How can open Toshiba EA60 case and get to the power jack on the mother board?
Without warning my Toshiba EA60-199 laptop has gone dead. Basically it will not power up, with power supply plugged in there is no power light up, and the power supply gives out a very faint whistling noise?? I have tried a new power supply and that too whistles. A local PC shop suspects the mother board. Is there an art to opening these laptops up so I can get to the power jack etc on the mother board? I have undone all the screws but it still won’t split as there is a screw hidden behind DVD drive, but I can’t get the DVD drive out without removing that screw. It’s like the chicken or the egg.
I think that you are on the right track. I would open it up and check if the power jack is properly connected to the motherboard. It’s not enough just remove all screws on the bottom of the laptop, if you want to split the case. Most likely, the DVD drive is also secured by a screw located under the keyboard. I have created a disassembly guide for Toshiba Satellite A60 and I think it could be very close to EA60. Check it out.
Also, I would find somebody who can test the fuse on the motherboard. It also could be your problem. Just recently one tech helped me to fix a “dead” motherboard simply by replacing the fuse.
BTW, I think that a faint whistling noise might be normal and doesn’t mean that the adapter is bad.
January 25th, 2007 at 4:26 am
My vaio also has the same problem as Venkat. I turned away from it for a minute and then suddenly the screen is black with no power… I got no warnings to say the battery was low.. And now it won’t turn on at all.. The screen is black no matter what i do.. I tried taking out the battery but it still does not work..
Does anyone have any ideas what this could be?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
January 6th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Just letting you know that this very same thing happened to my EA60.
Sent it back.
Have had problems with many Toshbia laptops in the past. Theyre pretty rubbish in my opinion.
December 14th, 2006 at 1:15 am
Adam,
I think know what you are talking about. I’ve heard this high pitched noise coming from some motherboards. Make sure that it’s not coming from the hard drive. Remove the hard drive and see if the whistle gone. If it’s still there, probably you have a failing component on the motherboard.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
About the faint whistle, i have no problems with my laptop other than the screen has become really loose..and this SUPER annoying whistle noise coming from the bottom rear of the computer. It is like nails on a chalkboard I am near the edge of throwing my laptop against the wall to shut it up. Anyone know what this is?
December 12th, 2006 at 7:29 am
yes the laptop is completery dead
even the power adapter seem like is dead
but laptop still work on batterys
December 11th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
Venkat,
It’s not very clear. Do you get any LED activity when you plug the AC adapter or the laptop is completely “dead”?
December 11th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
hi
i have a question that is not related to the topic, but i can’t find any thing simlar anyway.
i have a compaq laptop, the laptop will not charge or turn on by wall power will all the ac power o tried.
the problem is when ever i plug in the ac power to the laptop, the light on the ac power turn off, looks like when the ac adapter is dead. but once unplug it the light went up again.
i have the same problem with a acer and another laptop which i forgat which one.
i have to send back to the company for them to fix it, but this one is out warraty it is too much to replace motherboard anyway.
any idea what may couse or fix this problem?
thank fpr you time
eric
December 11th, 2006 at 7:04 am
My Sonay VAIO laptop suddenly stopped working, its not turning on with or without the battery, i the power cord is working fine but the Power LED on laptop or even the fan nothing starts on laptop please provide me suggestions to fix this issue
December 3rd, 2006 at 1:25 am
Erik,
No questions. Just send it to Toshiba.
December 2nd, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Thanks for the quick reply. My problem also beeps. (sorry had my speakers turned down)
Machine is under extended warranty until 2-27-2007
I hate to do anything to it myself.
What do you recommend?
Thanks
December 2nd, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Eric,
I think you might have a faulty memory module. Try reseating the memory module, move it from one slot A to slot B. If you have 2 memory modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop after each module removed.
December 1st, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Hello,
I have a Toshiba m35x-s161.
Have a problem – machine seems not to come on. Power is good, hear fan coming on and off. Power button light illuminates. All 3 lights in front come on. No display.
Has done this once before and “magically” worked again
Please advice.
Side note regarding above Toshibas. Just before my one year warranty was up the power jack became loose (making it impossible to power the unit with the power cord) And Toshiba repaired it (told it was a gray recall) Bought another year of warranty. I guess I may have to use it.also recently received case action suit papers against Toshiba.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:13 am
November 29th, 2006 at 1:07 am
Costas,
Yeah, I think you might have a bad motherboard and Sony motherboards are very expensive. Check out this site, may be you can buy it cheaper from them and install it locally?
BTW, just recently I had a similar problem with HP notebook and the problem occurred because of a loose video cable, it wasn’t properly connected to the LCD screen. Unplug the video cable from the motherboard/video card and see if it makes any difference.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:56 am
I made a mistake here… It seems that those lights (and also the wireless light, when activated) are on but with less power (not as bright as they use to be). Also the power light is working normally and so is the battery light. The above happen with or without the battery, with or without the ac adapter.
