click upon reattaching the video cable that was definitely absent during disassembly.
THANK YOU for your help — the clear instructions and disassembly guides really helped. Seeing the screen light up during startup was a great feeling. Thanks!
November 10th, 2007 at 11:18 am
i have a toshiba satellite and when i turn it on i get a message “error loading operating system” i have no idea how to restart my laptop without that error showing, can you please help?
November 14th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105-S2101 given to me by a co-worker to see if I can fix it.
Problem:
It can display the lights in front (ie. external power, battery, and the other lights) but there is no image on the screen (just a black screen). I can here the fan turning but the laptop is very quite. I have a feeling it is something small that can be fixed I just don’t know were to start. I have tried removing the battery and starting with the external power but to no avail. So…any suggestions:
November 14th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Kevin,
The screen is completely black or you still can see a very dim image if you look very closely?
If the screen is completely black, try reseating the RAM. Remove it from the slot and install back in, try moving from one slot to another. If you have two RAM sticks installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop.
November 16th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
I have a friend who owns a Toshiba A105-S2712. Recently, the LCD display gives nothing display except couple horizontal gray lines. However, the BIOS screen and windows XP loading image still can be seen. And if started as safe mode, the display is fine. So I tried to disable the video adapter which is an Intel Chip and in my case change the Toshiba Application Service as manually started, the LCD screen works fine.
Some tips:
1. You may need to try Fn+F5 to switch between LCD and external monitor to get finally displayed on your LCD
2. Before I update the driver of video adapter, I can login to my system without problem. But after I updated the driver (which is no necessary since I disable the adapter later), I have to shut down the Toshiba Application Service to make LCD display
November 18th, 2007 at 9:25 am
hoyt i have the same problem, ive did a reinstallation and it worked fine, until i installed the video driver, then after than i restart to gray lines, then i restart in safe mode and it works fine. so its a problem with the intel driver i assume, as with you, i would like some help from someone that has expierenced the gray lines of dealth lol.
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:21 am
I have a toshiba Satellite A105-S361, i have a problem the battery is fully discharged only once time when it is used but now battery not charged. Please give me any suggestion
December 6th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I own a Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 and linux has officially killed my laptop. Every distro I tried (ubuntu, debian, fedora 5, fedora 8, openSUSE 10.2, openSUSE 10.3) died in less than an hour after install because they cant control the fan and overheat. Tried booting with many different kernel options and none worked for me.
PS: With Fedora 8 everything worked right out the gates. Sound, wireless, graphics, etc…. just the f u c k ing fan didnt spin fast enough cool the cpu. soo close
December 19th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Can anyone help me with this problem? I have a Toshiba Satellite A 105. I was watching a movie, and the low battery light came on telling me to plug in the power cord. The power cord was plugged in. The computer went into hibernation mode, and it has not come out. At first when I would turn on the computer, the battery light would flash for a few seconds and die with nothing showing on the screen. Now, nothing happens. I have tried to remove the battery and turn the computer back on. I have ordered another power cord, but I am afraid that might not be the issue.
Thanks!
Kevin
January 12th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
i have a toshiba laptop a105. however, i have a problem. there is a BIOS password that i placed, but somehow forgot it.
can some one please help me? i already know 2 ways to fix the bios problem (i don’t think that removing the battery works with this version):
1. jump (or short) the C88 thingy’s located under the Wi-Fi card.
2. making that loop thing, where u connect specific pins to a 25 pin connector
however, i don’t know how to accomplish both of these ways, i took my laptop apart, but still don’t know:
1. wat does short (or jump) mean?
