Toshiba Satellite A70 and A75. Taking apart notebook.
I repair Toshiba Satellite A70 and A75 laptops almost every single day and I like to work with this model. I think that Toshiba Satellite A70/A75 is one of the easiest Toshiba laptops for disassembly. Unfortunately, this model has some issues. About 90% of all laptops we repair have one of the following problems:
- Not properly grounded top cover. The laptop will shut down or lock up when you touch it around the speaker or touchpad area. This problem could be fixed by replacing the top cover assembly.
- Overheating problem. The laptop will shut down by itself without any reason. To fix the overheating problem you have to take the laptop apart and clean up the heatsink.
- The power jack issue. The laptop will not charge the battery. The laptop LED flicker when you wiggle the power jack. To fix this problem you have to replace or resolder the DC jack on the system board.
March 21st, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Great guide this helped alot.
March 26th, 2006 at 5:33 am
I was experiencing over-heating and shut downs…used your instructions to open the laptop and clean the heatsink and fans….pretty messy in there. The directions were great! Put the laptop back together and now it won’t power up… can you think of where I might have went wrong went wrong?
March 26th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Hey Aaron,
Toshiba Satellite A75 is pretty simple laptop inside and I think that only very few things could go wrong. To be able to start the laptop you need only the system board (it has integrated memory chip and power button), the CPU with heatsink and an external monitor. If you had to remove the CPU from the system board during disassembly then check if you put it back correctly and check if the CPU socket is LOCKED! Some people forget to lock the CPU socket and it is a very common mistake. Check if the CPU seated properly. If you laptop starts for a few seconds and then shuts down, check if you connected fans on the system board. The fan should start spinning as soon as you start the laptop.
You should be able to start the laptop only with onboard memory. If you installed an extra memory stick try to remove it or at least reseat it. Not properly seated memory stick can cause your system not to boot.
Do you get any LED activity when you connect the power plug? Can you hear that the hard drive or the CPU fan start spinning? Does you laptop shows activity at all?
If the laptop shows some activity but nothing appears on the LCD screen it is possible that you just forgot to connect the video cable on the system board. Try to boot the laptop with an external monitor hooked up.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
Now that im reassembling, the picture of the wireless card blocks where i would see where the black and white cables hook up to the main and auxilary. I dont know which goes with which.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Hey Matt,
White cable is main, black is auxilary.
March 30th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
These instructions are fantastic. I have been working on computers for many years, but I would never have been able to take this laptop apart and get it back together without them. I had to disassemble the laptop to fix the overheating problem.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Great pictures and instructions. Very clear and detailed. I’m having a problem opening up my A70 laptop. Some of the screws just won’t budge, it’s like there jammed. Is there a way to loosen these so they can come off? thx in advance. Keep up the good work!
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Hey Henry,
Unfortunately, the only way to loosen screws is to unscrew them. You should use a good precise screwdriver that fits the screw very tightly. Do not use small screwdrivers or you can damage the screw and get in trouble. I would recommend using Wiha Precision Screwdrivers, the best screwdrivers ever. I would recommend it to any laptop technician. You can find 7-8 piece tool set on eBay for $20-$25.
April 4th, 2006 at 8:10 am
Thx for the reply…i’m gonna buy one. Is it possible if you can tell me the exact screwdriver size required to open the bottom casing for the A70 laptop? thx
April 4th, 2006 at 8:29 am
My main screwdriver is: Wiha 261 / PH1x60. I’m not sure if it has any other size or number.
April 4th, 2006 at 10:09 am
how did you get the hard drive out? Any more screws under the cover, or does it just pull out? I keep getting erros that say the hd cable is bad, so i want to check it out. Thanks! Great guide otherwise!
April 4th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Hey Kyle,
After you remove the hard drive cover you have to slide the hard drive away from the connector to disconnect it from the system board. After that you just lift it up. There are no more screws.
April 4th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Hi again, before I buy the screwdriver, I would like to know if this eBay auction has the required screwdriver to open the Toshiba A70. Please let me know. Thanks
April 4th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
No this auction doesn’t have this screwdriver. There is only one Phillips screwdriver: #0 listed and 6 slotted (not very useful for a laptop disassembly). That’s a good one but too small. You should look for Phillips: #1.
Look for this set:
Standard precision 7 piece combo set:
Slotted: 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0
Phillips: #00, #0, #1
I mostly use only two of them: Phillips #0 and #1. I bought entire set because if you buy them separately they will cost you as a whole set.
April 5th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Do you have pics for the LCD Screen replacement ?
April 5th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
Hey Nils,
I haven’t created LCD screen replacement guide for this particular model yet. But on my laptop disassembly website you can find some guides for different models. They all are almost the same. Read through other guides and you’ll be able to replace the screen on Toshiba Satellite A70 and A75 laptop.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:26 am
Thank you for the GREAT Site!
Quick question, can you tell me where the CMOS battery is located on the A75-S125? Mine has a sreaming alarm when it powers up and you must go thru F2 Setup or F12 Boot Selection to get past the alarm. I was thinking of replacing the CMOS battery and seeing it that helps.
Thanks again for all the information you provide.
Jim
April 6th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Great website.Fantastic instructions. It looks like I bent some pins when removing the cooling module. Any idea where I can get a replacement if I can’t straighten them out? Also my DVD drive is no longer recognized by the system.I am under the impression that I can replace a chip that will restore the DVD’s functionality. If this is so do you know where I can get the part and what part it actually is.
Nathan
April 6th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Hey Nathan,
Are you talking about the CPU pins? In some cases you can straighten them with a small flathead screwdriver. Be very careful and do not break the pins.
Your DVD is not recognized in BIOS or in Windows? If it’s not recognized in BIOS then most likely the DVD is bad itself. If it’s not recognized in Windows then you can follow these instructions.
April 7th, 2006 at 5:44 am
Hey ci2600, I think you missed me (see #17).
Maybe I can give something back. I have found that the small, hard straw like coffee stirrers (sp?) make great pin straighting tools. The really stiff ones that are two straws joined together work best. Just cut off about an inch worth of one of the tubes one one end (leave the rest for strength). Then just slide it over the bent pin and straighten.
Should look like this
___________________________
O___________________________O —- (
April 7th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Sorry about drawing above, it looked good before I s-ubmitted it.
I can link to pics if anyone needs them.
Jim
April 7th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Hey Jim,
Sorry, I skipped your question by mistake. Check out the step 23 in Toshiba Satellite A70 and A75 disassembly guide and you’ll the RTC (CMOS) battery marked. If you still do not see it, refresh your browser.
In Toshiba Satellite A70 and A75 the RTC (CMOS) battery is located on the same side as the CPU fans and the heatsink, close to the battery connector.
BTW, thank you for your input about straitening bent CPU pins. I tired it this morning and think that coffee stirring straw is too thick, I even tried a straw from canned air, still too big. It would be a nice tool if you can find a straw with a really small diameter.
April 10th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Is the onboard memory just a 333 chip that is slotted into the motherboard? Are there any special steps in removing and replacing it?
April 10th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Hi Andy,
Toshiba Satellite A75 has 256MB or 512MB onboard PC2700 DDR333 memory. Onboard memory is integrated into the system board and cannot be removed or replaced. To expand the memory size you have only one available slot.
April 14th, 2006 at 8:44 am
hi,
i have the overheating problem,owing to the easy instructions of this awesome website i almost got there, but then on page 2 of the A75 dismantling, on step 14 i got stuck. I had this problem before and had sent it to toshiba depot, i guess they stripped the screw head.So now i cant get that to open with a phillips screwdriver. I searched many sites,most of them said to drill a whole and then unscrew it, i am concerned whether it might crach the motherboard or not. Another way is to use superglue..But i am not sure any other ideas ?? and my warranty has expired .. so kinda stuck ..
hope someone can help thanks.
April 14th, 2006 at 8:57 am
Hey Roy,
You can drill a whole and then remove the top cover assembly, but you have to be very careful. Another way, you can try a screw extractor tool named “Easy Out”. I haven’t tried this tool myself, but some technicians say it is a good one. Find it online and see if it can help you.
April 15th, 2006 at 9:13 am
Thanks for the website. I fixed the problem of automatically shutting down the laptop due to the overheat. The website is great with very detailed pictures. I appreciate your help.
Great info!
April 15th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Hi,
i got stuck at step14 too. the screw in the middle of the board just doesnt get out, despite my effort to unscrew it. it is so weird!!!!
Anyone knows why??? and how to fix it so that i dont have to drill a whole or anything that can cause damage to the board???
April 15th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
hi,
just want to add something:
it seems to me like one of the screws (the middle one) that we need to undo in step 14 is connected with the screw at the bottom that belongs to the hard-drive. When i unscrew the one on top, the thing at the bottom keeps turning along. Hence, i cant get that screw out….
Any suggestion on how to fix it???
April 17th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Hi, this was the BEST tutorial. Pictures were perfect sized and great descirptions.
I have a question for you now.
My laptop while under warrranty had the cover replaced for the faulty grounding, and also had the motherboard replaced.
Well i have a new problem, that i thought would be fixed, but it is now out of warranty. I dont use the battery very often, but right before it came out of warranty (which was also about the time i had all the other repairs done) my battery still wasnt charging. So i called toshiba and they shipped me a new battery, and i sent the old one back. The new battery isnt working either. the lights on the front of the computer flicker.. the computer completely ignores the fact that it is plugged in and runs only on the battery. It will not charge the battery.
I dont know what to do, so i have given up and just run ONLY on electricity.
Any ideas??
April 17th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Hey Trisht,
Even though the system board was replaced, I think you still have a problem with the power jack on the system board. It is a know issue with Toshiba Satellite M35X, A70 and A75 laptops. To fix the problem you have to resolder the power jack on the system board .
April 20th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
hi, i have a Toshiba A75 and i was wondering how to clean my laptop computer’s fans. i know i have to get a bottle of compressed air but their is a fence-like structure in front of the fans, so i cant get to the fans.
Please Help Me…
April 21st, 2006 at 7:43 pm
To clean the laptop heatsink and fans with a can of compressed air, just blow inside the openings on the bottom until the dust stop coming from the openings on the side. After that you can switch the direction and blow some air inside the openings on the side.
You can use this method to prevent laptop overheating. It will work if your heatsink is not completely clogged. If it is clogged, then most likely you will have to take it apart for cleaning.
April 26th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
This site is great. I had the problem where the laptop would not charge when the computer was running and plugged in. I followed the instructions on how to take it apart and what to solder. Problem fixed! Thanks a very much for your helpful site.
April 27th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Ok. Got it apart. Any suggestions on how to remove the CPU from the heatsink. They appear to be fused.
April 27th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Todd,
To separate the CPU from the heatsink I usually use a flat head screwdriver. You can insert the screwdriver between the CPU and the heatsink surface and slowly ROTATE the screwdriver. It is enough just barely lift up the CPU with a screwdriver to separate it from the heatsink, after that you can remove it with your fingers. Be careful with CPU pins.
April 28th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Can someone help with LCD replacement on the A75 S209? Are there just two small phillips head screws on the bottem of the bezel and a snap in on top or are the more than two screws???
April 28th, 2006 at 9:05 am
Richard,
There are only two screws on the bottom. After you remove these screws you are ready for removing the LCD mask. Put your fingers between the mask the screen and carefully release latches securing the mask. Do not use a screwdriver, only fingers.
April 28th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Thanks (cj2600). I’m not going to get a chance to work on it until early next week – I’ll keep in touch if I have more questions.
I spotted an online store on ebay where the lcd is $249.00 – is this the best price around?
Thanks again
Richard
April 28th, 2006 at 11:10 am
Richard,
$249 is a great price for Satellite A75 LCD screen. If you take the laptop to a Toshiba repair center they will quote you somewhere between $500 and $800 for a new screen, depending on the model of the screen needed.
April 28th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I just recently resoldered my power jack to my motherboard on my Satellite A75. This is a pretty wimpy connection and I was thinking about using some sort of conductive lubricant to apply to the power jack to help reduce friction and thus the stress on the wimpy soldered connections. Anyone out there tried this or know of any product I can use? I have seen a product by CAIG Laboratories called ProGold contact conditioner. Has anyone had any experience with this product or have any recommendations otherwise?
Nathan
April 30th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
I love your instructions. We repaired the ac jack and it works great. But my sound is not working after putting the notebook back together. I know we plugged the speaker cables back up, so what else could be the problem?
April 30th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
Kathy,
Also make sure that the sound is not muted in Windows you can check it in the control panel if you click on the sound and audio devices icon.
First of all make sure that the volume wheel on the right side is not all the way down.
May 2nd, 2006 at 3:10 pm
I have done both of those. Is it possible I connected the speaker cables wrong, or messed up the sound card on the motherboard?
May 2nd, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Kathy,
Toshiba Satellite A75 has two separate connectors for left and right speakers. I think it is unlikely that you connected both cables wrong. Moreover, the connector is keyed, so there is only one way to plug in the speaker. I guess it is possible that you have damaged the volume wheel during disassembly, check if the wheel spins. Try to connect headphones into the plug on the side of the laptop and see if you can get any audio there.
May 3rd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Attn: CJ600
Well I’ve finally started on the LCD replacement and already stuck on the first step. I’ve exposed the old LCD rather easily but can’t remove the power lead from the computer to the LCD. The small two prong plastic plug seems to be wedged in so tight it won’t move and I don’t want to force things too much. Any ideas???
Richard
May 3rd, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Richard,
I guess you are talking about the FL inverter board connector. You just have to pull harder, but do not pull for the wires. Pull the connector by the edges using fingers. I noticed that in some cases this connection is very tight. Sorry, cannot help you to disconnect it over the Internet.
May 3rd, 2006 at 3:03 pm
CJ2600, ignore my last message – mission accomplished. In reality changing the LCD really turned out be an easy job. If anyone is interested I can go through it step by step.
Thanks again
Richard
May 4th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
I just recently resoldered my power jack to my motherboard on my Satellite A75. This is a pretty wimpy connection and I was thinking about using some sort of conductive lubricant to apply to the power jack to help reduce friction and thus the stress on the wimpy soldered connections. Anyone out there tried this or know of any product I can use? I have seen a product by CAIG Laboratories called ProGold contact conditioner. Has anyone had any experience with this product or have any recommendations otherwise? I am reposting since it seems to have been overlooked.
Nathan
May 6th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Hey Nathan,
Sorry for a late response. ProGold is a good stuff and I usually apply it on the FL inverter board connectors when I’m replacing it. I’m not sure if ProGold will help you to reduce the stress on the power jack.
May 9th, 2006 at 11:32 am
After reassembly, it powers on for second and a half, powers off and repeats. The light on the power button illuminates and the fans kick on. Any suggestions?
May 9th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Todd,
I think your laptop will not boot because it has a loose connection, something is not seated properly. Check if the CPU is seated correctly and if it is LOCKED in the socket. If you have an extra memory stick installed, try to remove it. Check connections.
May 11th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Got my A75 apart just fine. This is the second time I have had to resolder the DC plug. But this time I am having a serious problem putting it back togeather again. ON the LCD there are 2 sets of cables one goes to the inverter and is on the right side of the LDC as you look at the screen. The set of cables I am having issues with are on the left side. It is 2 seperate cables a black and a white cable with connections simular to the wifi connects. Little round clip ons. They follow a route showed very good in step 15 on CJ’s website. Now I cant figgure out where they clip back on at. Any help would be appriciated.
May 11th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Hey Chris,
I think you are talking about Wi-Fi antenna cables. That’s only black and white cables with round clips I know, I haven’t seen any other cables coming from the LCD screen that looks like wi-fi antennas. These cables follow the route on the top cover and then go through the hole on the system board to the other side. You connect them on the other side of the laptop to the wireless card.
White – main and Black – aux.
May 11th, 2006 at 10:50 am
LOL I think I know what you are talking about now. The cables ARE the wifi antenna…Ill find out when I get home from work if they are Im gonna smack myself in the head cause I sat stairing at the mobo for an hour last night trying to find a connection close to the video card for what I assumed was a monitor input.
May 13th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
CPU is in tight and locked…no bent pins. Got the heatsink firmly attached and the fans mounted. No other extras.
It still just spins the fans and shuts off, spins the fans and shuts off. Will repeat for ever I expect.
Any further ideas before I turn it into a monitor stand?
May 13th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Thanks for the great instructions! I fixed my Toshiba A70 DC power connector problem (a loose solder connection on the motherboard, like most people’s problem) by soldering a 4″ piece of wire from the rear of the center pin (behind the connector) to the other side of the motherboard where the lead from the center pin appears. Hopefully, this will bypass the stress point where the connection tends to fail.
I had a real hard time (90 minutes!) getting the keyboard connector strip to seat correctly. I kept ending up with one or more columns of keys dead. I finally realized the little black plastic support was not providing enough upward pressure to keep the strip in contact with the connector. I doubled over a strip of blue Scoth tape and laid it where the black support goes, then taped it down with another piece of tape. I slid everything in place, added another piece of tape over the connector strip to keep it in place, and all keys work! Hopefully this idea may help someone else.