My brother tested the AC adapter and it seems to give the correct voltage (19 Volts).
Sony is asking me to give them 150€ for sending the laptop to Belgium (from Greece) and also to prepay the assumed motherboard change 850€. And thats a 15 months old laptop (missed the warranty by 3 months). I can’t find in my country any motherboard replacements. Is there any site that can ship internationally motherboard replacements?
Thanks for taking the time to answer me
November 28th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
Don,
I believe the adapter has to output 19 Volts, not 21. Not sure, but it could be a problem. Otherwise, it sounds like a bad motherboard.
Can you find a spare (charged) battery and test if the laptop starts from the battery?
November 28th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Costas,
Does it happen even if you remove the battery and start the laptop just from the adapter?
Can you test the AC adapter? May be it’s just a bad adapter?
November 28th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Dell Inspiron 1100 Won’t Power-Up
I have tried all the normal solutions for this dell inspiron 1100. I’ve tried to power up both with and without the battery. I’ve removed all the perifials. Memory, Optical drive, Video, Hard drive, Modem, ect, after each time I applied power from the power suply ato chec the system. The power supply measures 21 Volts DC. I just finished taking the case apart and looking for loose cables ect. I reseated the Processor, and the Video card. and reassembled. Exactly the same problem no lights or indications of power with the power suply pluged in. With the powersupply unplugged and the battery in place, depressing the power on button causes the power on and the battery light to flash green. this is a flash less than 1 second. With the power supply plugged in the lights do not flash.
Any Suggestions? Don
November 28th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Last year I bought a Sony Vaio VGN-FS215S laptop, which worked perfectly for over a year now. 2 days ago, while I was working, my laptop turned off and never recovered. I removed the battery and pluged in the AC adapter but didn’t work.
As soon as I press the power button, the scroll lock/num lock and caps loc light turn on and turn off immediately. No beeps or error messages in the screen. I have tried and removed the memory, HD, CD even the processor (Intel Pentium M750) and still I get the same behavior. Do you have any ideas?
November 20th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Kenneth Duckworth,
Have you tried to output the video on an external screen? How about the external video, is it funky too? What if you boot the laptop into safe mode (press F8 on start up and select safe mode), the video is bad even in safe mode?
I don’t work with Gateway laptops, but in most cases if the video output is bad on both screens – internal screen and external monitor, then it’s either the software issue or the video card problem. I’m not sure if a failed power board might affect the video output.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:09 am
Hello:
I have just about given up on my wife’s Gateway 450sx4. It stopped working in August. Although it was receiving power to the battery from the AC, it would not power up. After talking to Gateway and taking it to a local technician here in Korea we ascertained that it was most likely the motherboard. I ordered a new motherboard and had it installed. The computer would now power up, but once in Windows XP, the graphic display was all funky. So, we put in another motherboard and a new internal power board and continue to get the same problem. The Korean technician claims both motherboards we have installed have a faulty graphic interface chip. The supplier claims the problem is the power board. Which could it be and what do we need to do to fix the computer. I would send it back to Gateway, but I am not in the US, which makes this problematic. Any help or advice you can give is appreciated.
November 5th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Erin,
The prong is a part of the DC jack. You should be able to fix the problem if you replace the jack.
November 4th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Hey,
I have a quick question.. Recently on my Toshiba Satellite A60 the prong from the power jack broke off inside of the power cord. I was wondering is this prong coming from the power jack and i simply have to buy a new jack, or is it coming from the motherboard? Thanks so much for your help. Erin
September 30th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
Thanks for the advice I will try that , I do think it’s somthing to do with the power control on the the board or the connector shorting out
September 30th, 2006 at 11:58 am
Jules,
Try minimizing the system. Remove the hard drive, extra memory module (if you have any), the wireless card, the DVD drive. Turn it on and see if you can see any difference. If the laptop still will not boot, there could be a problem with the system board. Unfortunately I cannot give you a better advice; it’s hard to troubleshoot a laptop over the Internet.
September 30th, 2006 at 11:17 am
well now there is not enough power in the battery left to power it on. But before the power button was flashing orange and if I pluged the charger in the charge light wasnt coming on and the charger starts making a whistling noise and stops whistling once I unplug it from the laptop. Any ideas ?
Thanks
September 30th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Jules,
Give me more information. What exactly happens when you turn on the laptop? Does it shut down? What about power LED lights, they go off too?
September 30th, 2006 at 10:54 am
Yes I did try that nothing happened
September 30th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Jules,
Have you tried to start the laptop from the AC adapter without the battery installed?
September 30th, 2006 at 10:04 am
I have had the same problem with a EA60-181. The whistle noise from the power supply only happen when plugged into the laptop which seems like the laptop is shorting out the supply somehow. I’ve tried other power supplies but same problem. It is the second time this has happened only the first time the laptop was under warantee and toshiba repaired it. I will definately check inside to see if the power jack is ok. But any other ideas would be welcome. I dont think it’s the motherboard as it powers on for a second until the battery dies.