2. how do i make the loop thing
i wish someone could help me, i would really appreciate it. and im ready to pay $25 for whoever helps me fix it (thats the best a college student could do)
and pleaaaaaaaaaase be very specific in detailing wat to do
thanks
P.S. and if its not too much trouble, please send the reply to abdul_quddos2004@yahoo.com
February 18th, 2008 at 5:37 am
Had the problem with my A105 display and was delighted when tryed the solution offered above by Wyatt Earp(removing battery and power cord and holding power button for 10 seconds), But, the problem continued until I loaded new BIOS from Toshiba website and now the problem seems to have been nuetralized. If you continue to have problems you might want to look into one or more of the downloads available from the manufacturer.
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I’ve been having a problem with my Toshiba A105-S4254. When I plug in and use a logitech web cam, after about 5 minutes, the laptop monitor just shows a black screen. You can tell that the monitor still has power going to it, but only a black screen is shown. The power is still turned on but I have no idea whether or not the computer is still running. I do not believe that there is a problem with the camera since I did not experience this problem prior to reformatting my computer.
I ran a memory test and that came clean. Do you guys have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Jon
February 24th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Jonny,
This problem with the web cam sounds like a software related issue. Try installing the latest device driver for your web cam and maybe updating the laptop BIOS.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Can anyone work this one out please.
I have a Toshiba Satellite 5005/5507.
I switch it on and it just sits at the “In Touch With Tomorrow Screen”
Won’t go any futher.
The factory restore discs won’t work (or any other discs), the CD player makes a whirring noise for a moment or two and then stops.
Won’t boot from floppy
Won’t repond to any keys.
Just sits there at the “In Touch” Screen
I have re-seated the memory and then removed each stick (just leaving one each time) – still the same.
Removed the battery for a few minutes – still the same.
The CPU fan works and I can feel the heat from the back.
The “In Touch” screen looks normal – the screen doesn’t appear faulty.
Any ideas please?
April 4th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Hi there,
I have a Toshiba Satellite P100 notebook and have never had a single problem with it until now..!
I could be using it fine and it will suddently freeze and become unresponsive. (Mouse stops moving and laptop eventually powers off by itself) When it tries to reboot, the screen wont come on. Sometimes when it does, it wont fully go into windows and freezes at the windows screen. I can turn it on and on again and the screen wont come back on, UNLESS I take out the power cord and battery and let it sit for about half a minute and then the screen will come on.. But it eventaully freezes and i have to go through the whole process again. I replaced the Hard Drive, both memory modules and remastered it twice! Same problem.. Any ideas!?? Thanks in advance.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Hello, I have a Satellite A105-S2091 that is dead in the water. Nothing on the screen, fan not running, nothing… The only light illuminated is the light for when I plugged the AC adapter in. I have tried with and without the battery. Nothing..
I would like to know if it’s the motherboard or CPU. Please help. Thanx.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
To see if your screen truly is out, just remove the HDRVIVE and turn it on to load bios. You may then see if it looks normal. if so, you may have a bad HD or other components. reseat the RAM modules, and try again.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I bought Toshiba A105-S4094.On start,the screen is black,and after few gentle hits on the both sides of the LCD shows,but flashing and has diferent colours than normal.Friend gave me A105-S2712-they look identical.I swoped the invertors-did’t help.I want to swop the LCD,but I fail to find instructions how to do this.So far i just know how to open the LCD.
Please help.Thanks in advance.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I have a satellite a105 and for some reason windows xp will start to load and then the computer will go into a restart. WOnt boot in safe mode or anything else. Just restarts itself. HELP!!!
July 15th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Guys, please please help me…
I’ve got Toshiba A 105- S4211.
3 weeks ago, all of sudden from nowhere, there appeared a password on the BIOS system of my laptop. After doing a week research on internet, I found out how to bypass this password: I took the laptop a part and used jumpers method) it worked fine. I recovered the whole system using recovery disk.
The Toshiba Co. has admitted that the old bios system for the models alike mine has some fault thus they produced new BIOS system and recommended to flash (update) the current ones.
So, I found a new BIOS and downloaded from Toshiba’s web site.
While upgrading the BIOS within Windows, the text box saying “please wait” appeared and stayed there for about 2 hours. I left it as it is, and left, the battery was there, and AC power was also connected.
