Dead Toshiba Laptop

[Xist]

My sister lent me her computer and it started freezing, speeding back up, and freezing again. After a couple of cycles when I was not even using the computer, I had a blue screen of dismay, which I believe mentioned some DPC Watchdog error, and said that it was going to create a report and save my data, but it stayed at 0%. I held down the power button until the screen blanked, but two LEDs stayed on. I unplugged it, but could not remove the battery, because it is internal, so I found the pinhole reset button, but that just turned off the lights, it still will not boot. I found posts on-line about holding down the power button for thirty seconds up to a couple of minutes, holding down the power and Esc keys, and various other rituals with the laptop plugged in and unplugged. All that I can do is turn on those lights and turn them off. I report for annual training tomorrow. Right now I am using Dad's laptop, but the plate on the bottom is broken, exposing the hard drives, RAM, and other components, and the internal fan is broken. I use a laptop cooler, but it still overheats. I have other broken laptops...

I posted about this on the Toshiba forums, but nobody has answered yet. I hate to tell my sister that I broke her laptop!

[redpoint5]

You're going to have to crack it open and disconnect the battery. I've had to do the same to tablets before. Why people buy such junk is beyond me, but I don't see people running away from crApple any time soon.

It could still be failing hardware, so cycling the power may only be a temporary solution.

I only buy business-class laptops now because I keep them for 4 or 5 years. The consumer-class stuff usually falls apart just after the warranty is up. Consumer-class is fine as long as you budget to replace it every 2 years.

[Arragonis]

What is the model number, underneath usually on a sticker.

[Hypermiler1995]

Like redpoint5 said, you will have to pull the battery, that "hold the pwr button for 30 seconds" thing sometimes does wonders, but only if the battery AND plug are pulled, plus find the model number, it may be a common problem for that model.

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

You're going to have to crack it open and disconnect the battery. I've had to do the same to tablets before. Why people buy such junk is beyond me, but I don't see people running away from crApple any time soon.

It could still be failing hardware, so cycling the power may only be a temporary solution.

I only buy business-class laptops now because I keep them for 4 or 5 years. The consumer-class stuff usually falls apart just after the warranty is up. Consumer-class is fine as long as you budget to replace it every 2 years.

I disagree with this general statement. I bought a cheap acer laptop when i started college 6 years ago and it still works fine. Its a little slow now and is very particular about having the fan cleaned often, but still works fine.

[California98Civic]

And when you open it up, clean it up inside thoroughly while you're in there if you see any signs of dust bunnies in the making. If it is an older unit there might be considerable dust and such inside, which can undermine the fan's cooling ability significantly. That'll affect operations too sometimes.

[Arragonis]

+1 on cleaning as C98Civic says above. Might also be worth googling the model number, there will probably be a video on how to disasemble, clean and fix. I bought some new paste for my Dell XPS as the fan was on high all the time. Combined with a clean of the fan opening I can play CoD2 (yeah, I know) full screen for hours.

[Xist]

I guess that I will try cleaning it, although the repair shop says that it requires a new motherboard, which is pretty cool for a laptop for which I have not even paid.

[Hypermiler1995]

Originally Posted by Xist

I guess that I will try cleaning it, although the repair shop says that it requires a new motherboard, which is pretty cool for a laptop for which I have not even paid.

Ah, anywhere from $10 to the price of a new Pc on eBay, depending on the model!

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Hypermiler1995

Ah, anywhere from $10 to the price of a new Pc on eBay, depending on the model!

$249 with free shipping and 180-day warranty: Motherboard for -Toshiba Satellite S55-A5335 LaptopMotherboard

Amazon has a used one for $400, a refurbished one for $450, a factory-refurbished one for $570, and a new one for $618. Shipping on the new one is $18, but ten dollars less for the others.

According to Toshiba Satellite S55T-B5335 Laptop, it has a two-year warranty! However, Toshiba had a function that allowed me to put in information and have it tell me that the warranty expired!