Paul
May 14th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
i am really scared i took my Satelite 75 to a computer shop because my laptop battery would not charge up. it would if i put it in wierd position. the store resolder my internal power point but it still didn’t work. i called toshiba service center and the first thing they said was that it will probably need a new motherboard because microchips can not be replaced on a laptop. could it be anything else i am dreading the call from the service department problem telling me to scrap it or pay as much as a new computer to have it fixed
May 18th, 2006 at 9:38 am
how do i remove card reader from a70 laptop.Do i have to dismantle whole computer
May 21st, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I just finally reassembles my toshiba Satellite A75. I can’t get the thing to boot now. The problem appears to be the same as todd had in an earlier posting. I was just wondering if there was any resolution with that.
Nathan
May 26th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Hi there. This is great guide and cj2600 is awsome. However i got stuck on taking the board out of the case. I unscrewed the screws that are holding it to the case but i try to pull it out and it’s doesn’t come out. I am afraid to pull it hard because it can easly break. It seems that volume thing is holding it or something; however i try to sort of move it still doesn’t work. Can anyone help me out on that ?
May 28th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Great Guide! Thanks for the detailed instruction and cj’s help. My Toshiba A75 has the problem of overheat and I successfully disassemble the laptop
Problem comes when I put it back together, the power is on, one of the fan spins but the monitor does not turn on, the dvd and the wireless switch doesnt work too.
What will be the problem?
May 28th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Ignore my last post lol My computer works well now, i just didnt plug the monitor cable deeper into the socket
Everything works well now, however I feel that the fans are spinning all the time even I’m not loading anything. It is coz I removed the grey color thing ( dirt?) on top of the cpu ? (I removed it and also the dust inside the heatsink )
I saw the pictures also has some on the cpu..are those dust?
Thanks for cj’s help ^^
May 28th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
Hey Roger,
You must apply thermal grease on the CPU or your laptop will overheat. I guess the CPU fans are spinning all the time because there is not thermal compound between the CPU and the heat sink.
The grey color thing on the CPU is thermal grease. Did you apply new thermal grease after you removed “the grey color thing”?
May 30th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
Cj2600 why did u ignore my post. I am desperate for help. Please explain how to take the mother out of the case itself because i am afraid i can damage it
May 30th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
oh the way I took the motherboard out is to take out the 2 screws (therer is an arrow pointing at each of them), then take out the dummy pc card. Try to press the small pc card switch inside and then pull out the left hand side of the motherboard first.
On the right hand side, you have to push the speaker/ volume inside first and pull out the motherboard..
3 sides are out so u just need to slide the motherboard backward..hope u understand what I mean
May 30th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Malim, I didn’t ignore your comment, I just missed it for some reason.
Roger, thank you for your help. I also start removing the system board from the left side. One more tip. Some models have a card reader located under the PC card slot (on the left side). The card reader is closed by a rubber plug and this plug has to be removed too before you start removing the system board. After the left side is out, you can start removing the right side. It’s hard to get the right side out because of the volume wheel, the audio jacks and the USB ports. To release the right side I usually push on the right side of the laptop base with my left hand and lift up the system board with a flat head screwdriver using my right hand at the same time.
To install the system board back into the base I do next. Sit the back of the system board (with VGA and parallel port) first. After that push on the PC card button and sit the left side. Finally sit the right side.
June 1st, 2006 at 5:59 pm
AHHHHH YOu guys are awsome. I got it out and cleaned it up but however i can’t put the mother board back in. I am struggling but i’ll keep trying.
THANKS A LOT. CJ2600 you are a good man.
June 2nd, 2006 at 2:06 pm
The tutorial worked great!!! Pretty straight forward on how to remove everything.
I was lucky enough to have a tank of nitrogen (gas form)and an gun which took care of the majority of the dust.
Since I didn’t know the amount of dust in the machine, so I decided to take it apart anyways. When I did take it apart, the heat sink came right off the cpu with no effort. There was a hint of grease on the cpu, that would probably explain the overheating issues these past couple of days. I applied a generous helping of it and put it all back together. It still runs as hot as it normally did, at least on the back of the computer (probably because that’s where the heat sink is). But it appears that it is all back to normal. Thanks CJ!!
A note for the step 15 (removing top cover from base). If you don’t have a guitar pick around, use a credit card, student ID card or something like that. Works like a charm. If any part gets stuck make sure there isn’t a screw you missed earlier.
Thanks again CJ!!!
June 4th, 2006 at 3:52 am
I’ve cleaned the heatsink and put everything back, but now my laptop still has the problem… It still shut down occassionally, without any ‘warning’or the fans getting loud ….and all I did was running the Warcraft3 game..
What could be the problem other than overheat?
Also the fans slow down when I pull off the power and using the battery…. what should I do to totally fix the problem of sudden shutdown? n( I already updated Bios)
June 4th, 2006 at 3:54 am
oh ic..so Brian did you put back some grease on the cpu? Is that what I should do after I clear the heatsink?
June 4th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Roger,
After you cleaned up the heatsink you have to reapply thermal grease on the CPU. Without thermal grease the laptop will overheat and shutdown even with clean heatsink and fans.
June 6th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
The instructions were great. I had the “power jack problem.” The issue I have is when I reassembled everything two things happened. The first is that I get no LED now. I am seeming to get power form the adapter but no lights to indicate it. I did not go as far as to mess with the CPU. The second is my fault. I was taking the touch pad connection off and broke the clip. It doesn’t look like I actually damaged the connection but my touch pad isn’t working. Can you help me?
June 6th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
oh my god..
thanks very much cj! lol I know nothing about computer so I didnt know about that
10000 Thanks to cj ^^
June 9th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Hi,
thanks for a very useful guide, but in step 20 I had problems, it looked like something kept the mainboard attached, and all the screws were removed, how did you do it with the volume wheel and the handle that removes the pc card?
thanks!
June 9th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Mauro,
Read this comment and the following too.
June 10th, 2006 at 7:04 am
cj2600 for some reason I did not saw that comment
thank you very much
June 11th, 2006 at 11:20 am
step 1 , the cover that is againt edge of a70 laptop will not slide out. i cant lift it out either, as something holds it down at right hand edge. how know
June 11th, 2006 at 11:26 am
Fred,
You do not have to slide it. After the screws are removed, just lift the cover up. There are little plastic latches that keep the cover in place.
June 12th, 2006 at 9:55 am
cj2600 you were right on just lifting cover. the arrow in step 1 threw me. i was afraid i would snap any tabs off if i lifted it. thanks
June 12th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Well first off, I wan’t to say thanks to cj2600 for taking your time to help people in need. I recently came upon an A75 with no power cord. I googled up your site and I am in the process of taking the machine apart, as I want to see how it looks inside before I spend $50 on the AC adapter. I’m stuck at step 10, removing the keyboard cable. I don’t want to break it removing it, and I am just not familiar with the mechanism holding the cable in place. Does it just pull out with a little force? I would rather be safe than sorry, so I figured I’d ask. Thanks in advance and if I have any additional problems, hopefully you can point me in the right direction.
June 13th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Hey Billy,
Before you pull the cable, you have to open the connector. The connector on the picture has 2 parts: the lock – brown and the base – white. To open the connector you have to slide the brown part away from the white part, only about 2 millimeters not more. The keyboard cable is jammed between the lock and the base and when you open the connector you can easily remove the cable.
To assemble it back you have to insert the cable first and then move the lock toward the base (toward the touchpad).
June 20th, 2006 at 4:40 am
Hi cj2600,
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S229 and I have the clogged heat sink problem too and I plan on cleaning it out this weekend but do I really have to take apart the whole laptop? I would hope all I have to remove would be the back cover. Along with that, after one of the spontaneous shutdowns these laptops are famous for, I went to turn it on after waiting a while and it did not turn on (this was without a battery in it). The thing is the LED lights turn on and to get the laptop to turn on I have to disconnect and reconnect the cable that connects from the outlet to the adapter and reconnect the adapter to the laptop. This solves it but I was wondering if this is a problem with the powerjack or maybe something happened to the adapter after so many spontaneous shutdowns.
June 20th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
hey ummm i had the same problem with the power so i opened it up through these instructions and now thats its open i c that the dc jack was burnt its all brownish black… and under where it was soldered is pretty black too… its that small corner over there thats kind of black… im not really good with laptops so i have no clue wat to do… do i just clean it up and replace the jack or wat do i do? please help!
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Instead of replacing jack, I tried to wire up a universal targus adapter and must have chosen the wrong tip. The unit now flashes all of the lights and will not charge. I can only assume that some of the surface mount components in the charging/regulator circuit are fried. Anyone familiar with those components, testing proceedures and the DMM values for determining which ones are bad.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Hi, I got some problem removing one of the screws connecting the top cover with the main-board (step 14). It is the one that is closest to the speaker cable and the flat touchpad cable. when i tried to unscrew, it just didnt come out. so i couldnt lift the top cover out to get to the main-board.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Hi,
nevermind. i already figured it out….
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:41 am
Hi, I had to fix the power jack problem. Before we screwed the laptop all back together again we tested to see if everything worked which it did. Put everything back together but we have a problem with the power adaptor. When the power cable is plugged into the laptop the LED lights dont turn on and the adaptor emitts a squeaking noise every second or so. Can anyone help?
June 23rd, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Thank, exactly the info i’m looking for. I got this laptop A70 Satellite for a year already. At first I was able to do a lot thing with it, playing games, burning, encoding, etc, without lock-up. Then trouble starts after 2 or 3 months. Things going that bad that I can only play card game on it… Was so pissed that I was thinking about getting a new PC but NO notebook.
June 24th, 2006 at 6:51 am
I took apart my Toshiba a-75 s-206 laptop to clean the heat sink and when i put it back together the monitor will not work. I can hear the laptop booting up when i turn it on but i cant see a thing because the screen is completly black. I dont know if i knocked something loose during dissasembly or what but i need to fix this problem as soon as possible. If anyone has any solutions to this problem it would be greatly appreciated.
June 24th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Maryam,
In this model the heatsink is located on the bottom side of the motherboard and you have to remove the motherboard from the laptop base if you want to access the heatsink. Try to clean the heatsink with compressed air first, it might help you.
Your second problem might be related to the power jack. I cannot be sure 100% without looking at the laptop. It’s very unlikely that spontaneous shutdowns can damage the adapter.
June 24th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Steven,
If the jack itself is not broken, then it would be enough to clean it up and re-solder.
June 24th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Eric,
Can you get video on an external monitor? Check if the memory is seated properly. Check the video connector on the system board.
June 26th, 2006 at 4:44 am
Thank you sincerely THANK YOU for your disassembly instructions.
I have the overheating problems and live remotely in Australia and would mean a two week minimum trip to get fixed. With the disassembly instructions and information on this forum I feel reasonably confident about tackling the job. Thankfully I have some suitable heat paste on hand to replace whats there.
June 27th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Screen on A75 ruined, balance of unit working perfectly. Since screen replacement appears to run $400.00+ I would like to use unit as desktop. External monitor works well. How do I safely remove LCD screen with top cover and are there wires that will require capping?
June 28th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Don,
Steps 11-13 shows how to remove the display assembly (you don’t need to follow steps 3-5). You don’t need to cap any wires. After the display is removed, assemble the laptop back. You’ll be able to use it as a desktop computer, except the internal wireless card. The wireless card antenna cables are located in the display assembly, witch you’ll remove. For wireless networking you’ll have to buy a wireless PC card.
July 2nd, 2006 at 10:49 am
Hello, I just recently acquired an A75-S229 laptop and had a few questions possibly you could answer quickly and easily for me. I work at a laptop repair shop and a customer brought this machine in claiming overheating/power issues. I purchased the machine off him for $50 before researching the mass of problems these unit have. Since I have stripped down the unit, fully cleaned it, artic silver re-grease, removed the d/c jack and resoldered it, and re-assembled it. The machine has yet to show signs of any overheating or power problems. The battery completely charges and runs about an hour on max settings.
Q’s –
1 – Are these power issues even Toshiba recognizes showing it’s head in all these unit’s? Or just a nice large batch?
2 – For some reason there is ‘lint’ behind the glossy part of the LCD. Is there any easy way to remove the top plastic and blow that out? (our shop does not do LCD repair)
3 – Is there a place to get NEW revisions of hardware, i.e. palm rest/power boards/system boards/batteries?
4 Have you seen of anywhere that offers 3rd party or even possibly Genuine ATi video bios flashes for this unit?
That’s it for now! Thanks, Brandon
July 2nd, 2006 at 10:42 pm
BeeHay,
1. Are you asking about a power jack problem? I think that all A70 and A75 units might be affected by a power jack problem, because they all have a similar design for all models. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
The top cover assembly was fixed on newer units. I don’t know exactly when Toshiba started assembling laptops with already modified covers.
2. We do not repair LCDs either. I wouldn’t try to remove the lint myself, you can permanently damage the screen.
3. I don’t think that you can find any specific place for buying new revisions of hardware. Most companies sell refurbished parts and do not differentiate them by revisions.
4. Never seen.
July 5th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Thanks for your fast response! Our shop as of late has seen a rash of M35X systems, and was wondering if we could find a place to get newer revised palm rests, thats why I asked about a place to find new ones.
Oh yea, can the A75 unit take a 2GB stick of ram?
Anyway, thanks again!
July 5th, 2006 at 10:24 am
One more thing, how can I find the manufactured date of these units?
Thanks man!
July 5th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
BeeHay,
Here are some answers:
Manufactured date. I’m not sure if you can find a laptop manufactured date, but you can find out when this laptop was sold to the customer. Go to Toshiba support website and then go to limited warranty entitlement lookup page. It’ll give you the information when the laptop was to the end user.
Memory. Toshiba Satellite A75 has onboard memory and one slot available for upgrades. Onboard memory could be 256MB or 512MB and Toshiba says that you can install up to 1GB into an available slot. I think that it is possible that BIOS will recognize a 2GB stick. You can find it out only if you try. I’ve never tried it myself.
Just recently I bought Palm T|X and the specification says that it supports up to 2GB SD card. I bought 4GB and it works perfect. I’m happy. So, just try it.
Palmrest. When you say palmrest, I think you are talking about the entire top cover assembly. Satellite A75 model has a know issue related to improperly grounded top cover assembly. I described it in details here. I believe that at this time Toshiba will replace the top cover at no charge, even if the laptop is not under warranty anymore.
July 5th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Yea, when i say palmrest i mean the top cover w/touchpad…so maybe i should just call toshiba and get a few replaced!
too bad we don’t have any 2GB sticks lying around to test out!
Thanks again!
lol, have a good one man,
Brandon
July 7th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
Hey, i was having some overheating issues and wanted to clean my fans and heatsink. I followed the directions and put everything back together and now my LCD isnt working, my Dvd drive wont open, but it powers up. i also cant see the light my wireless switch would light up when activated. Please help
July 8th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
CJ, I need to ask you an important question. I’m pretty much on step 14 in your guide but I still have not disconnected the LCD cables from the system board in step 12. Will I be able to reconnect these cables later on if I disconnect them in step 12? I actually still plan on using my monitor so I want to make sure about this. The second thing I want to ask is how exactly to disconnect them. Do I simply pull on them gently until they come loose and seperate from the system board?
July 9th, 2006 at 7:34 am
err well, my dvd drive works, but i cant seem to get my LCD to turn back on! what could i have done to make ths happen?
July 9th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Ryan,
The video cable connector doesn’t have any lock, so you just have to gently unplug the video cable from the system board. Do not pull for the harness (even though I’ve done it myself many times and it didn’t damage it). Use your nails or a small screwdriver and carefully disconnect the video cable connector by its edges.
You would be able to connect the video cable back to the system board any time you need. It’s just a regular mail-female connector with many pins inside.
July 9th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Kyle,
Check all connections. Make sure that all of them are seated properly; check if the memory is seated correctly. Most of the time a laptop will not boot after disassembly/assembly because of a not properly seated connector or part.
July 9th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
hmm, shouldnt the screen turn on at all?
July 9th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Yes, it should turn on after you reassemble the laptop. Try to unplug the screen from the motherboard and turn on the laptop with an external monitor attached. If everything is fine, you should get a video on the external monitor.
By the way, why did you take it apart? What was wrong?
July 9th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
well, i noticed it would shut off after getting realy hot. So i was going to see if something was cloging the heatsinks or fans. When i got that far i noticed that there was a large clump of fuzz and dust. After removing it i put everything back together and pressed power and blooop no screen.
July 9th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
holy crap!, after taking my hardrive out and putting it back in, i just started it and now i have screen.
July 9th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Everything seems to be working again, Thank you cj2600. You are realy nice person to go to all this trouble to help people with thier laptops with no cost. Is it possible to donate $?
July 9th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Oh no, i think i may have jumped the gun. I go into desktop then the computer froze. So i restared it, then No screen! what do you think my problem is? Ive tried to restart it a couple times now and still no screen.
July 9th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Ok, i did some testing. My laptop will freeze if i tilt it, if its perfictly flat on a desk it boots up just fine. So im guessing something is ethier disconected or barley conected. any thought to what might be cause of this?