I was aware what could happen if power goes off while upgrading BIOS.
When I come back the laptop was off. I couldn’t turn it on because, neither battery nor the AC power was available.
Later on, using AC power, I turned on, but, all I get was blue power on button, blank screen (nothing on it), some sounds of CPU (or it’s fan) and that;s it.
I realized the power went off during the BIOS flash… and I have no idea of what to do.
I created auto-run CD of the BIOS and run it on CD-Rom but it didn’t work.
I connected desktop monitor to the laptop, it stays blank anyway.
I have been using the laptop for almost 2 years, and my warranty program is over.
Please, please, help me!
October 4th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Well Mr. Freak (Monitor Info)
Great site!
Hope this helps some of your readers
On my A-105, I tried ALL of your tests, and got lucy with my last idea, that you just mentioned.
My Toshibia, would try to boot/restart about 4 times and give up, no monitor, so I resherched where the (screen closed) switch is.
it’s a magnet under the top right corner of the screen. It raises the switch — turns off the monitor and/or turns the laptop off (if that what in is told to do in power options) —
Uhe SWITCH is under the right palm rest!
So I whacked it, with the screen open, under the switch (on the bottom), to (JIGGLE/reverse the throw, and it’s working great now!
Hope, it was just STUCK and not a connector/solder!
What do you think?
Keep up your helping us, THANKS, Rich.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I was working on a Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284 for a friend. It had been dropped from a couch to the floor and the screen was only displaying white backlight. I tried an external monitor and it worked. I initially checked the connection on the MB for the display and visually looked at the connection on the back of the LCD. The LCD connection was being supported by tape and from what I could see it looked good. None of this helped the situation.
I then found this site and decided to take a second look at the taped connection. After removing the tape I was able to see that the connection was slightly dislodged. I reseated this and placed new tape over the connection. Everything is now working correctly. Thanks for the help.
Billy
October 11th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Thank you so much very valuable info.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:35 am
sigh* i have an a105-s4254. the display pixelized then turned black while I was doing some work. prior to that, I would have a hard time turning it on – only the lights on the wifi switch and DVD drive (both on the right side) would light up. so I would take out the battery and the AC adapter, then try to boot up. anyway, I tried W.Earp’s advice but didn’t achieve any results. I tried connecting the unit to an external monitor – no display either. is it time for board level repair?
thanks so much.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:17 am
I have recieved a Toshiba Satellite A105-S2101, from a friend to fix (it was in need of a “factory re-install).
I put in the CD (yes, she had saved the re-install CD) and started the install, I had the restore program restore to “factory fresh”, while the program was reformating the hard drive, the laptop shut down. OK so it also has a overheating problem… So I cleanned the fins with canned air (BTW, lots of dust bunnies hopped out of the fan grill), I tried the restore CD again, and the laptop shutdown within 5-10 minutes. So I figured I’d open the case and clean out the fan area, followed the directions to open the case, etc (from a link on this site.) BTW, I’ve been able to tear down laptops before and get them running again. The fan area had a dust bunny convention. Cleanned it out, and proceeded to put the machine back together again. When I was done, there is no image on the LCD (not even a ghost image). I checked the video cable by the hinge mobo connector (it was “backwards”) fixed it and still no display (no ghost image). The LEDs for the power and the HD do come on, the LED for the DVD/CD drives come on (then goes off — no disk in the drive at this time). I don’t feel the hard drive working (it was in the middle of a format when the machine powered down) so there is no OS…
What should I do at this point? (the customer has been notifed–she is NOT happy! go figure!).
Thanks for all the help in this forum.
topbarhive
November 8th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Well, do I feel like a dummy…
I’ve got the system running fine, now, thanks to your help in this forum…
The memory stick was not “in far enough” or wasn’t seated properly.
That is now fixed and the laptop is installing the restore CD now.
