Toshiba Tecra 700CT/1.2 \ VOGONS

Toshiba Tecra 700CT/1.2

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First post, by krivulak

Posted on 2016-02-16, 21:35

krivulak Offline

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Hello, I just today got this vintage laptop, of course, I tested it for maybe 15 mins, it ran, but very sloppily, unstably and weird. So I disassembled it, cleaned old completely rock solid thermal paste, applied MX-2, lubricated fan, assembled it again (well, I missed two small metal pieces, but the laptop itself is grounded to hell, everything has it's own wire connected to earth) and guess what. Power LED turns on, nothing more, nothing less. No power to the HDD.

I am just frustrated, it is another one Pentium machine that died in front of me the day I got it. Either I am cursed or I am doing something dead wrong. But I normally repair Xboxes and Playstations, I even resolder PSPs, which is super-precise.

Could somebody please help me? I was hoping that I will finally get Duke Nukem 3D Gaming PC after 18 years, but nope. I am not supposed to play this game apparently.

I can't even post info about it, I just know that it has Pentium and 1,2 Gb HDD, it died so fast that I couldn't get even everest there.

Tomorrow I will post some photos there, now I gotta go sleep.

Reply 1 of 4, by brassicGamer

Posted on 2016-02-17, 00:08

brassicGamer Offline

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Fundamental thing but something easily missed so not wishing to insult your intelligence but did you test the voltage of the BIOS battery?

Also have you consulted the service manual?

Check out my blog and YouTube channel for thoughts, articles, system profiles, and tips.

Reply 2 of 4, by Kahenraz

Posted on 2016-02-17, 00:09

Kahenraz Offline

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Try powering it on without the battery. I've had some older laptops fail to boot in this case. It's possible that the charge settled prior to you turning it on and then finally discharged fully.

Then again, some laptops are the reverse and won't power on without a working battery.

Reply 3 of 4, by krivulak

Posted on 2016-02-18, 18:55

krivulak Offline

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Location: Loket, Czech Republic

It has got two CMOS batteries, one is 6-cell Varta and second is 3-cell I assume it is Varta too, but it has no values on it whatsoever. The first is currently 1.8 V and second 1.5 (should be 7.2 V and 3.6 V, if I count correctly)

The bigger one goes to the power board, the smaller to the ISP (FSTIP*) board (that lower one, goes right on top of the power board, well insulated; I will call it I/O board)

What is baffling me it already started without the battery, so I think it wouldn't need battery, but I can try it. But firstly I need to assemble it again, and find correct places for that two metal tabs I left behind. Maybe it will help, I don't actually know...

Reply 4 of 4, by brassicGamer

Posted on 2016-02-18, 21:52

brassicGamer Offline

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The smaller battery is for the CMOS, the bigger one is the resume battery. I have just ordered a replacement for my CMOS battery from China - it should be 3.6v NiMH. The other one, I can't tell you but it would appear to be double wouldn't it 😉

I don't know if the computer starts without the resume battery. Until the replacement arrives and I have tried it on my own Toshiba I won't know.

Edit: example here

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id= … 8716511&alt=web

Check out my blog and YouTube channel for thoughts, articles, system profiles, and tips.

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