July 9th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
Ok, I’m stuck on step 20 trying to get the system board removed from the rest of the laptop. It doesn’t seem to want to budge and I think I removed all the screws that you said to up till this point. The main two being the two in step 19 that were on the system board. I was able to get the thing up on the left side but there seems to be 2 things that are catching on the system board and keeping it from coming up on the right side and top side (sides are same as in picture). Could you give some tips on how specifically to remove it without breaking anything? I’m just gently tugging but it won’t come lose
July 9th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
nevermind. I’m unstuck now. Now it’s time for the painful process of putting it back together. The whole entire reason I started this was mainly to see if I could fix a problem with one of my speakers which wasn’t letting out sound as well as fix the stupid overheating problem that my laptop has which other people seem to have as well. Also, the CD/DVD drive wasn’t functioning and the actual driver for it wasn’t appearing under BIOS, Device Manager, or My Computer. I kept asking around about this problem and people guessed it was a hardware problem like a loose cable which was keeping the computer from recognizing the CD/DVD drive. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any loose cables yet but maybe it’s there and I haven’t seen it. I also tried manually installing a driver which windows said to do but I guess it’s not an issue with windows.
July 9th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Ok, i think it was my processor want fit in perfictly. Everything is working now. thanks again.
July 11th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
Ok, I succesfully put everything back together without really breaking anything but yet I’m having a serious problem which I hope you can help me fix. My worst fear is that it’s something with the CPU for some reason. Right after I finished putting it back together, the laptop wouldn’t do anything when I turned it on. When I turn it on, I can hear the fans and stuff functioning but the computer doesn’t make any loading sounds. It basically just sits there turned on and does nothing. I don’t get any display on my monitor and no image appears on it. I’m not sure if it’s related to the LCD screen or something more serious that could be causing nothing to appear on the screen. I checked the LCD cables (aux and main) and both of them were plugged in to the right places. I don’t remember damaging the cables either or damaging anything else that could have caused a display problem. Do you know any possible things that could have caused this to happen when I was dissassembling or reassembling the laptop? Once I turn the laptop on, it seems to not make any loading noises and it doesn’t display an image. It’s possible there could be an error message which is keeping it from loading but I can’t see it if there is because there is no display. It also seems that the orange light for the wireless router doesn’t appear when I flick the switch and also of course many other things don’t function. I’m sure everything is related to one problem though so I’m sure if I could fix the display problem, everything else would be fixed as well. I just have a feeling there is one big overall problem that is causing everything. Any help would be appreciated.
July 11th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Ryan,
First of all, check if the memory module is seated properly, if you have any. Did you remove the heatsink or the CPU during disassembly? Very often the laptop fails to boot because the CPU is not seated properly or if you forgot to LOCK in the socket. Check out Kyles comments, I think he had the same problem and now it’s fixed.
July 12th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
Thank you very much for the great guide!
That was my first experience of taking *any* computer apart;I feel so proud of myself that I have done it!
Just two little things I have noticed: step 5 one of the highlighted screws on the picture points to the screw, that was removed in step 3 (it is more important on the way back when you put everything together)
and step 12 has one more screw to remove to free up a little black cable, but maybe only my model (toshiba a75 s206) has it.
And another thing, I might repeat what has been already said: simple vacuming of the bottom of the A75 (without taking it apart) where the fans are helped me greatly with overheating.
July 14th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
I just finished this project on my downstairs neighbor’s computer – it was having an overheating problem, seems to be working great now. A note for anyone working specifically on unclogging the heatsinks – it wasn’t necessary for me to disconnect the modem or remove the heatsinks + CPU, I just cleaned them out while still attached.
After 5 years as a microcircuit tech in the USMC, I’ve got to leave my compliments here: This walkthrough was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Congratulations and thank you so much for such a well-written, well-documented and thorough article.
July 24th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
First off thank you for this site. I have a A75-S206 which has had the motherboard replaced 3 times for the power jack, and since my warranty has ran out I have had to resolder my jack myself at least 5 times. This time I decided to REPLACE the jack. All of the new connections seem to be fine but my problem now is the monitor is at about 3% brightness. It boots up fine but you can barely barely see anything on the screen. Also I know the battery in it is nearly dead but all 3 light are green. The right one is orange for a quick second then turns green. Do you happen to know what I did wrong? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you
Warren
July 24th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Really good instructions. I have a slight problem in that, I have only taken off the HD cover and the Wireless cover. Where would the memory upgrade go? It is not entirely obvious from the diagrams, I am a bit old sighted. I won’t start till I know what I am doing.
Is an A70 says it has 488Mb of RAM (strange figure but I’ll buy it just now) need to go to 1Gb. I am going to assume it is a 512 stick and I need to add another. So where does this go?
July 26th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Warren,
Is it possible that during disassembly you pulled the cable from the FL inverter board? If the FL inverter board is not connected, the backlight bulb will not light up. I would try to reseat the connectors 3 and 4 pictured on the laptop LCD diagram.
July 26th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Scott,
The memory slot is located in the same bay as the wireless card. On the step 2 the wireless card is marked with a red arrow and the memory slot would be on the left side from the Wi-Fi card. There is only one memory slot available for upgrades. You also can see 4 chips (on my picture they covered with a sticker) right by the memory slot – that’s onboard memory.
July 27th, 2006 at 8:09 am
I took my A75 apart to clean the heatsink, and when I put it back together I did a day of CPU intesive work on it. It didnt feel as though it was getting too warm, it seems like the cooling system is working decently. Today, it has started not using A/C power and stopped charging the battery after the system is running for a few minutes. If I shut it down and then turn it back on and load windows, it charges to about 25% and then the charging/charged (3rd) light goes off, even tho the first light (the A/C one) stays on. If I leave it off the first and third lights come on, and it seems to be charging ok. But if I boot windows again after a few minutes the battery stops charging and it uses battery power. My D/C jack is touchy, but its definately got a good connection ATM. Any clue on what the problem could be?
July 27th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Label your screws or keep them seperte otherwise you get to play the guessing game like I did for 45 minutes. But otherwise these guys got it perfect, I have been without my laptop for 2 weeks and it just turned on, only just 2 days after my project was due but it beats sending it off for a few weeks. Anybody know how I buy these guys a beer?
July 27th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Hey Jonathan,
If you wish, you can make a donation (I’ll spend it for beer). The donation button is located on each page of the disassembly guide.
When I disassemble a laptop, I usually use small plastic cups for collecting screws. I name the cups by a layer I’m working on. I have 5 cups named: bottom, keyboard, under keyboard, screen and system board. It helps me to keep everything organized.
BTW, that’s a great idea about a beer, it’s so hot outside.
July 27th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
Apac,
I still think that you can have a problem with the power jack. Sometimes a crack between the positive pin and the motherboard is so small that it looks like a solid connection, but it’s not. Also check if the power plug on the AC adapter makes a good connection with the wire.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:18 am
I cant figure out how to switch from battery power to outlet power. Please help me.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:20 am
I forgot to put that my laptop is a A75-S209.
July 31st, 2006 at 5:50 am
Thanks for your response cj2600. I am coming to realize that my problem may be an issue with the power jack. After a few days of tinkering I’ve figured out that I only have this issue when it gets warm from things like 100% CPU utilization. Once the machine warms up the battery no longer charges. After several hours of cool-down time and some fiddling with the wire and jack, I can get it to start charging again. I just found it interesting that the lights indicate that the power cord is attached (by looking at the first of the 3 lights), but the battery light doesn’t come on at all. I don’t have a few dollars to get a new jack at this very moment, so I am considering doing the failed power jack work-around. When I had the machine apart I noticed one of the solder joints on the jack looked odd, but I shrugged it off as a poor home soldering job (I got this unit used with no information on work that may have been done). I’m thinking the solder joint could very well have been broken or damaged in some way.
Does this overheating/battery charging issue still smell like a failed power jack to you? I may very well do the power jack work-around very soon.
August 1st, 2006 at 6:12 pm
It shouldn’t have been possible to pull the cable out because the monitor was intact. I went ahead and completely replaced the FL Inverter with a brand new one, and still have the same exact problem. This is where I get confused. Even if I have “NO” inverter plugged in at all, the screen looks exactly the same, where I can barely see an image. Does that mean a connection to the Inverter is bad? Or even worse but the backlight bulb?
August 7th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Daniel,
There is no switch. The laptop should run on the battery power when the AC adapter is unplugged. As soon as you plug it in, the laptop should switch to the AC power automatically.
August 7th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Apac,
Not sure how it could be related to 100% CPU utilization.
When the battery stops charging and the LED light goes off, try to connect and reconnect the AC adapter, wiggle it a little bit when it’s plugged. If you can get the battery charge LED back on, then most likely it’s the jack problem.
I really cannot give you 100% recipe over the Internet.
August 7th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
Warren,
You still would be able to see a faint image on the screen, even though you have no inverter installed or if it’s damaged. The data from the system board goes through a separate bus in the video cable and is not affected by the FL inverter.
BTW, I emailed you about your previous request.
August 8th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
I’m pretty much ready to throw my comp away. I replaced the FL Inverter AND the backlight bulb and the problem is exactly the same. I’m thinking I may have messed up the motherboard where the power supply solders in. As of right now everything else works fine except you can barely barely see the screen.
August 8th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Hi again,
I would like to help you, but it’s very hard to troubleshoot a laptop over the Internet. In most cases (I think about 90%), if you have a faint image, a new FL inverter fixes the problem. Unfortunately, not in your case. Have you tried to reseat the video cable on the system board? Disconnect the video cable on the system board and look inside the connector. May be you have a bent pin inside? Also check pins inside the connector on the LCD screen.
Did you replace the backlight bulb or just connected it to the inverter for testing? I believe that the date cable (flat ribbon video cable) has to be connected to the screen in order the backlight to light up. I did this mistake before. I tried to troubleshoot a backlight problem and connected a test backlight bulb to the inverter but didn’t connect the screen and the backlight didn’t light up. I almost misdiagnosed the problem.
August 10th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Hi there. I have a satellite a75-2762 and i like it very much. I have only had the one problem with the top cover not properly grounded and it messed up the systemboard and the AC outlet on the laptop. Thankfully though i bought the 4 year warranty and they fixed it without charge. Anyway i recently bought a new Slim DVD burner by NEC. Its an NEC 6750-A and it is a good burner for 70 dollars. I bought it off newegg and i looked at the reviews and i saw one person who installed it in an A75 satellite which also sold me on buying it. I havent installed it yet because i had a question about how to remove the hard drive. Does it slide out or does it come straight up out of it?
August 10th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Apac,
I have the same problem as you for my Toshiba A70. BE CAREFUL! I have burned out two A/C adapters (one authentic & one generic) and am now am on my third (generic) by pushing it’s use (unplugging when it stops charging and plugging it on again). I noticed that if I lower my CPU capacity to low it works for a longer periods of time.
cj2600,
You are awesome for doing all of this. I believe there is a direct correlation between pushing the CPU usage and the charger ceasing to charge just like Apac. I haven’t opened up the unit yet, but was wondering what your thoughts were about this. Jiggling the cable and such doesn’t seem to solve the problem, so it’s probably not the power jack, what could it be?
August 10th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Bryan,
After you remove the harddrive cover, you’ll have to slide it away from the connector to disconnect from the motherboard. After that you lift it up from the bay.
August 11th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Cj2600, I think you missed my question since you posted literally 2 minutes after I did. Number 140. Please help me out. Thanks
August 13th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Hi, I took apart my laptop to resolder some external leads for a dc in jack but trying to put it back together is getting to be a nuisance. I can’t get the screen to come back on. What’s the deal? I have the ground and the lcd video cable plugged in… the power is on. The hard drive and dvd drive are not plugged in but shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t make a difference either. I’m not sure if i put the processor back in place properly. I took it off to clean the heat sink. The processor mount has a lock and unlock switch. I kept it on unlock to fit the processor on along with the heat sink. I cant switch it after i put the processor on because the processor is attached to the heat sink (w/ thermal glue). I tried both settings but this failed. Any other ideas fellas/fellis?
August 14th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Lee,
I think that your problem might be somehow related to a generic AC adapter you use. The original AC adapter outputs 19V~6.3A. If your generic adapter gives you 15-24V with unknown A, then it could be your problem. It also explains a relationship between the CPU load and the battery charging. Your generic AC adapter doesn’t provide enough power for your laptop and it fails charge the battery. Loaded CPU takes more power and as a result the charging process fails faster. That’s my guess.
August 14th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Hafeez,
Check if the CPU is seated properly and LOCKED in the socket. It’s not gonna work if the socket unlocked. When you remove the heatsink, the CPU might come out with it. In this case, you’ll have to separate the CPU from the heatsink (very carefully). After that you UNLOCK the CPU socket on the motherboard, then put the CPU back in place and LOCK the socket. Now you can clean the CPU surface and apply new thermal compound. Finally, attach the heatsink.
Also check if the memory module is seated properly. If it’s not seated properly (very common mistake), your laptop will not boot.
August 15th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Hello Cj2600, first of all thanks a lot for the guide, it’s very easy to follow and you helped me to solve the dust problem inside the ducts, you’re a genius man!
Now let me ask you a couple of questions, I wanted to take apart my Toshiba because it started to make very loud noises from the fans and to shutdown from overheating. The overheathing issue was solved but the fans are still making a very loud “Brrrr” noise specially when it’s slightly tilted, do you think I might need to replace the fans?.
And second question. Everything worked fine when I reassambed the laptop but my wireless conection died, I’ve checked the tiny cables and the card but no use, any suggestions?
Thanks again for the nice guide, I’ll be waiting for your reply.
August 15th, 2006 at 10:20 am
I ended up purchasing a replacement motherboard for my A70. After installing it, the system is acting very similar to Ryan’s from post 118.
So I took it apart again and reseated everything including reapplying the thermal paste but it is still the same. Stays on, charges the battery, CD activity but no display.
Would a bad keyboard cause this? I noticed a small crease in the keyboard cable. I’m just leery spending more money on it unless I was relatively sure it would work afterwards.
August 15th, 2006 at 11:34 am
cj2600,
The generic AC adapter has an output of 19v~6.3A. The unit does charge fine with the generic when plugged in and in use as long as I use the Toshiba Power Managment Utility to change the processor speed to low.
To remind you of my issue, with default settings it seems that when I plug in the charger it charges fine until I do something like watch a movie or play a game for a over 10 minutes. Then it stops charging and goes back to battery power (as if it’s not plugged in at all). I’m on my third adapter as the other two just stopped working alltogether. Can it still be the generic charger even though the output is correct?
Thanks
August 15th, 2006 at 11:51 am
Lee,
I think it’s still possible that the AC adapter is causing the problem. Not sure 100%. Just recently I had to repair Toshiba Satellite Pro with a similar problem. The laptop had an intermittent problem with power and battery charging. Sometimes it worked fine, sometimes didn’t boot at all and the power LED flashed orange. I don’t know if there was a relationship between the CPU load and the battery charge, I didn’t test it. At first I thought that’s the motherboatrd problem.
The AC adapter on this laptop had a normal 15V output and it was the original Toshiba adapter. As soon as I connected my test adapter, the problem disappeared.
Don’t buy it right away; try to find somebody with a similar model and test it.
Are you sure it’s not the power jack problem? (comment 140)
Hey guys, if you have any other thoughts please help to resolve the problem. Any comments are welcome.
August 16th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
I have Toshiba A70. After I removed the hard drive,I could not find any screw securing the DVD drive. Please give a better picture, where I can find the screw.
Thanks.
August 16th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
This screw is circled on the step 3.
August 19th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
OK guys a few problems. The backlight went out and I suspected it was my inverter. Tore it down changed the inverter and went to power up and the button does nothing and the battery light comes on once. Plug it in and try again and nothing. I hit the little music button and I hear the fans go off… start pressing other buttons and it powers on, and the screen works.. SUCCESS!!! Not so fast. I barely move the screen and it goes into hibernate and I lose everything. Power button does nothing and I hear the sound cut out. Any ideas? Im too frustrated and depressed to try again today. Also on step two when you remove the metal brace (which mine didnt have) and uplug the main and aux black and white cords, which one goes to which? I forgot to mark them off and I think I put black to aux and white to main…
August 20th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I’m having problems with my A75 laptop. It is constantly rebooting itself. If the heatsink weren’t the problem, is it possible there’s a problem with the onboard memory? There’s no additional RAM installed on the machine.
August 21st, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Thomas,
I think that you might have some kind of grounding issue. Do you have to press on buttons to turn it on or it would be enough if you press on the top cover around the buttons?
Check if the lid close switch is moving freely and it’s not stuck. You might even try to remove the keyboard strip as shown on steps 6-7. The lid close switch button is located on the keyboard strip but the switch itself is located on the motherboard. I guess that when you move the screen, it somehow flexing the keyboard strip with lid close switch button and it affects the lid close switch on the motherboard. That’s why the laptop hibernates as soon as you move the screen.
August 21st, 2006 at 11:36 pm
Andrea,
Remove everything you can access: battery, wireless card, dvd drive, etc… and try to turn on the laptop. If it still reboots itself, then I guess you have a problem with the motherboard.
August 23rd, 2006 at 9:19 am
Thanks for the response. To turn it on I hit the button under neath the power button, which I think is suppose to bring up the media player. It started the fans and what not and after button mashing the screen came on. I think it may have to do with the keyboard strip, Ill play around with it again on Saturday.