AND it has been running non-stop for over 40 minutes; so the overheating issue as also been fixed.
YEA! or as my younger son says “WOOT!”
Thank you again for all your information….
From now on, asklaptopfreaks will be my first stop on troublshooting additional laptops.
BTW additional info — The external display wouldn’t work before, now it also works fine.
topbarhive
December 17th, 2008 at 8:10 am
I have a Toshiba A105. When I start up my computer it goes to the “In touch With tommorow TOSHIBA” screen. The blue bar loads 3/4 and then stops. It just stays there. F2 and F12 won’t work. Any ideas???
Thanks
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I have a toshiba satellite a105-s1712. I try to put it on and it just starts up with the power light glowing, but it doesn’t do anything else, the monitor does not display any image at all, the hard drive light does not blink at all. Can somebody please help me.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
tom Andrews,
By the blue bar you mean the Windows bar?
You have to press F2 or F12 as soon as you see Toshiba logo on the screen, not when Windows starts loading. Can you?
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Musab,
Could be bad memory. Try removing memory modules one by one. Test the laptop with each memory module separately.
If the laptop fails the same way even when you run it with each memory module separately, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I have a customer who brought in a Toshiba A105-S2051. When you turn on the laptop, it starts for about 2-3 seconds, then loops like that 6 times and stops. No video, so plugged in external monitor, still loops. Disconnected laptop video cable in case of short, still loops. Replaced RAM with new RAM, still loops. Checked for voltage on PS, getting correct voltage. Tried to start with/without battery, still loops. Replaced CPU, still loops. Ordered new MB, assembled, still loops. I’m stumped. Any ideas??
January 1st, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Shoreline,
Sounds like a nightmare unit.
Assemble the barebone system (mobo, CPU, RAM) outside the laptop box. Connect an external monitor and start the system. If you have two CPUs, two motherboards and extra memory, you should find a combination that works. When you find it, start adding other components (HDD, DVD drive, Wi-Fi card, etc…) one by one while the laptop is still assembled outside the box. This way you can find a faulty component.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:56 am
it’s probally the magnetic door switch that turns off/on monitor, mine did exaly the same-even the loop.
it won’t boot unless the switch is working-even a external monitor, read my post a105 door switch or un plug/open screen/rap-wack on bottom right corner-where your right palm rests with lap in normal orientation-up right, it released my stuck magnitic monitor switch and works fine for 8 months
alot of people bump it while replacing other stuff and don’t even know that the bumping released the switch and that’s what really fixed it – go figure
only othe problem i’ve had was blue screen of death at boot caused by bad memory slot — just move memoty to other slot–fixed
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:17 am
i ment tap\whack on the underside bottom of lap –corner under where right palm rests, i held mine in the air upright/door open
the magnet is in upper right top corner of the monitor
thats why you tap the switch with the door open then try rebboot even before closing it, to check repair and know if it re-sticks again later
it may be a faulty switch and tap in won’t reset it.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:56 am
Rick, will give that a shot when I get back to the shop on Monday, thanks. Will post if any results.
Laptop Freak, sorry, forgot to mention that I took each piece of hardware off one at a time until I was down to the MB, PS and switch. So without any posibilty of grounding, it still loops. I even tried another PS from another Toshiba unit. So I’ll try Rick’s idea and get back with you guys. Thanks.
