Trying to rescue old Toshiba laptop \ VOGONS

Trying to rescue old Toshiba laptop

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First post, by Arkas

Posted on 2018-01-30, 20:25

Arkas Offline

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Hi everyone. I was given a Toshiba A100-003 without a HDD.
When I plug it in, it shows power and battery charging. However, everytime I try to power it on all the lights disapear for a couple of seconds and come back on to their original state, no boot to BIOS. I know many things could be wrong, but is there something I should look at first? Does it matter that the HDD is missing (only looking to enter BIOS to enable booting from USB). Is it worth looking into it or should I set it aside for parts and find another project to tinker with?
Many Thanks.

Reply 1 of 5, by Weebob

Posted on 2018-01-30, 22:10

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Any change if you turn it on without the battery?

Reply 2 of 5, by Arkas

Posted on 2018-01-30, 22:23

Arkas Offline

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Tried it, same reaction.

Reply 3 of 5, by cyclone3d

Posted on 2018-01-30, 22:44

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Could be:
1. RAM
2. CPU
3. Bad cable connection
4. Bad motherboard
5. Short somewhere

If it were me, I would pull the thing apart completely and reassemble, installing only what is necessary to test. Leave out any drives, cards (such as wifi, etc.), do not plug in the keyboard itself.. only the power button cord.

I would also try with a known good CPU and known good RAM.

If after trying that and it still does the same thing, then the motherboard is probably dead.

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Reply 4 of 5, by Nvm1

Posted on 2018-01-31, 08:21

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If it is the version with the Nvidia Go graphics card in it then you have a big chance that the graphics card died. 😢

Reply 5 of 5, by Arkas

Posted on 2018-01-31, 16:38

Arkas Offline

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Posts: 18
Joined: 2017-10-15, 20:41

Yes, it has the Nvidia card. I've tried different working RAM and no luck, so If it's the CPU or motherboard it isn't worth my time, I'll just scavenge it for parts.

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