Also can you tell me where the black and white wires in step 2 under the metal brace go? I may have switched them up reconnecting. one goes to main and one goes to aux if I remember correctly!
August 23rd, 2006 at 9:26 am
Thomas,
The white cable goes to the main connector, the black cable to aux.
August 24th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Sweet thanks… Ill be sure to connect it that way when I take it all apart again this weekend and go slowly step by step putting it back together.
August 27th, 2006 at 7:35 am
Cannot Start! Maybe not power jack problem.
Great info! I am proud that I can open the laptop now.
But I still have a problem to start it up. When I plug in the power in the DC jack, it wont power up. When I push the power cable harder into the DC jack, I can see the light flashing. If I loose the power cable, it turns off. When I test the voltage after I plug in the power cable, I always read 19.2V. Can you please think if there is anything wrong that I cannot start the laptop up? Looks like not a power jack issue.
Thanks a lot for your guide! Great work!
August 27th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Larry,
Why do you think it’s not the power jack issue? Have you tried to re-solder or replace the jack? Did you test the voltage just on the top of the system board?
I would check if there is continuity between the solder point on the top and the positive trace on the bottom. I know it might be hard to understand right now, but check out this thread. I’ve posted a generic power jack diagram and some explanations. I think, it might help.
August 29th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
Just wondering if anyone has ever had a problem with their A70 which involves, im guessing a loose display wire of some sort because my display goes all screwy when my conmputer sits a certain way and sometimes goes back to normal if i tilt it back. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:48 am
Wow! These instructions worked perfectly for me. Now I’ve got a working notebook for the price of a new dc input jack and some thermal grease.
CJ, you have really helped me out (and my daughter, who leaves today for college, notebook in tow)!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Richie
September 4th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
First off, let me say you have one of the best, most thorough step-by-step guides I’ve ever used. Many, many thanks for your hard work in constructing your documentation.
Here’s my situation: I’m working on a friend’s A75-S206. She was having the overheating problem. I think that’s been fixed, but I must have overlooked something else really obvious.
There are two silver screws that are slightly smaller than the screws in the F8 positions. I can’t figure out where these go. I’m pretty good about putting sets of screws in small paper envelopes and labeling the envelopes – “modem card” – “screen hinges” and the like. The fact that these weren’t labled tells me that I must have removed them early – and thought that their location was SO obvious that I couldn’t possibly forget it. I’ve looked at all of your photos from the guide, but I’m still at a loss as to where these go.
Also, is there any difference in screws for the F5 and F8 positions? I know the F3 screws are very short, but I can’t find any clear differences between the F5 and F8.
I already reassembled most of the laptop to check the video, sound, and disk functionality. Right now it’s about 20 minutes into an automatic Norton scan – which would usually cause it to overheat. I put my hand over the heatsink/exhaust and it was barely warm – which tells me the overheating issue is probably remedied. However, there is no mouse pad or left click/right click functionality. The keyboard itself works fine. Any cause immediately come to mind?
Oh, and for those folks confused about the white wire/black wire on the WLAN – there is a “B” and a “W” imprinted on the black plastic of the case. These line up with the Main and Aux terminals.
Another suggestion for all the DIY’ers: If you have a digital camera, USE IT! I take a photo of everything I’m going to work on BEFORE I start. I also take photos of what the hardware looks like as I’m reassembling it. It helps provide me with documentation when I’m finished and have to start putting everything back together. Sort of my “trail of breadcrumbs out of the forest.”
One other suggestion for laptop users: use an angled riser of some kind to increase airflow to the laptop and relieve wrist strain on you. One of the posts here mentioned using a pair of door jambs. I bought a riser for my wife from Cyberguys for $10, but I’m sure lots of other places have them, too. And of course there are more elaborate (and expensive) cooling pads.
Again, GREAT guide! You’ve saved me HOURS of frustration.
September 4th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Mike,
These silver screws. Aren’t they the screws that secure the fan to the motherboard on the step 22? I remember only 4 silver screws from Satellite A75 – fan screws. I even removed the keyboard from my Satellite A75 to make sure they are not from the keyboard. Man, you’ll have to go all the way down to put them back. Test if the laptop works without them.
F5 are different then F8 screws. I believe that’s a length of the screw in millimeters. F5 – screw with a flat head 5mm logn, F8 – screw with a flat head 8mm long. So, F8 are longer then F5.
Now fixing the touchpad problem. Check if the touchpad cable on the step 14 is properly connected to the motherboard – the white ribbon cable, closest to the touchpad. Before you check the cable connection, try to enable the touchpad through software settings, press Fn+F9 keys. Fn+F9 disables/enables touchpad with left and right keys.
September 6th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
cj -
The two “extra” silver screws are the same kind and size as the ones that secure the fans, but I replaced those four. I confirmed that by totally disassembling the laptop again, following your steps to the letter, and carefully labeling everything as I removed an item. Then I reversed the process, putting everything back, but I didn’t find where the addtional screws came from. I doubt Toshiba had them loose inside the case, so I still have to work on that.
Now on to my new wrinkle: In taking the laptop apart multiple times, I seem to have *created* the “not properly grounded” problem.
I checked the underside of the case as described in another forum, and it sure looks like this laptop was repaired – foil in all the right places. Are there any other ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos of the inner case that I could use to compare with my rig?
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge & skill!
– Mike
September 8th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Hi – Is there a way to remove and replace the built in RAM from the Toshibia A70 model?
Thanks
Stuart
September 9th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Stuart,
If onboard memory is bad, we usually replace the system board. But back in August, on my other site one guy claimed that he can replace onboard memory. Read comments for this post and you’ll find more details in there.
September 9th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
On August 29 Scott said:
Just wondering if anyone has ever had a problem with their A70 which involves, im guessing a loose display wire of some sort because my display goes all screwy when my conmputer sits a certain way and sometimes goes back to normal if i tilt it back. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
***
I’ve had seemingly random pixelating and screwy colouring on my monitor as well. After reading his post, I tilted my laptop a bit and have now discovered if I press on the front right corner the condition gets worse, if I press on the front left, it completely goes away. Any suggested fixes?
September 9th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
cj -
Just a follow-up note. Got everything back together and the A75-S206 works well. I never did figure out where the two extra silver screws came from, but all the hardware works and there are no rattles when I move the laptop around. I’m cautiously optomistic. I doubt I would’ve got this far this quickly without your guide. Thanks again!
September 9th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
hi all
please help
i remove all screws from the bottom of the A70
got to the securing strip and its just too tight
i just dont want to break anything
its very loose from the top but it look like somthing
holding it like a screw at the bottom next to the keyboard and it wont let me pull it out?
thanks for all your help
best
September 9th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Snir,
There is no screw for the keyboard strip. It’s just tight. Open up the display as much as you can. Insert a small flat head screwdriver under the hinge cover (the part of the keyboard strip) and carefully lift it up.
September 9th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
cj2600,
First of all, thanks for your commitment to answering all these questions.
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75 S229. I also had this overheating problem, used your disassembling manual and it worked perfectly. But after a few months, all of a sudden, my laptop just went dead. Tried several times to plug/unplug the power jack in the back, but all I could see was that orange LED in the front blinking fast. If i push the power up button, it will come up for 1 or 2 seconds, but then it will shut down again. I noticed that after several tries, the two front LED’s will light and charge up the battery, but even if I remove the power cable out and try to run it with the battery only, it will present the same behaviour (in a shorter shut down time though, about 1/2 a second).
I disassembled my note again and noticed that there’s one component burned up. It’s sat on the upper left corner of the MOBO, just beside the coolers and says PQ7. There’s a PQ6 right on top of it where it seems to read 4407 BE4X1A (I could be mistaken cos the letters are too small).
My questions are: Do you suggest me to try these power jack solution thingy before attempting to try to find these components? Is it possible to find/replace the component in case it doesn’t work? Where can I find it on the web? Do you have them for sale?
I guess I will also need those two mic/phone jacks. I use them quite often and they got kinda loose. Besides the sound from it seems to be extremely low in volume. Any ideas to have it’s signal amplified by software (I’m using WinXP pro)?
I know it’s really hard to find those things here in brazil, but since they want to charge me over 900 USD (plus shipping) for a refurbished MOBO here, I’m willing to seek it in the US and try to have it shipped to my house so I can replace it myself.
Another last question: is it possible to have two HD’s hooked up to this model?
Thanks in advance.
September 9th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
One more question. Where can I find the schematic diagram for this model? Toshiba Satellite A75 S229?
September 10th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
I just took apart and assembled my Toshiba A75 cause of overheating issues. Its really not hard to do. And the results are great laptop has been on 4 hours no overheating. Thanks
September 10th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Tito Ribeiro,
Unfortunately, I cannot help you on the component level because we do not repair motherboards in our shop and I don’t really know how to do it. I guess, if you have a burned chip, replacing the power jack will not help a lot. I think you should look for a used A75 laptop on ebay, it would be much cheaper then paying $900 for a refurbished motherboard.
September 11th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
I’ve been looking for a program to monitor the temperature of my A75-S206. Tried SpeedFan, but it doesn’t seem to automatically detect the system fan. It also doesn’t display the CPU or mainboard temperatures.
I’ve checked the system BIOS, but it seems pretty sparse. Now I’m wondering how to tell if this mainboard even has temperature sensors.
Any suggestions?
September 13th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Hello, and thanks for the help.
I am trying to fix my a75-s2292 but I cant get anything up on the lcd (or the vga on the back). The blue power light comes on and stays on but no text images etc. I dont think there are any other problems other than a 3.5 music jack doesnt work. {When the power is turmed on the power lights up and the fans start; litterally 2 seconds later the fans stop and no response. I can only get the power light on or off} Any comments would be great thank you.
Is it posslble to have this notebook run when it is dissasymbled and does the lcd need to be hooked up for the vga to work on a crt. (all nessicary parts hooked of course i.e. HD RAM Monitor)
September 13th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Mike,
Try Notebook hardware control utility. It works fine on my Satellite A105 and I can control the CPU temperature.
September 13th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Rich,
If you have any extra memory installed, remove it and try to start the laptop just with a base memory. I would also try removing the wireless card; sometimes it might halt the system from booting.
You can minimize the system to a bare minimum: system board and CPU with cooling module, it would be enough to start the laptop with an external monitor hooked up to the VGA port. This board already has an integrated memory chip, so you don’t need any extra memory chip. The power switch is also located on the motherboard. It is not necessary to connect the LCD screen; the external monitor would be enough.
If you minimized it and have only the system board, the CPU and the external monitor, but still no video, then most likely that’s the system board problem.
September 14th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I have successfully installed a new DVD burner in my computer and it worked well. I just took the mounting bracket off the old dvd dirve and put it in there and it fit like a glove. the drive model is an NEC-6750A.
September 17th, 2006 at 5:47 am
I have recently purchased a new top – LCD screen – for my A70 laptop from EBAY – I was told that the connector for wireless cable does not come with the unit – Is this a problem and can anyone direct me to instructions on how to replace LCD screen??
Thanks
September 22nd, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Taki,
It means that you will not be able internal wireless card if you have any. If I understand right, you purchased entire assembly that includes the screen with the cover. If you have wireless antennas in your laptop, then you can replace just the screen and do not replace the top cover (antennas are located under the screen and attached to the cover).
I haven’t created a disassembly guide for Satellite A70 yet, but you can use a guide for Satellite A65 as an example. It would be a little bit different, but main steps should be the same.
September 24th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
I took my laptop apart to remove the dust to prevent it from overheating and I cant get the touchpad to connect properly. Everything else worked great (I’m submitting this from the laptop using a usb mouse). Any ideas how to get that reconnected?
September 30th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Skatetampa84,
Try enabling the touchpad with Fn+F9 key combination. Press Fn first and then F9. If it doesn’t help, check if the touchpad cable is properly connected to the motherboard and locked.
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:31 pm
After taking a part my Toshiba A70 and reparing the AC jack, I put it all back together and the DVD unit is not working. No power even no boot from CD is working.
Any ideas?
October 6th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Manuel,
Have you tried reseating the DVD drive? Just remove it from the laptop and put it back, to make sure that it makes a good connection with the system board.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:09 am
I had the power jack issues as mentioned by several people on this site for my toshiba laptop. I tried to open the laptop and try to fix the power jack myself. I could not do it. So, I reassembled back the laptop. Now it is not booting. When I switch on the power, the power light goes on and the fans start. Ater that the fans stop and nothing happens after that. I don’t know what to do. I am out of warranty and any help in this matter would be really appreciated.
I tried booting with a CD, but nothing works. I need to try reseating the DVD driver as mentioned above to see if any thing happens.
Thanks.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
I’ve replaced the A/C socket on three A75 laptops. All went well except one of them. I had the same problem some other people have mentioned here where after the plug is replaced, or the heatsink and fan are cleaned, the system will not fully power up. When pushing the power switch, the fans spin up, the lights come on for a few seconds and then the system either gets quiet and the fans turn off leaving the power switch light on, or it will go completely dead after making a beeping noise. Two things I would check for this. First, be sure your have put the hardrive back in before testing the unit. Leaving it out will cause the latter of the two problems I described above. Also, if your system comes on then shuts back off, try this. Remove the heatsink from the mainboard. Release the CPU lock screw, remove the CPU. The reinsert the CPU and tighten the locking screw. Then reassemble the unit. I found on more than one occasion that the locking screw for the CPU does a poor job holding it in place. If the proccessor becomes loose or lifts, the system will not boot and may cause the above problems. This is especially true when cleaning the fans and heatsink because it gets bumped and pulled a lot during the cleaning process. One other piece of advice, I recommend placing your laptop on a solid clean surface when using it and not on your lap of a pillow. This will allow the air to circulate under the unit and help prevent it from sucking dust inside, which clutters the heatsink and fans. I use a plastic cutting board to place it on while I’m using it on my lap and it works perfect. This keeps me cool too because the bottome of the fan laptop gets hot. Best of luck to you and hang in there. You’ll figure it out.
October 18th, 2006 at 10:43 am
Excuses to write in Spanish but it is it less than I can make for Hispanic people.
este manual es muy pero muy bueno. recominedo ojear mejor la pagina para encontrar algunas herraminetas que se encuentran entre los link lamento que no se pueda encontarr totalmente en español mucha suerte a todos ya que en mi caso pude rescatar mi computador portatil
October 21st, 2006 at 9:23 am
Toshiba A75 Wireless Card
I have a wi-fi card question. I did’nt mark the Wi-Fi card wires – I would like to know which wire goes where. Being an aentena I don’t think it makes a difference – but I don’t want to take a chance.
October 21st, 2006 at 11:10 am
Michael,
There should be 2 antenna wires: white and black. Connect the white cable to the “Main” connector on the wireless card and the black wire to the “Aux” connector.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:02 am
Hey everybody,
I was wondering, I have a Satellite A75-S229 and here’s the situation. Downloaded the spec sheet and the guide so I could add more memory (ram) to it. Well in the spec sheet it says my model has (2) Expansion memory slots. So I purchased 2 more 512mb chips to max out the ram. Well I found the one (underneath the memory cover) Where’s the other slot? Are both slots there and I don’t see it? or Should I return both chips and just get a 1gb chip to max out? Much appreciated fellas…thx.
October 24th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Charles,
I don’t know why the specification says “2 expansion memory slots”, I guess that’s a typo. This model has one memory module permanently attached to the system board. There is only one memory slot available for upgrades. You can install only one memory stick into this computer.
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:51 pm
hey
i have a toshiba satelite a70 and want to change the blue panel or cover which says toshiba on it because there is a scratch how can i do that please let me know.
November 5th, 2006 at 6:46 am
Hi I commend you on your site. I left it the computer charging all night long but in the morning the amber charge light was still on, so I turned it on, then it booted fine, then the crital battery message came on and turned off.So I decided to check the charger output theres 19.5V, there so then I checked the output on the mother board same 19.5V there too. I also checked the voltage on the battery charging side 14.6V, could it be the battery could not be holding charge or I need a new one?
Thanks
November 6th, 2006 at 8:23 am
Hi Again, One more question, should the computer function with the battery removed, and with the power from the wall?
Thanks
November 7th, 2006 at 11:51 am
Yashar,
I don’t have a guide for Satellite A70 LCD cover replacement. Take a look at the display disassembly guides for Satellite M35X and Satellite A65 at http://www.irisvista.com/tech/ and you’ll get an idea.
November 7th, 2006 at 11:58 am
DHEERAF,
Yes it should function fine even if you remove the battery and run in just from the AC adapter. Does it?
I think you might have a bad battery.
November 11th, 2006 at 5:45 am
Hi, The computer does not turn on with it connected to the wall without the battery, the green LED AC power luminates though.
November 16th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Hi
I’m not sure if this is a bios problem, but when I turn on the computer, the screen will load the bios and then flicker a blue screen for half a second and restarts. I’ve loaded default settings in the bios but still no fix. I went thru the steps to attempt to remove the cmos battery to reset bios, only to find the battery soldered. Should I attempt to remove it or ask for professional help…my warranty expired and not sure if it’s worth the money if i can diy.
thanks for any response
November 16th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
DcL,
Remove the hard drive, the DVD drive, and any cards that you can access from the bottom (Wi-Fi card, modem) and start the laptop again. Do you still have the same blue screen error? If no, then start installing removed parts one by one and test the laptop after each part, find out witch part is causing the problem. If you still have BSOD error, then I would test the memory, you can do it with Memtest 86+ utility.