January 7th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Just to let you know, I figured out what was wrong with the MB. The
second RAM socket was bad, and the customer needed the laptop back in
a hurry. So I doubled the RAM size by just going to one stick.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Glad to help – thought it was magnetitic switch, but glad the ram slot move worked
January 18th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I am having a problem with my toshiba satellitea135-s2276 trying to fix for a friend and I tried booting with battery , with just battery no backlight the laptop monitor is black.. no go on the external monitor either. Also tired without HDD no toshiba screen. Another hint that i cant figure out is that the cd tray light stays on and wont open without using a paper clip of course no dvd/cd in there. fans running fine. Stuck any help at all appreciated I think maybe the mobo just guessing though.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Oh and also swapped the ram to a different slot. which was also no good.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I recently recieved a broken Satellite A105-S2712 from a friend. It had no hard drive so I got one for it. I also bought a Windows XP disc to install the OS. When I turn it on with or without the Win XP disc inserted it says “Windows is loading files”, the bar on the bottom goes all the way across, but then the computer just restarts and does it again, and again, and again, forever. I have tried telling the computer specifically to boot fom the CD drive but it still just does the same thing. Any suggestions and/or ideas will be greatly appreciated.
March 16th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Q I just bought a Toshiba A105 – S1712 notebook computer used (almost new) from a friend three days ago. This is my first notebook computer
A Did you read Rick Johnsens’ 4 posts about a105 dor switch switch? on this thread -January 2nd, 2009 at 8:56 am
Randys – Question,–Windows is loading files”, the bar on the bottom goes all the way across, but then the computer just restarts and does it again, and again, and again, forever. I have tried telling the computer specifically to boot fom the CD drive but it still just does the same thing
I presume you check boot order in set up, it’s over my head but some guess’s–bad memory or slot, bad or corupt bios chip – try to flash it, processor overheated, bad or try to re-seat it, bad Hard drive from store
March 16th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Rick – Thank you for the advice. I will try all of those things. May have to do like some of the posts say and start with a bare bones unit and work from there. Let me know if you come up with anything else. I’m willing to try anything at this point.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:34 am
hi guys back to the toshibas, i have a toshiba uquium a200 1v0. it overheated due to the fan being in the most turd place ever. now when i power it on i get the power light, battery light and power cord light but no boot. a similar thing happened once before but it had just went into hibernation. i tried all the tips from the above thread and nothing worked. can some one please help??
the fan spins at a low RPM, i get the three lights described above and thats it. i get no boot, no visuals, no nothing.
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105 S2236 laptop and the other day I took it to a repair store to get some work done. I brought it home yesterday and it turned on, but nothing showed up, so I had a friend take a look. He found that a black colored wire in the base of the computer underneath the keyboard was dislodged and was unable to put it back. is there an easy way to correct this so I don’t have to shell out more money for repairs?
June 4th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Hello, I bought a brand new toshiba laptop, i spilt literally like 3 drops of water on the laptop keyboard, went to rubb it all off rubbed all the keys down, then the laptop turned off, when i try to turn it on its a black screen, i tryed taking out the battery putting it back in, when i go to start it it starts up and lights go on and will stay running till battery dies…. Any ideaS? I was wondering if there was a combo of buttons i pushed to turn screen off… ive been looking for the right button but icant find.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:26 am
What is wrong with you people? This thread has been hijacked by morons! Look at the title!!!! “My Toshiba Satellite A105 turns on (power button glows) with battery or AC power, but monitor shows no image at all”. Now there are people posting on here with Compaq’s and HP’s with backlight issues, bios problems, bad inverters ect… Start a new thread unless you have a question that even remotely relates to this exact model and issue!!!!!! I’m trying to follow the solution to this but there are 85 posts that have NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS THREAD!!
September 17th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
your screen is propobly burned out, have to get another lcd
January 19th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Ok, I have been reading… and reading, and trying things mentioned. So, I finally decided to write in this thread.
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105-S101 and I am having a huge issue with the display. The Power Light comes on, the hard drive spins up, and the lights below the F10 and E11 keys that blink when you turn the system on are very dim. A while ago (3-4 weeks) the system was plugged in and was working (Not great but working) the power plug moved and even with the batery in, the system died and has not been back on since.
Any help you all could give would be greatly appreciated.
B
March 31st, 2010 at 6:51 pm
I have the same problem, i don’t know what to to do now with the screen, i’ll take the toshiba with an professional so he can help me.
by God bless u!, i hop we both get this problem solved