BTW, you also can get a BSOD error because of corrupted software. Remove just the hard drive and see if the error gone. If it’s gone then it’s either bad software or a bad hard dive. Test the hard drive with Hitachi DFT test.
November 17th, 2006 at 10:35 am
hm, i should explain my problem more descriptively.
i’m pretty sure a virus hit my hdd and messed it up (it started showing a “PXE-61: Media Test Failure” on load with /without the hdd). I reformatted my HDD and tried again, instead of the PXE-61 problem, it shows up the BSOD/restart problem with the HDD and PXE-61 problem without the hdd. To test whether it was my hdd or another problem, I put in another hdd from another laptop and it shows the same problem (bsod/restart). Therefore, I believe the problem is a bios problem.
i’m not sure how i’m going to test the mem with memtest since i can’t access the os b4 restarting.
thanks for your time
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Hi, I have a Satellite A70 that I dismantled to solder the jack connector. After reassembly, every thing works except for the touch pad. No mouvement of the cursor nor clics. What did I do or did not do. ( I sould say that at my first attempt, I forgot to plug the touch pad connector and had no leds and no touch pad. Then pluged the conn and had leds but still no touch pad ) Thanks for reading me and hoping to hear from you soon.
November 24th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Hi, I have replaced the DC jack bought a new charger and a new battery, It is still not doing what it should do. The symtons are as follows: With the it pluged in with the battery in it seems to charge when it feels like it.
When switched on the LED indicates that it is not pluged in even though it is & the charge LED swithes off aswell , this happens when I actually log to the MS page.
I’m thinking maybe there is some conflicting prob with the MS. I am using Microsoft windows XP Version 2002 service pack 2. Any ideas?
November 25th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Thanks for ur dismantle pix. It helps a lot~! My dad dismantled my A70 yesterday, and cleaned up the dust that cluged around the heatsink. My laptop finally becomes quiet now……….many tnx~!!!!!!!!
November 27th, 2006 at 12:44 am
Jack,
Make sure that the touchpad cable is seated properly, all the way down.
November 27th, 2006 at 12:50 am
Dheeraj,
Then probably there is an issue with the motherboard. You’ve eliminated everything else.
The AC adapter (new) plugs into the motherboard via the power jack (new). The battery (new) also connects directly to the system board. So, the only part left is the motherboard.
November 27th, 2006 at 2:41 am
Any ideas where can get one?
December 8th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I am in the midst of taking my a75-209 apart but i do not know how to take off the speaker and touchpad wires. They seem to be almost falling off but when i pull its like they are glued on. Any help would be great. Great site though. without it i’d be paying alot of money
December 10th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
I recently installed a new hard drive. It’s a seagate 7200rmp drive for an A75 series laptop. It didn’t like the boot disk at first. The computer shutdown due to overtemp I suspect. Anyway, since then my touchpad has stopped working completely. I’ve tried to reinstall specific drivers from the utility disk and had no luck. I tried the FN, F9 key combo. It did enable and disable the pad icon, but the pad never became functional. What are the failure rates on the pads and could it be related to the improper grouding of the case? Also, whenever I googled the troubleshooting tips, registry cleaner software sites were amongst the search results. Could the pad loose functionality due to a registry error of some sort?
December 17th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Hi! This site is a great resource! I haven’t had major problems with my Satellite A75-S213 yet, I have been keeping up with cleaning the fan ports and stuff since reading about the overheating problems on amazon.com.
Today, however it seems my touchpad has decided to stop working. I have toggled on/off using the F9 key, which will show the touchpad being on or off in the toolbar but it still won’t function either way. I went to “add or remove programs” utility and it shows the “TouchPad On/Off Utility” on the list there but I can only remove it, there are no options other than that.
I guess I’d like to see if anyone out there has had a similar problem and/or might have some suggestions as to what to do here.
Luckily I have a trackball from an older computer of mine so I am not stuck with a $1,400.00 paperweight but I would like to make this laptop portable again if possible.
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
December 22nd, 2006 at 6:21 am
This new hard drive from seagate works quirky with my s211. I tried to load the system disk, and about half way through the computer shut off. I finally got it to load. Had to prop the computer up to increase air flow through the bottom intakes. Touch pad works great now and I have no window errors.
Does anyone know if there is a motherboard out there that would allow for a core duo or two duo installation with this system? Does an adapter of sorts exist?
December 27th, 2006 at 6:25 am
Hey,
See i have a Toshiba laptop Statellite 2450-101 model.
I dont knwo wats up with it. When i switch it on it asks for a password, I dont remember putting a password. I have exhausted all that i know, how to fix it.
Thanks man for ya help. I guy told me of the 25 pin printer cable, how to connect i have no idea. any suggestions is appreciated.
December 27th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Hi, I have an A75 and the screen very dim. I have tried replaced the LCD inverter but still have the same problem. Do u have any other suggestion?
December 31st, 2006 at 10:19 am
Had shut down problem w/ CPU intensive (games) uses. Disassembly seemed to go fine. It was, indeed, clogged with dust. (Not surprising to me really. I’d bought it in Dec 04, took it with me to Iraq through all of ’05). Problem started slowly, in Iraq, about six months after I bought it.
So, I disassembled, cleaned, reassembled. All seemed, initially, to be OK. But then, as I was logging on, SHUTDOWN. Total. Tried plugging it in. Same. Total shutdown, and not even always after completing Boot process. In short, WASSUP?
This doesn’t match battery problem (since I’m not on battery). The machine is clean. What is going on?
Thanks.
LTC Bob Bateman
UPDATE:
I guess this problem is very common. I published this question and a couple of suggestions here, so more people can see and benefit from it.
January 1st, 2007 at 10:50 am
Tonny,
Most likely the laptop is asking for the BIOS password. On older Toshiba laptops you can erase the password with a 25 pin parallel plug. This post would be helpful for you.
January 1st, 2007 at 10:58 am
Ivy,
Are you sure if the inverter board you installed is good?
A failed FL inverter is the most common problem when you have no backlight. You gave it a shot and unfortunately it didn’t work. There are more parts related to the screen backlight. You might have a problem with the CCFL tube (backlight bulb), video cable or even motherboard. It’s really hard to say what is wrong without installing test parts. Probably you have a bad backlight but it’s just a guess.
January 3rd, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for your reply, I have installed two new LCD inverter still have the same problem, and I tested with ext. Monitor is ok. I guess may be what you said is a bad backlight.
January 3rd, 2007 at 4:18 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 1:24 am
Frozen Touch Pad?
this might be worth a try as it is what one person reports from Toshiba Tech Support:
1) Make sure the touch pad is enabled (still not working? Go to step 2)
Turn on the computer
2) Turn off the computer
3) Unplug the power cord from outlet or laptop
4) Remove the battery
5) Press and hold the power ON button for 30 seconds
6) Re-insert battery
7) Plug in power cord
Sounds stupid, but it actually worked. I asked the guy what the steps did to solve the touch pad problem. He said something about a static/electrical charge (that may have built up from removing/reinserting the power cord) was released or discharged.
January 7th, 2007 at 2:47 am
I need to know how to remove and replace damaged Toshiba
A70 keyboard.Is it same as A55.Or different.
Can anyone help.
January 7th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Thanks for the info on the Toshiba A-75 . with your manual i was able to fix the ac power problem with the work around. I wish i had found this sooner. Thanks again
January 7th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Just want to say a big thanks to the people who put this site together. I am in Pakistan for 2 years in a remote area, travel and dust are killers on laptops. I was asked to look at a Toshiba Satellite A70 with you site info had the fan out in no time. Cant donate at the mo but will link to your site.
Cheers Tom
January 8th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Hi,
I have a Toshiba A70 here and I have ! in the BIOS beside the CD-Rom, Removable Devices, and Netwok Boot in the boot menu. What does that mean. I can’t boot from CD however the CD-Rom works in Windows. I’m baffled.
Thanks
January 11th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Im kind of curious weather i could replace the motherboad with a diffrent Toshiba model like the A105 and i was also wondering if i could upgrade the processor in the A75 to something that produces less heat but is as good or better than the current one
January 12th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
thank u very much i was out of warent for my toshipa satellite a75-s206 and wanted to fix the power socket was loose and i took appart have way cant find where the rest of the screws are hiding then i found your website and u walked me through it thank u again
a.aden
January 14th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Thank you for the postings on reparing my Toshiba A75 power connector problem. I can’t remember the wire colors on that wifi board. Which is main and aux?
Can you help
January 17th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Can anybody help myself?
Hello! After finding this site, I encouraged myself to repair for me same my Toshiba Satellite A75-231. EXCELLENT site, pictures very well detailed… very good work.
How can I donate through Paypal some money?
I disassembled the notebook using the excellent pictures, I cleaned the fans, I put new thermal paste in the processor, I changed the battery cmos and I welded the new power connector.
However, when tying the Notebook, he comes with an error message:
ERROR
Resource Conflict – PCI in slot 02
Bus:02, Device 00: Function:00
Press to summarizes, to Setup
But the keyboard restraint and it doesn’t work plus, after appearing the message.
If I tie the notebook and soon to press, he enters in the bios, but it locks the keyboard.
I beat several pictures, of the change of the battery, of the change of the connector, of the placement of the thermal paste and also of the error message, but I don’t know as sending the pictures.
Can anybody help myself?
The leds are ok, the hd works, the battery carries, but when I access Bios, pressing F2, my keyboard locks.
After appearing the error message, my keyboard also restraint. In other words, I don’t get anything, because my whole notebook freezes.
I used the multimeter to test the connector of force and it is Ok, the processor, is OK, the switch WiFi is also Ok, the battery is carrying.
What can wrong be?
I don’t have as sending my notebook the any technical support Toshiba here in Brazil, because the closest is to 890Km from where am and, in my city it has serious possessions of inundations, where a river overflowed and two bridges tumbled.
Very thankful for the help.
Jacques Douglas
January 18th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Chase,
You cannot replace the motherboard with a different Toshiba model.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:44 am
a aden,
White cable goes to the main connector, and black one to auxiliary.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Jacques Douglas,
Try starting the laptop without wireless card installed. Make sure the wireless card is seated properly.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:29 am
Thanks for the disassembly/assembly guide. My problem was a bad, very bad solder joint on the power connector. Not one of the three main joints, but the one that looks like it is just one of the mounting studs of the connector. Anyway, with the new solder job and cleaning of the heatsinks, it works like new.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Would buying one of those fan pads to set my laptop on help with the over heating or is it better to just clean the heatsink every once in a while? Those fan pads are around $50 at best buy.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:41 pm
My friends:
My problem continues…
With or without wireless card installed, the problems continue…
If I tie the notebook and soon to press , it enters in the bios, but it locks the keyboard.
What can wrong be?
Very thankful for the help.
January 21st, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I just wanted everyone to know what a great website this is. I used your disassembly instructions to remove and clean the heat sink and add 1Gb memory to my Toshiba Satelite A70 Notebook. I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I not only saved about $150 to have this done, I became the “best dad”, and “awesome” in the eyes of my ten year old son. Thanks for making that sooooo easy!
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I followed the guide on the website to take apart my Toshiba Satellite A70 and clean the heat sync. After putting it back together, it won’t start properly. The blue power light goes on and the fans spin up like it’s going to start, but no power ever comes to the USB ports and the screen is blank.
I think I made the mistake of not wearing any type of static elimination wrist band (I worked at a table with carpet under it, bare socks, and I tap my feet). I’m unsure how to test my components to see what I have shorted/damaged.
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:15 am
I have a Toshiba A75 that doesn’t have a hard drive. I took one out of my old IBM T30 but it doesn’t fit. The harddrive wouldn’t fit into the (i’m guessing ATA) slot. My question is ‘what type of harddrive do I have to get for my A75 to upgrade it?’ or ‘Does it need a special connector or “IDE cable-type” wire?’ I just want to make sure so that I don’t waste my time when sending it back when it doesn’t fit. If anybody knows the answer to this please let me know! Thanks!
January 25th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I am having the exact same problem as colin green responce # 236. I took apart to clean (this is the second time) – but this time – my screen stays blank – I checked the connection – it is plugged in – it even briefly flashes blue as I hold the power button down to shut it down. Please help-
Email: snow_thirteen@yahoo.com
January 26th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Hello cj2600,
I posted a question a few months ago about some components burned on my A75′s system board. Thing is it took me a loooong while to find those chips online, but I got them replaced and it starts up with no problems. Now I have that old problem with my battery. The computer works find without the battery, but if I just plug it in, the orange led will stay on for 2 secs and then off for another 3 secs and so on. I also noticed a fast flash on the orange led when it’s about to turn on.
I remember the last time I was using this laptop and I was doing exactly these battery tests when my chips cooked up so I’m afraid to insist plugging the battery. Since it’s not really easy for me to find another battery for testing, I’d like to have your suggestion to know what the problem is. Either the system board or the battery itself. Is there a way to clean the contacts on the battery/board or maybe test it for short circuits or anything? I’ve got a multimeter handy and some skils on testing these things, but I have to know what to expect from it.
Thank you very much.
January 28th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I dissambled by laptop (Toshiba A70) according to the guide, and soldered on a new dc jack. I secured the board to the case, attached the battery, and plugged it in. I should be able to test if the connection works at this stage, before re-assembling, right?
please see pic of my soldering job…
http://i1.tinypic.com/2vty5hv.jpg
if I can’t get power at this stage, what options do I have?
January 29th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Hi,
I have a toshiba A70 S256 with same problems described by Tito Ribeiro in messages published on September 9th, 2006 at 10:26 pm and January 26th, 2007 at 3:57 pm. However, i didn´t figure out where can i find the burned out components to buy and fix the MOBO. Could you provide me his email address or forward this message to his email address?
January 30th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-209 that I took apart to clean the heat sink and the fans. I took it all the way down and when I tried to carefully remove the heatsink, the cpu popped up with it…I’m concerned that removing the cpu without unlocking it may have caused a problem. I put it back together and I’m getting the same problem many others have gotten – it turns on, fans run for a sec, no screen, and I’m not sure what else might not be running. I’m just worried that I messed up the cpu when i pulled it off. Any ideas?
January 31st, 2007 at 12:30 pm
hello
I took apart my Toshiba A75 to clean up the heatsink. Reassamble it and now the screen stays black. I triple ckecked everything and all plugs are where they are supposed to be. Any idea whats wrong?
February 1st, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75 S209. The motherboard was replaced a few months ago under warranty. It recently began showing the blue screen of death at erratic times, forcing a checkdisk on reboot. The problem got progressively worse over a course of a few days. I installed a new hard drive and reloaded the OS, but am still experiencing similar problems. It’s as if OS data is corrupted. When I attempt to reinstall the OS, the installation stops at various points with messages saying various files could not be copied.
I suspect that the motherboard is good, since it was recently replaced, and that the hard drive also is OK, since it’s new. I disassembled the laptop to clean, but the fans and cooling fins were already clean, probably from the motherboard replacement.
Any suggestions or ideas?
February 4th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Munk, Hecktor,
make sure the processor is seated properly and it is LOCKED inside the socket. If you accidently pulled the processor from the socket you have to properly put it back in place:
- carefully separate the processor from the heat sink if it’s glued to it with thermal paste
- OPEN the processor socket on the CPU by turning the screw-lock into “Open” position
- place the processor back into the socket, there is only one correct orientation. Make sure holes in the socket matches pins on the processor. Usually the CPU fits into the socket very easy. Make sure the CPU is seated all the way down.
- LOCK the socket by turning the screw into “Locked” position
- apply thermal grease and attach the heat sink
February 12th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Hi there CJ2600.
Great tut man. Help me a lot.
Just one problem. I cannot remove the system board in step 20. You said removing the left side first ? I did push the PC card switch in, but there is a port (looks like an USB port but smaller) on the right of the PC Card Slot, and I guess it is holding the system board .
Please, give me some advice. I was to afraid to pull hard because I think I might break the board.
February 12th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
It’s a IEEE 1394 Cable Slot i think.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Could anyone tell me if a LCD screen off of a A75-S226 would fit on an A75-S229. Thanks.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I’ve taken it apart and made sure that everything is plugged in where it belongs. The CPU is seated properly. It’s all as it should be, but when i turn it on…the fans run for a second or two and the power light turns on. Other than that, no other sign that anything else is on. Blank screen and sad sad silence. Any other suggestions as to what may be wrong and what I can do?
February 17th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Ummm anyone know what kind of screwdriver to use to get the dvd drive out?!? I can’t get the stupid thing out!!!! I need to re-solder the power connection, but I can get any further than this DVD drive!! Please HELP ME
February 19th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Hello,
I have a toshiba A70, and my backlighting seems to have a problem. I can barely see whats on the screen, the inverter might not work properly…the one little glitch in this case is that it SOMETIMES lights up, then goes dim the second after. I noticed that when I press and release the little pin that detects if the laptop is open or closed, it lights up for an instant and then goes black again. What can be wrong?
February 26th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I recently dismantled my A75 to replace some broken fans and clean out the heat sink. The dismantling process went fine but after I reassembled the laptop I could not get it to boot up. The fans would run for about 5 seconds then turn off, after that nothing would happen. I did not remove the heat sink or the CPU. Any ideas of what could be causing this problem?
Facethefloor@msn.com
March 12th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
My daughter’s a75-s231 laptop screen goes black after the adapter is plugged in. When running on battery only, the display is fine. The battery charges and the computer doesn’t freeze while the adapter is plugged in. Any thoughts as to why all of a sudden the ac adapter causes the display to cut out? The reset button for the screen will allow display to be seen for a second or two, but it is annoying to keep pressing the little button.
March 12th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
As an addendum, I reseated the inverter board, no change. I lowered the brightness, and it will stay running…yeah. I am thinking that I need to get a new inverter board? I would still appreciate another opinion.
March 19th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Hello,
My problem is similar to your’s munk. I was in class today, everything is fine, suddenly my screen goes blank. I assume it’s the auto power-down because it wasn’t plugged in. So I plug it in and try to hit some buttons to wake it up, and nothing happens. I restart it completely, and the screen stays blank, the fans start, and that is all. What died?
March 19th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Norm,
Check the memory first. Try reseating it.
March 20th, 2007 at 3:23 am
I replaced both inverter and ccfl, and it is up and running again. Heads up to anyone attempting this… the wires are very fragile and the space to fit them back in is tight. If you get the ccfl back in and still nothing, check for grounds… Saved a bundle doing it myself thanks to this website!
March 20th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
“Norm,
Check the memory first. Try reseating it.”
Thanks very much for your reply!
Unfortunately that didn’t do the trick. I know the hdd is good because I got it up on another machine. Before I buy new memory, do these symptoms: power light comes on, screen stays dead, fans come on, dvd drive/hdd seem to start, but not load… rule out the CPU being bad?
Thanks for your time,
Norm
March 21st, 2007 at 11:36 am
hi
meine toshiba a75 ist too noisy. cooling system work always. the problem is not new
March 26th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Thanks for the site.
Put me down for a clogged heat sink problem. The user had operated the computer for some time on the carpet, and it was gradually working for shorter periods of time before it would power off. When I disassembled the PC I found a felt-like coating all over the heat sink intakes. Strangely enough there was no carpet fibers.
With respect to marking your WiFi cables, I used the screwdriver I was working with and scratched a R and a B on the WiFi card metal shield.
The Customer just called back today, which is what lead me to find this site. For some reason the mouse had stopped working. Having here do Fn+F9 as outline above did not work for her. She brought the laptop by and the mouse worked fine as soon as it powered up. Who knows?
The Fn+F9 instructions (above) to dis/en-able the mouse were not too clear, both keys need to be pressed at the same time.
I’ve noticed a number of people have wondered if they have memory problems keeping the system to boot. On may systems I have worked on, removing the memory when it is in question, and then booting will cause the PC to try and boot, and give a post error of several beeps. This usually means the memory is the cause of the problem.
Best regards.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Where can I find the instruction for the A-75 screen replacement (it’s the whole piece -cover with the LCD).
Thanks!
March 31st, 2007 at 5:39 am
Hi,
I’v got some problems with a75 – my CPU got out with fans, and when i put it back i couldn’t lock it completely. I could only turned it more, than a half of what i should. However it booted properly… After cleaning it and removing the thermal grease it worked fine for month, than i replaced grease again, it worked fine for another month, than i replaced it again, and now after 2 weeks it shut down with the blue screen again… Is there something else i could do with it, and should i do something with the CPU locking? Btw i live in dormitory and it’s quite dusty there…
April 1st, 2007 at 6:21 am
Hello, guys!
Reading this forum, I do realised, that I got the same
A75 with the same CPU thermal problem which has been worked just for 1 year! I stucked at step 6, while dismantling a securing strip, which has been successfuly scratched, but not removed.
On the picture it’s shown than screw driver to be inserted under the hinges (black one), but talks are about panel which is silver one. Please comment/advice,
where and how deep is screw driver to be inserted? Which way this securing panel to be lifted (moved away)? Thnks in advance, Vladimir.
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:43 am
Hi
I spilled some liquid on my laptop. Immediately I put it upside down and turn it off to avoid the liquid (red wine of all things) to get to vital parts.
After about 30 hours drying, I dissasembled the computer up to step 17 and clean any liquid I saw. None seemet to have gotten to the motherboard, but stayed mostly on the keyboard.
After I assembled it and put it together, the computer started normally, but started beeping loudly, I got scared and turned it of again
Do you know why this happens?, I guess my question is wether this is a consequence of damage from the liquid or incorrect assembly
thanks!
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:31 am
hey,i have a sat a85-s107 that keeps locking up when i touch certain areas .it locked up on me twice whiletyping this message little help pls :/
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:04 am
I have a Toshiba A70 and your site has saved me TWICE. The first instance my A70 was repeatedly shutting down with no warning, 1 month outside of warranty. After reviewing your site, I found your instructions on how to dismantle and clean the heat sinks. Your instructions worked a treat. Then, yesterday, after finding my laptop would not power up, again I came to your site and found your tips on resoldering the DC jack. I opened my machine up and it was the exact source of my problem. A quick drop of solder and after re-assembling, the machine worked a treat (I also took the opportunity to clean the heat sinks again – amazing how much dust it traps after only a few months). The purpose of my message is to say “THANK YOU”. Your detailed instructions have saved me a bundle as I have been able to make 2 repairs at no cost. If anyone is having troubles with a Toshiba A70 which is out of warranty, the instructions on this site are first class. Thanks for providing a great service.
April 8th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Great instructions. Two questions:
1) When I lifted the mother board out, a small bent metal cover was loose on inside of the bottom of the case, near the corner where the power plug and s-video are located. It is not obvious to me where this is meant to snap on, or whatever. The metal cover is about 1.25″ x .25″ x .5″. Any ideas?
2) Bonehead move on my part: I’m not absolutely sure how the wires were hooked up on the wireless card. I think it was main-white and aux-black, but am not completely sure.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
April 9th, 2007 at 6:05 am
Here’s a tip.
Before you start to disassemble. Prepare small strips of SCOTCH® brand adhesive tape and place over the holes.
I fold back a little tab so that I can remove them easily when done. Then I poke a pinhole in it. The screwdriver goes in but the screws don’t come out. This little preparation has kept my desk free of ‘extra’ screws when reassembling.
Why this way?
1: prevents lost screws
2: prevents mismatch screws in wrong hole
The reason I recommend Scotch brand? No residue left behind like with the dollar store or discount brands.
April 16th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Great instructions.
I replace the bad power connector on A75 S206 model and found that I had 4 small silver screws off to the side that I must have missed left over. OOPS. I think that are to some kind of connectors on the MB. So far the system is working fine, however the power connector is still not 100% reliable. I must still twist the connector around some to get the AC power to stay on. Once it is in a good AC contact position then it works fine.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I just received a broken a70 from a friend who told me if I could fix it I could have it. I’m having the same problem that was brought up earlier where the computer will start, the power button will light up, the fans will turn for a couple seconds and then the whole machine will go quiet. I can feel the hdd spinning and warm air coming from the heat sink vent but it doesn’t seem to be booting and no video is coming out of the lcd or an external monitor. I have checked the processor (using your wonderful instructions, thanks) and everything necessary is plugged in tight.
any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
thanks.
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Also, there is no extra ram and the processor is seated properly.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:12 am
the detail disassembly is quite a help. But I need to
know ,how to revove only the keyboard and replace with
a new one. do I have to still remove bottom screws
Can any one help
April 26th, 2007 at 9:06 am
I have a Toshiba A75 laptop. Several months ago, my touchpad stopped working, along with the mouse buttons. Somewhere on the internet, i found a solution that worked, and it had something to do with removing the memory module. The problem just returned, and I can’t remember exactly what I did to fix this issue before. I tried removing / replacing the module, and I tried starting the pc without the module, but I still have no touchpad. The icon in the systray shows the pad is active (I tried the disable/enable trick, to no avail). Anyone know anything about this?
Scott
April 26th, 2007 at 9:23 am
I found the answer…you also have to unplug the laptop and remove the battery for a few seconds (I waited about 10 sec). Put it all back together, turn it on, and the touchpad is alive again. I hope this helps some of the other people seeing this issue.
April 29th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I followed the instructions to replace a dead fan (great instructions by the way!). Now that I have everything put back together, the laptop boots, but it does not recognize the hard drive. The HDD doesn’t show up in the BIOS setup and the computer will only boot from cd-rom or network. Do you think the hard drive coincidentally went bad at the same time, or is there something I could have messed up to make the hdd not work anymore?
Thanks!
April 30th, 2007 at 7:46 am
Hi, Great Site
I have a salellite A70 and I have fixed both the over heating and DC plug. My son recently spilled some water on the keyboard. I let dry then started back up. Everything seemed fine but when I tried to type on the keyboard the letters got all mixed up and by pressing one key 3 or more other letters showed up.
I assumed it was the keyboard so when I took it off I noticed that some curosion had showed up around the E359 U41 chip under the keyboard. I then forgot to take out the battery and cleaned the connections with a dry tooth brush.
The curosion was around the chip I think they are probing traces?
When I put the keyboard back on to see if the keyboard worked correctly. I found that the computer will not powerup. When I press the power button the fan will turn on but no lights or other noises. I have to pull the battery to get the fan to stop.
Any help will be great.
Thanks
Trevor
April 30th, 2007 at 9:43 am
All that was really appreciated. I had the overheating problem and I followed all the instructions : it really worked out !! Thanks a lot for the help, but Toshiba should build a better laptop. I never had before these type of problems.
May 5th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
I have two cables running from my LCD one I plugged into the board and another that is split into two, one black and one white, and I cant seem to find where these two hook back up.
Can someone help? Thanks
May 5th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Brown,
These cables are wireless antennas. Connect them to the wireless card. White cable to the main connector on the card and the black one to the auxiliary connector.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Hi, Thanks for your efforts– disassembling laptops is always a scary process. For the A75, I get to step 6, with the securing strip in about the loosened position shown. But, as you say, it is still very tight along the edge next to the keyboard, and I can’t figure out which direction to pull, push, and/or pry without breaking or marring something. Could you please provide further advice? Thanks, – Bill
May 12th, 2007 at 4:08 am
Please Help! Help! I am in Step 20 trying to remove the motherboard, but find that the parallel port and monitor port are attached to a shiny metal sheet that is attached to the base. Should the ports come out with the motherboard. I just cannot “slide” the motherboard out. Please help! Thanks
May 12th, 2007 at 9:36 am
you may need to remove the 3/16″ connector screws. also push in the PC Card button when trying to slide out.
May 13th, 2007 at 7:21 am
Thanks ECMayo. Looks like I skipped the step to remove the hexagonal screws that hold the ports on. Thanks again! This is a wonderful site that even non technical people can use to fix their laptops!
May 13th, 2007 at 7:38 am
No prob SAM- I just fixed an A-105 so there wasn’t much difference.
The A75 was a couple of weeks ago, but remembered the headache.
May 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Hi,
I was wondering where the connectors are on the mb for the toshiba a75, I opened it up to clean the fans and heatsinks; pulled the lcd monitor cables out by mistake. Any help would be appreciated.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I took apart my laptop and fixed the overheating problem but i can’t seem to get it working. Windows boots up but i have no mouse and the touch pad doesn’t work. Also the 3 LED lights on the front of the laptop do not light up(battery, power, etc) Any ideas what i did wrong?
May 15th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Lee,
Sound like you have forgotten to reconnect the touchpad ribbon cable. This also is the LED wiring for the front panel. If you remove the keyboard and look beside the keyboard ribbon cable and connector there should be another ribbon cable about an inch wide that should be connected. If you think it was connected, try reseatting it and make sure you get it in up to the little line on the cable (into the connector).
That should solve your problem.
Hope that helped.
Lee Says:
May 13th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I took apart my laptop and fixed the overheating problem but i can’t seem to get it working. Windows boots up but i have no mouse and the touch pad doesn’t work. Also the 3 LED lights on the front of the laptop do not light up(battery, power, etc) Any ideas what i did wrong?
May 15th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Help! Per above (280), I’m stuck at step 6 and need a hint on which way to move the securing strip after it is loose as shown in the picture. It’s still very tight next to the keyboard. How do I move it without breaking something? Thanks. – Bill
May 28th, 2007 at 7:27 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A-75 and where you conect the video cable to the onboard video has broken off,
is there any pictures you might have close-up of this connection, so I can see how it went.
Sincerely,
Melissa
June 1st, 2007 at 3:54 pm
This is a great guide and helped me a lot in taking apart and putting my laptop (A70) back together. However, after putting it back together, when I press the power button, I hear fans and nothing else. So it turns on but won’t boot up. I disassembled and reassembled again just to ensure I didn’t miss anything and still nothing. What may be causing this?? Thank you for your help.
June 1st, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Amanda,
Make sure the CPU is seated properly in the socket on the motherboard and the socket is LOCKED. If you have any memory installed into the expansion slot, try reseating it.
June 4th, 2007 at 7:15 am
I have an A70 that I think the onboard memory is having issues, is there a way to disable the onboard memory and just use the expansion memory.
Thanks
Bruce
June 4th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Bruce,
Unfortunately, you cannot disable the onboard memory. You’ll have to replace the motherboard.
One guy had a similar problem with his Satellite A65 laptop (comment 19) and he was able to remove the onboard memory and use only the expansion slot, but I’m not sure if this trick will work with an A70/A75 notebook. You have to have a soldering experience in order to do this job, I’ve never done it myself.
BTW, if you purchase your laptop in the United States, it should be covered by the extended 12 months warranty.
June 4th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
hmmmm, I could remove or replace the ram, but I wouldn’t recommend it to the novice. It is a precision job.
HOW TEST onboard Memory:
since there are only two conditions of Bad Memory (Open or Short)
If the memory is shorted. It will become hot, and only that one will be extremely hot, just from starting up. In the old days when I was upgrading Atari 520ST to 1MB we used a crayola crayon to see if it were shorted. The crayon will melt on a shorted chip.
The other method. OPEN – there is no way on the SMT chips to piggyback for testing if open. But you could replace 1 at a time – turn on and test.
PASS/FAIL if Fails do the next one. Proceeding through until all 4 are replaced.
I think the odds would be better if you started with Chip 1 or 2, rather than 0, or 3 (on ends)….
———————————-
When RAM had legs you could place an exact chip on top of another without soldering. That was an easy test for the Apple/Atari/Amiga/Commodore 64 and Vic 20′s.
Hope that helps someone
June 11th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Hi,
I have a problem with my battery charging and the ac power. I am pretty sure it is not the power jack problem since wiggling the cable does not help. When I try to have the ac and the battery plugged in at the same time the laptop shuts down. When I try to charge the battery with the laptop off it shows the plug in light on, the battery light orange and then the battery light goes off and the power light goes off. Then they turn back on again. It just repeats this forever every 5 seconds.
I have searched everywhere for a solution but could not find one yet.
June 11th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
it is a Toshiba Satellite A70
Part #: PSA70C-KL100E
June 12th, 2007 at 11:01 am
It still could be a DC JACK problem. Sometimes the contacts (in the jack itself) become oxidized, from plugging and unplugging. that small arc will weld what ever is in the air to the contact. Though not as often as the ‘infamous’ DC Jack issues where there is no contact, no charging, or no AC this too is one of the symptoms that could be a culprit. Seemingly elusive because you eliminated it from the list. For $6-8 I’d go ahead and replace it. And I have probably had 2 out of 100 DC jacks that was the problem. One was Toshiba M35 series (similar)
June 15th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
I replaced the power jack on my A75 and after assembling it the units would not boot properly. The unit would start notmaly and at some point the Windows XP Porofessional would hand up. After shuting down the unit boot in Safe Mode without a problem but I cqan not figure out what is wrong with the Normal Mode.
Any ideas???
June 19th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Thank you so much for the instructions on how to tear apart the A75! Mine was over heating within 15 minutes of turning it on and thanks to your instructions I was able to get it apart to clean it. I’ve had it running for about 20 minutes, so far so good.
Thanks again!
Nick Slaght
June 23rd, 2007 at 8:33 am
The DC power jack on my daughter’s Toshiba Satellite A75 had to be replaced. We were looking at quite an expense to have this done by a “technician”. Hell, Toshiba wanted to replace the motherboard! I did it myself. Took 3 hours to take it apart, 20 minutes to replace the jack and 2 hours to put it all back together. Had it not been for your instructions, I NEVER would have attempted this. They were clear and easy to follow. Are you planning similar write-ups for the IBM and Dell models soon?
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Hi mate, very helpful site thanx. I have an A70 and am just reformatting the drive but came up with an error on the recovery disc about 1/3 of the way through. Tried to copy the disc and use the copy but that didn’t work either. So I was planning on using a standard XP disc and just installing the drivers for the laptop. Do you know if this would work and if so where I would be able to find the required drivers? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
July 14th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Hey mate I’ve been successful with reformatting my A70, but now am trying to join it to our wireless network and the laptop doesn’t seem to be detecting the wireless network adapter for some reason. The wireless was working fine before we reformatted it so not sure why it isn’t now. Hope you have some pointers as to what it could be.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Great guide for fixing the overheating problem. I got another one for you if you get the time. I have been having a lot of problems with the graphics card the ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000 IGP. I cant find current drivers for the laptop and now some of my programs and lots of games wont work. Any ideas where to find the best driver? The model is A75 S213 toshiba satelite.
Thanks for your help
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
This is a great site! I use it whenever I clean the fans on my Satellite P30, I cleaned my brother in-laws A70 but when I try to power it up I get the normal fans kicking in but no bios, or anything past this point. On my P30 when I start up the Fans kick in and then stop and the computer boots. (Bios screen comes up and then the computer boots normally.) On the A70 the fan stops the power light stays on but no hard drive activity or anything other signs of life. I have checked the ram card and WIFI and all other connections. I have no idea what is up with it. Do any of you have any ideas? I am going to take it apart again tommorrow but it would be nice to know exactly what I am looking for.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
July 27th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Hi. I have the A75-S226 model. I have had many things repaired by Best Buy (or attempts at repairs) through their “service plan”-at least 4 times. This past time, they replaced the motherboard and the hard drive. I had to reorder the system recovery disk from Toshiba and I just got it the other day. I tried to do the system restore and all I get is this error message that says “WRONG MACHINE.”
What does this mean and is it my fault or did Best Buy do something wrong? It is definitely the right restore disk.
I was also wondering if they may have put the wrong parts in. I wonder this because on a previous repair, they did put the wrong motherboard in. How would I know?
July 27th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Marta,
After the motherboard replacement they didn’t write correct DMI string (information about your notebook). Without correct DMI you will not be able to start the recovery process. This utility is available only for certified Toshiba technicians.
You can take your laptop back to Best Buy or take it to a local authorized repair center. Toshiba extended warranty for Satellite A70 and A75 notebooks and programming your laptop with a new DMI string shouldn’t cost anything (under warranty). It takes only a couple of minutes.
July 31st, 2007 at 6:52 pm
i took apart my buddy’s a75 because he pushed the on/off button too hard and it went in. i glued it back on into place but now the touchpad doesn’t work. what do you think i missed or disconnected in error?
August 1st, 2007 at 5:59 pm
val,
First of all, try enabling the touchpad with Fn+F9 key combination. Hold down the Fn key and at the same time press on F9. This key combination enables/disables the touch pad.
If it doesn’t help, check the touch pad cable. It’s located under the keyboard – a white cable about 1/2 inches wide. Make sure it’s properly seated inside the connector.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
First my A75-S125 went dead after overheat. Initially thought of DC power adapter problem but after I opened it and reassembled it back, I would see all the frontside LEDs glowing, even power button light were also glowing. Fan would run just a second only.Screen was total dead. There was no sound or no beeping. Wondering if it is a CPU problem or motherboard problem. Thanks
August 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I took apart my A75, cleaned out the heat sink and put it all back together and the screen and wifi switch would not turn on and the computer would not boot. (very similar to other posts except mine did not magically fix itself) I took it back apart making sure to check all the connections). The only thing I am wondering about is this:
When I removed the heat sink, the CPU stayed firmly attached, so I did not take it off and reapply thermal grease. Do you have to take the CPU off so you can unlock it put it back in and relock it before you can reinstall the heatsink?
Thanks in advance for the help
August 13th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Collin,
I usually do it just to make sure the CPU is properly seated inside the socket.
August 15th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
thanks, that did the trick
August 15th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Hi,
I used your instructions to dissasemble my toshiba laptop a-70 due to overheating issues. The heatsinks were a mess. I followed all instructions carefully and assembled the computer. Once I turn it back on, the fans run for like a couple of seconds and it sounds like its working but there is no screen, even trying to open the cd drive does not work. Please help. I even took it apart again to make sure everything was connected properly. THanks
August 15th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Tina,
Check out comments 310-312, you might have a similar problem. If you have a memory stick installed into the expansion slot on the bottom, try reseating it. It’s possible the memory stick is not making a good connection with the motherboard.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Hey, I have Toshiba Satellite A70 .. I want to upgrade ram can u guide how to do so .. what kind of ram & where & which slot to put in
thx
August 26th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
saf,
You should use PC2700 DDR333 laptop memory. You can install up to 1GB memory module into the memory expansion slot located on the bottom of your laptop. There is only one memory slot in this model. Open the door on the bottom right in the middle of the laptop and you’ll find it.
September 5th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I have a A75-S206. The display is pink. There seems to be no blues (or blacks). Could this be an inverter problem or a problem with the display itself? When I connect an external monitor it works fine.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Hi:
I have a Toshiba a70-sp286 model. I had a problem with a CD RW/DVD drive, which I replaced. The new drive worked OK, but it stopped working a few days ago (no spinning, squeaky sound as if trying to access, and couldn’t access disks). The D: drive is recognized, but it can’t read. I replaced the drive, and I have the same problem with the new drive. Any ideas?
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:11 pm
hi no matter what i do i cant get my a75 open to clean it, it feels like something is holding it back where the printer ports are… please send me an email or a msg on aol or aim djkrash65
thanks — i cannot find aNY SOLution anywhere@@
October 13th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I have a Toshiba A70 and it will no longer boot. I can run Dr Caldera from the CD. When I run the diagnostic, the extended memory fails. Can I disable the onboard extended memory and run with only the expansion memory. Or is the mother board completely toast due to this? I know the CPU is ok because I used it in another computer with no problems.
October 24th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
John,
You cannot disable the onboard memory. But if you purchase this laptop in the U.S.A., you can get a free repair. Toshiba extended warranty for Satellite M30X, M35X, A70 and A75 laptops until November 7, 2007. Hurry up, you still have 2 weeks left. Call Toshiba and ask for more details. Get a free repair.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:13 am
I have an A75-s206. For some reason the back light is not coming on. I have replaced it with another screen, replaced the invertor, and even replaced the video cable but still will not power the screen. I can see the text in the back ground but for some reason the backlight is not powering up, Any ideas it would be appreciated
Thank
November 20th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Hi,
I have an a75-s206. Form some reason I do not have any back light. I have replaced the screen, th einvertor, and the video cable and the screen will not turn thr back light on on either screen. I was thinking this could be a video card problem is that possible. I can see the letter when i put direct light on the screen. I appreciate any help,
Garrett
November 21st, 2007 at 9:25 am
I’m having the same problem that was brought up earlier where the computer will start, the power button will light up, the fans will turn for a couple seconds and then the whole machine will go quiet. I can feel the hdd spinning and warm air coming from the heat sink vent but it doesn’t seem to be booting and no video is coming out of the lcd or an external monitor. I have checked the processor (using your wonderful instructions, thanks) and everything necessary is plugged in tight
November 26th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Hello,
Great site and info!!
Relating to an A75…the overheating problem seems to be an issue with everyone. Are there better/larger fans that may be installed? they seem undersized.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:04 am
Thanks for the info…I had all those problems that you listed with my computer. Finally the motherboard gave up. I was told that it costs $600 for the motherboard so I didn’t bother getting it repaired. Do you think I can get a used motherboard from somewhere?
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I have an A75 which I initially thought the MB was bad. Fortunately, after a bit of testing it was another problem.
When I believed I would have to replace the MB I found some on e-bay for aroung $150.00. They were used, but for that price, what the heck!
December 4th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
What was the problem diagnosed if it was not the motherboard?
December 10th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I try to upgrade my A70 memory module .I followed instruction to push the latches inside out but nothing moving….
December 11th, 2007 at 7:53 am
I have an A75 that the display is loose on and if it is not a 90 deg, it flips all the way open. Is there a way to tighten the hinge assembly on this thing?
December 11th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Hi, I just ordered a 1GB memory for my A75. To be sure there are two panels underneath. The middle one, the one with the expansion slot, and the lower right panel for the dvd/cd drive.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:14 am
hey, my kid pushed the on off button too hard and it is half pushed in, hanging by 1 side, still works, how hard is it to fix, how expensive and where to take it, i am in melb vic aust, it is an a70
December 12th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Antony,
the power button is a part of the top cover assembly. If the power button is broken apparently you’ll have to replace the whole top cover. You can find it by the following part number: K000016190
January 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Have a a70 with broken flex cable (for lcd)
Is the a60 the same cable?
thanks for any help.
is there a photo group to show how to
take unit apart?
January 6th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Hi fellas. happy new year everybody. i have a satellite 2450-101 and i’ve just bought a SD card 2 Gb. i’ve plugged it in the slot, and everything stopped, frozen. it seems there’s a resources conflict. what can i do to solve this problem. pls. help me. tnx
January 10th, 2008 at 6:55 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A70 and power button will not power up. What is causing the problem? All my LEDs (power & battery) all showing green light.
v/r John
Email: PalomoJB@gimail.af.mil
January 11th, 2008 at 1:04 am
G’day.
My A70 has just electrocuted me. There’s a problem with the charger. The external metal parts are live to 100VAC above earth potential.
A70 owners beware.
January 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am
What “external metal parts”, ya dildo? If your charger has any external metal parts, darn right there’s a problem with it!
January 13th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Hello and happy new year everybody. I’ve one problem with my Toshiba Satellite 2450-101. it’s about the SD memory card controller. i can’t read any type of SD card. i’ve tried from 32MB to 2GB, no way. i’ve updated the controller’s driver then i changed the old one. i’ve also made a BIOS update. still nothing. two years ago i’ve replaced the 30 Gb HDD with a 100Gb one. Could it be from this upgrade? pls. help me
regards
January 13th, 2008 at 8:29 am
by the way, talking about Toshiba but LCD TV. i’d like to buy a 32 inches TV set. does anybody has an ideea which model is the best, price-quality, compromise?
February 10th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A70 also. I have a problem with the USB ports in the back being so loose that whatever’s plugged in there loses the connection or falls out. Is this a common problem? I’ve sent it back to Depot Repair twice and argued with about 12 tech support people about having this fixed. Still I see on the status that they have shipped it back to me NOT FIXED because they say “USB Ports momvement is normal.” NORMAL??? I’ve never had anything else with USB ports so loose. NOT NORMAL. Any suggestions?
March 8th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Hello! I have a Toshiba laptop Satellite A75-S213 model. Yesterday, a little water splashed into the right side speaker, a tiny bit on the mouse pad, and another bit on a few letter on the right side corner above the right speaker. My screen went blank as if in standby mode (but the power button was still on) and after a few minutes my laptop shut-off by itself. I tried drying the spill and even tilted the laptop to the right so that the water inside came out. There seems to be no more water left inside, but my laptop will not turn on anymore. When plugged (i took the battery out), only the orange light indicating this turns on but not the one that indicates charging or that it is on. Also, when plugged, the fans turn on as well (is this some safety mode?). Do you think my laptop can be saved? If so, what do I need to do in order to fix the problem? (do I need to take it apart?)
Please help me. I’m a college student and my laptop holds the key to my education.
Thanks
March 8th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Hi, I just got done disassembling my a70 using the how -to on this site, now that I’ve cleaned the fans/heatsink put new thermal grease on and reassembled, every time I plug in the AC adapter the l.e.d.s for the plug and battery on the front blink once, then nothing… did i brick it? Please help.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Great instructions here. I had 2 of the 3 problems mentioned on my a75 I have taken everything apart and fixed the ac adapter seems to work great now and i also have completely cleaned the fans and coolers however when i start back up the fans spin and all of the lights come on but then the fans stop and I never get anything on the screen it appears to be dead I have taken it apart several times all of the cables are connected the cpu is seated and locked just nothing on the screen and nothing on an external monitor either.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:43 am
hi,
I used to have frequent shut downs esp. while surfing net. Now my screen has gone dim, i can hardly see anything though the window seem to be perfectly normal. Once it had gone to normal after adjusting the display settings and restarting but now again the problem has come up. what’s the problem with my A70 laptop and what is to be done to fix it?
April 9th, 2008 at 6:49 am
what is the model# of the realtek ac97 audio chip that is on the motherboard of the a75-s206? i know it starts w/ “alc” but i don’t know the rest & i am afraid to open up my laptop to see on the motherboard. i’m getting windows error code 10, “this device cannot start.” i’ve already tried uninstalling/reinstalling it. my problem is that if the device is enabled (in device mgr) then my laptop freezes/locks up whenever i try to watch/listen to streaming video online (youtube). but when i disable it i can watch/listen to mediaplayer files w/ no problems. any suggestions? thanku, froggyboy009 at yah00.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
HELP ! I was amazed at how perfect your instructions were for disassembling my kids A75-021 laptop (it has the grounding issue). I followed the instructions and had no missteps. Unfortunately I did something wrong because the unit is now DOA. Actually, if I hit the button that plays CD’s without booting, the fans spin up and the power light comes on. But I still can’t boot the laptop. Also, when the a/c adapter is plugged in, NONE of the three lights come on. Any ideas what I screwed up? The only aspect I had the slightest problem was reinserting the touchpad ribbon cable but I’m pretty sure it’s in. thanks again for a great site and hopefully thanks in advance for some suggestions as to my recent problem
April 14th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Rob Boyd,
Do you have an external memory module installed? Check if the memory module is properly seated. Reconnect the module.
It looks like the ribbon cable is not seated properly. Reconnect the cable.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:47 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A70 that BSOD ntfs.sys file missing after reinstall works for a minute bsod’s then comes up with the same. Have pulled apart lappy and cleaned heatsink and fans. Have replaced Hard Drive to 160 gig did install, worked well for a day, then BSOD with the exact error. Have also made it to installing SP2 updates and immediately after update and restart comes back up with missing ntfs.sys, Have spent a week of trying different OS WinXP Home, Professional, and have also checked bios upgrade but still the same old , same old. This Laptop can Blue Screen within minutes of a total reinstall or hours after updates are loaded. Has anyone got any other Ideas or checks before I drop it from a great height, or use it as a Frisbee?
April 29th, 2008 at 6:52 am
STEP 14
“Disconnect the speaker cables on the system board.”
I broke the white plastic plug and the 2 wires snapped out of it on one side, no damage on the motherboard side, been asking in a few computer and electronics stores about that tiny plug, any idea where u can get one, and if not should I just solder the wires tips to the that spot.
also, some of the screws f8 gave me hard time getting them out, should I put them back or try to get new screws for the future and also where to find these screws.
cheers and thank you for the great guide.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I did the exact same thing to the Speaker wire, the white plastic cover was insanely hard to get out and on of them snapped, anyone know what can be done?
The sound is now extremely low volume.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:35 am
hello, i have toshiba a75-s231
i have to replace the sound card can you tell me where i can go on line to purchase it. thanks
josee
May 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Jeff,
Can you solder the speaker wires directly to the contacts on the motherboard?
Also, you can replace speakers. Here are part numbers:
Speaker right: K000016180
Speaker left: K000016170
Search on the Internet by the part number and you’ll find a replacement.
Make sure that volume is turned on in software settings. Also, some people don’t know that there is a volume knob on the side of the laptop. Make sure it’s turned on too.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Josee,
In this model the sound card is integrated into the motherboard. If you want to replace the sound card, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:04 am
I have a M105, and I’m fairly sure I’m having the same problem as Thomas on page 6. Seems to work fine until I move the screen and then it blinks alot, and after maybe 60 seconds it will hibernate. If i’m very careful it wont do anything if i dont move the screen but eventually it will hibernate 30-45 min later. I didn’t see a full solution to Thomas’s problem, any help would be apreciated, thxx in advance.
July 20th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Fixed A70 faulty dc jack and no monitor output!
After fixing the faulty dc jack (according to the wonderful tutorial!), I experienced that once it was put back together, the unit lights would be on and fans would kick in for a bit, but then it would stop and the whole unit was then silent. There was also no output to the lcd screen or external monitor.
The I dismantled and reassembled, and the same issue occurred. The solution. Unlock the cpu from position, remove the cpu, put the cpu back into position (ensure the pins align), relock and reassemble. All was good after that. It is also worth noting that I had done the same for the ram and power inverter for the lcd.
If it wasn’t for this forum and the great responses to questions, none of this would have been possible and this laptop would have been dead. Hence why I post my success. If you too have success in fixing an issue – Post it! It helps others.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Hi;
A friend gave me a A70 laptop without memory or harddrive ,
he said that the laptop starts up for 3-4 sces you hear the fans going then stops booting with no screen display
at all.
Is there a quick inexpensive fix – befor buying a new harddrive and memory for it ?. or is the laptop dead ?.
Regards
Elie
August 7th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I know its been a while, but I think I solved a similar problem to that faced by Thomas (see text quoted below), and thought I’d post it for the benefit of readers of this excellent site.
Here are my symptoms, which became apparent after the laptop was dropped. The only way to activate the laptop is to hit that little music button. The fans whirr and then it does nothing, even though the music button’s green LED remains on. Later it was discovered that the power button can be used to shut off the fans while they whirr – the laptop shuts off for a few seconds, and then restarts with the blue glowing power button. Now, one of two things happen – the screen either stays blank, or on rare occasions, the screen comes on but is completely faint (as if the backlight is dead). Thought it could be the inverter, so ordered a new one and installed it – same set of problems. With the keyboard strip removed, I noticed that the mechanism on the motherboard that registers the closure of the laptop’s screen was permanently depressed. Figured this was telling the laptop not to turn on the backlight. I also noticed that the button would pop up if I moved the little plastic fixture to the side (probably got dislodged when I dropped it). With the button popped up, the laptop started normally, power button works, LCD bright as day. Used some epoxy to keep the plastic fixture in place so that problem wouldnt recur.
Thomas’s original post:
“OK guys a few problems. The backlight went out and I suspected it was my inverter. Tore it down changed the inverter and went to power up and the button does nothing and the battery light comes on once. Plug it in and try again and nothing. I hit the little music button and I hear the fans go off… start pressing other buttons and it powers on, and the screen works.. SUCCESS!!! Not so fast. I barely move the screen and it goes into hibernate and I lose everything. Power button does nothing and I hear the sound cut out. Any ideas? Im too frustrated and depressed to try again today. Also on step two when you remove the metal brace (which mine didnt have) and uplug the main and aux black and white cords, which one goes to which? I forgot to mark them off and I think I put black to aux and white to main…”
August 21st, 2008 at 11:29 am
Does anyone know what the specifications is for the RTC CMOS battery? I need a replacement part for a A75S206 motherboard.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite, not sure what model it is, don’t have the box or can’t find the model actual name.. But here’s my problem. I wanted to get Some RAM for it, so I looked online, found out it was super cheap, so I proceeded to try to open up the laptop and took out a bunch of screws. I almost got to see the whole motherboard but the corner closest to the power button, or top left, had a screw under a part I couldnt get to. So I figured well I cant get it open so lemme put everything back.. When I popped all the screws back in, I turned the power button on and the screen just kept flashing white and then just stayed white.. I called my friend and he said something was either unplugged or moved. I’m not too great with computers so i have no idea what to do.. Any suggestions?
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Hey have a question for you. I looked through the posts to see if any had to same question to save time but alas I seem to be the only one and since you are the expert let me see if you can help me.
I cleaned out my A75 about 8 months ago from all the dust to fix the overheating and it seems to have worked great. All the sudden about a week ago the lcd screen has been twiggin out. The display kinda flickers or the image shifts or seems lighter colors than it should be. If i adjust the Top of the laptop(start to close it or adjust the height) the flicker/ shifting changes and sometime fixes it. I guess I might have a lose connection but I find it odd that it all of the sudden started happening.
Please any suggestion on where to look would be helpful.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S125 I opened it up to cleaned up the heat sink and everything went smooth a year later i started having the same problem I opened it a few days ago cleaned it and now when I turn it on nothing shows it just a black screen, no bios show up no nothing any ideas what this could be?
October 18th, 2008 at 6:07 am
I put new hard drive in A75. Used recovery CD with no problem, but some issues with Windows XP and registry. I then did repeat recovery. Now recovery runs to about 25-30% and computer turns off. I tried recovery CD at least 5-6 more times with same result. With Recovery CD out, I get error that I can not access drive.
This happened in past and I brought to local repair shop registered by Toshiba. They used software in shop that fixed recovery. Shop closed for weekend. Any ideas?
October 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Jack :
You said that you put in a new Hd and installed it, Then what you need to do is a complete wipe that writes zero’s to the Hd and then do a fresh install if the recovery disk is not installing right, so any info on the drive should be saved, so hook it up usb to another computer, transfer the info and do a clean zero wipe with WD Zero wipe that can be found on Hiren’s disk. This happens alot when reinstalling or trying to redo windows over on recovery from OEM
dealers cause it doesn’t read right.
November 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I have the A75 model and disassembled for cleaning. And my problem is like most people on here; the system won’t boot after assembled. I had dis/assembled the laptop several times to check all connections, processor lock n secure, video card, ram, HDrive, mouse,keyboard, and even used external monitor. However each times, the power button light blinks and no boot(quiet). Maybe after few continuous pressing, the fans run and shuts off but the power light stay on. Plugin or battery only, it’s the same symptom. I read through almost all posts here but still haven’t find the exact solution. Many replies was told to secure lock the processor and I checked it thoroughly. Please anyone can help me out. And the laptop work/boot fine before I took it apart to clean.
November 11th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I disassembled my A75 and discovered one of the little gray rectagular boxes (specifically pc77 on bottom near the right side of the copper fins) was barely attached. Do you know what these gray components are? Can I desolder/resolder? I found reference to someone resoddering one of these they popped the part (overheated?).
November 11th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Stealth:
Do you have aftermarket RAM installed? If so, pull the RAM and reboot. If it comes back up, shut down and re-insert RAM and see if it boots. I have this problem when my RAM was going bad.
Barbara
November 11th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
It’s been awhile since I did my repair so I don’t remember exactly what my symptoms were when mine wouldn’t boot. But I do remember the solution. That little ribbon cable from the touchpad to the MB was not seated correctly. It’s really short and rigid and even more difficult if you have big hands. FWIW…
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:35 pm
You guys F’ing rock! My sister is a broke student and needed some work done on her laptop.
I am in the electronics business currently and entering the IT industry in Jan so I figured I would see what I could do for her.
With your hepl, I have the computer running properly again.
Thanks for the help!~
December 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I hava a toshiba sattellite A70. I purchased a new battery to replace the old battery with about 5 min life. The new battery does not work at all. Shows full capacity but PC goes down upon removal of outlet power. Put original battery back in and ok. How can I test battery PA3383U-1BRS? How can I test the internal PC jack to make sure it is charging correctly. Current test of internal PC battery jack shows one post with more voltage than others and middle post with none.
Thanks
March 6th, 2009 at 3:47 am
hi can you tell me if i can bypass the antenna on the mine wireless card . for some reason the antenna switch does not work so i get can find a wireless connection . thanks for any help.
March 6th, 2009 at 3:50 am
sorry i forgot to say that i have a 1905 toshiba . thanks
March 11th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
If you are having the problem with the loose solder connection on the AC adaptor connector, do yourself a favor and replace the connector. They can be found on ebay for less than $10 shipped. Also solder a wire from the bottom to the top on the positive 19V because a lot of the time the little eyelett that passes through the motherboard becomes loose and doesn’t supply the 19V from top to bottom.
March 15th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I have my A-75 completely dissassembled, but the dc power jack seems to be also epoxied (black in color) to the motherboard and doesn’t feel loose.
I’m having all of the same symptoms mentioned here and the motherboard was replaced a couple of years ago under warranty due to the overheating problem.
How do I remove this jack since it is also glued in? – some of the glue even seems to be partially covering a resistor or two. Can I leave it in place and install the radio shack workaround plug (mentioned on other sites) next to it and just run wires to the + & – on the motherboard??
Thanks for the great site and help!
March 24th, 2009 at 7:12 am
do you know where i can locate an original a75-s213 restore cd or an iso of the cd?
thanks
April 6th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I’m having the same problem that was brought up earlier where the computer will start, the power button will light up, the fans will turn for a couple seconds and then the whole machine will go quiet. I can feel the hdd spinning and warm air coming from the heat sink vent but it doesn’t seem to be booting and no video is coming out of the lcd or an external monitor. I have checked the processor (using your wonderful instructions, thanks) and everything necessary is plugged in tight
April 17th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Hi I have an A70 which had the loose jack fixed last year done at a Toshiba service centre under warranty.
The problem now is that when I plug the AC power in the green light comes on (not flickering when wiggled)but the battery wont charge and it wont run on AC it just starts up then shuts down… any ideas ?????
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Are the plastic parts the same for the A70 & A75
(bottom case, touchpad/palm rest, LCD case, keyboard etc)
Is most everything interchangeable?
May 11th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
byawan,
Basically, a Satellite A70 and A75 is the same model with different names. The parts should be interchangeable.
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Good dsy sir
I’ve been successful with reformatting my A70, but now am trying to join it to our wireless network and the laptop doesn’t seem to be detecting the wireless network adapter for some reason. The wireless was working fine before we reformatted it so not sure why it isn’t now. Hope you have some pointers as to what it could be. All i have is the lan(wired connections in my network connections.
June 13th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Dear Sir,
I had the overheating problem, and the battery charger issues; I did exactly what you recommended to do and the laptop worked as new. Thank you so much for that!
Unfortunately after several months something happened, and I do not know what to do…
I plug the AC adapter, and the power light does not turn on (neither the orange one that indicates that the battery is charging), the power button does not light up when I press it, etc.
I tried with a different AC adapter (I thouhg that it had died…) but it did not work either. Any clues?
Thank you in advance for your help!
AZ
June 15th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I have a A70, bought used. It ran just fine with my copy of XP Pro, then MS Server 2003. The server OS was an evaluation copy I got with my text book, I’m a student. That OS was just fine. I’m now having problems trying to load Fedora. It will load about half of the packets then, just shuts down. It doesn’t even load XP or server completely. Can you give some advice on where to look?
Thank you
June 19th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Hi, great website. Noticed alot of people have problem with A70 failing to boot after rebuild. Had the same problem and finally as a last resort thought I would remove the RAM card. Amazing! The trusty (?) old A70 booted up normally, however, due to lack of external RAM too slow. So I cleaned up the contacts on the suspect memory card (until the contacts were shiny – they had dulled quite a bit) and hey presto! everything back to normal. Now the toshy can live for a while longer…
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 am
I have an A70. I am not sure if the problem with the top cover or not. What the computer does is this. It boots up, but as soon as the fan starts, it stops. Both the power and the battery lights are on. After booting into windows, the computer just shuts down, the battery light goes out, and the power light blinks rapidly. If you unplug the power cord, the power and battery lights come back on and the computer will restart to go through the same thing again.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:42 am
Update on previous post. When I take the battery out, the same thing happens with the power light if I plug in without a battery present. Could this be the battery, or is there something on the motherboard that can cause this? When the computer is off, the battery light is on solid, however, when you try to run the computer off the battery, it powers on for about 2 seconds and then shuts off.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Toshiba Satellite A75-S229.
Please help me. A week ago the lcd screen stared twigging out. The display flickers or the image shifts to the point it is imposible to read whatever is on the screen (same thing happens running the unit in safe mode.
Thank You for you help.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Is there a way to fix/replace the lid close switch on a A75-S1253 ?
Thanks
July 26th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S229. I have had all of the problems listed above (and they need to be fixed). About a year ago, I started the computer and it said, “Load Error! Press a key to continue…” I believe the HD is gone.
I bought a new computer but would love to have the Toshiba working again. What suggestions do you have on getting it fixed and where are you located?
July 27th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
My friend has the A75-S229 and it has one of the issues you listed; shutting down at random. What is the proper way to clean the heatsink? Also there are so many programs on his computer (pre-installed when he purchased it). I removed some but I’m not sure which of the other programs I can remove without screwing anything up. Do you have a list or a website that lists all the programs that can be removed? He only uses the computer for downloading music and internet surfing.
July 29th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I cannot get the 10 key overlay to turn off, either the function key is not working or the F11 is not working. Do you know of anyway to get around it.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A70/A75. How do I replace my broken power button.
Thanks.
August 10th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I found the fix for it. Anyhow the way I did it was, power management settings. Download newest Toshiba software. Then lower processor settings to low. And then put it on quiet. Throttles the fan lower. =D I am a happy man! Thanks for the aid through the docs on for the Toshiba laptop on this website. It was not easy disassembling it and putting it back together. but it was worth it in the end.
Thanks.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:23 am
For those wondering how to get the securing strip of, once you get the right side started (as you are looking at it), just run you hand behind it with some firm pressure, it should come out with a little effort. Took me forever to get it off successfully.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
i have replaced my toshiba satellite a70 motherboard. i have noticed that there appears to be a second memory bank/slot on the motherboard that i did not have on the old one. it seems a lot shorter that a normal ddr slot. would you happen to know what it is for?
August 18th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
sherwin ramos,
I guess you are talking about the wireless card slot. Apparently you are confusing this slot with the memory slot.
August 20th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
thanks for the reply. i believe you’re right. i just didn’t know that i could actually put an onboard wireless adapter on the thing.
August 21st, 2009 at 5:29 am
I got a Satellite A75-S229, and it shuts down once OS starts comeing up, now i know that its the ON-board memory gone bad. Is there a way so i can fix it or take out the memory or disable it>?>
August 25th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Victor,
Is it possible that your laptop shuts down because of overheating? Check both cooling fans on start up and make sure both fans are spinning. Clean the heat sink using compressed air and test the laptop again.
You cannot disable the onboard memory.
If you have nothing to loose, you can try cut off all memory chips with a sharp knife and hopefully your laptop will start with memory module installed into the external slot.
Some people were successful doing that with Satellite A65 motherboards. Read comments here. Comment 321 maybe?
September 17th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Thanks for this great resource! Do you happen to have, or know of, some step by step intstructions for replacing the dual fan unit on a Satellite A70? I have the replacement fans here.
Many thanks.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Jeff,
I believe I linked to the laptop disassembly guide in the first sentence of my post. Didn’t I?
September 17th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Yes you did. There aren’t any details on the fan itself, so I what I’m wondering is:
1)Once inside, is the fan replacement fairly obvious and straightforward?
2)Is all that dissembly necessary just to get at the fans?
September 17th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Jeff,
Did you notice that my guide has more than one page?
I explain how to remove the fan on the page 3 (step 22).
Yes, it is necessary. The cooling fan is mounted on the bottom side of the motherboard. You’ll have to remove the motherboard first.
Again, read through all three pages of the guide and you’ll see how to replace the fan.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Wow. Clearly I have not had my coffee yet.
Thanks for all this, really fantastic resource you have here!
October 11th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I HAVE A TOSHIBA A75 AND THE SCREEN DOESN’T SHOW. YOU CAN SEE A VERY LITTLE REFECTION ON THE BACK LIKE IF THE INVERTER WAS BAD. BUT WHEN I CHANGE THE SCREEN TO ANOTHER ONE THAT WAS WORKING AND IT CONTINUE DOING THE SAME THING. I KNOW IT HAS TO DO WITH THE MOTHERBOARD FOR A FACT. BUT MY QUESTION IS WHAT CHIP OR PART DO I NEED TO REPLACE. HOW DO I RECOGNIZED THE CHIP AND HOW CAN I TESTED? THANKS
October 24th, 2009 at 6:09 am
I also need to know how to replace the power button.
Thanks.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Great site
I have a A75 s211 it keeps freezing after a while. When i look at the use it is at 98% most of the time . I think if I up the RAm from 512 it will help. Does it have move than one slot or only 1 for ram?
THANKS!
November 1st, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Sean Fuller,
98% is not normal. Backup all personal files and reinstall software from scratch.
Also, increasing RAM from 512MB will make it faster.
What? I don’t get it.
November 1st, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Sorry, I have dumped it and started from scratch. I am upgraded to windows service pack 3, AVG virus protection, Mozilla and C Cleaner. It runs at around 50% til I open a browser then it jumps to 90% to 98% range. It still freezes (not over heats) after trying to run too much. My question was is there more than one slot for RAm. It has 512 can i add a second 512 card or do i need to jump to a 1gig…
THANKS! This is the best site I have found!
November 6th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Sean Fuller,
Man, still feels like a software issue. I had a Satellite A75 myself and it was running decently even with 512MB of RAM. Will it go to 90% if you use IE?
I’m having issues with Firefox lately. I don’t know why but it’s clogging my CPU badly.
Satellite A75 laptop has only one slot available for upgrades because one memory module is integrated into the motherboard. If in your laptop the external memory slot is occupied with 512MB RAM module, you can remove it and install a 1GB module instead.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Sean Fuller,
By the way, run the hard drive test. You can use Hitachi’s drive fitness test, works fine with most hard drives.
November 21st, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I have the exact same problem as Tito Roberto had
back in 2006 and Aderson Pifer had in 2007. Tito posted
later that he had found the part and fixed the problem.
I need to find the part number and the source so I can
do the same.
Can you possibly get me in touch with either of them
so I can find out where to get the part that I need?
Feel free to give them my email address.
Thanks in advance.
172
Tito Ribeiro Says:
September 9th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
“I disassembled my note again and noticed that there’s one component burned up. It’s sat on the upper left corner of the MOBO, just beside the coolers and says PQ7. There’s a PQ6 right on top of it where it seems to read 4407 BE4X1A (I could be mistaken cos the letters are too small).”
241
Aderson Pifer Says:
January 29th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Hi,
“I have a toshiba A70 S256 with same problems described by Tito Ribeiro in messages published on September 9th, 2006 at 10:26 pm and January 26th, 2007 at 3:57 pm. However, i didn´t figure out where can i find the burned out components to buy and fix the MOBO. Could you provide me his email address or forward this message to his email address?”
December 7th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Hi,
Best instructional website I’ve seen…tip I can offer in exchange for a tip…the stripped or stuck screw problems(my biggest issue with taking the a75 apart)dremel the heads with fine diamond tips,takes awhile)the bootup problem for me when i take apart is usually solved by reating the dvd a few times …questions i hope to have answer for…my power jack was fine before i took apart,it was the major dust build up and i didnt have to take the cpu out but i get no recharging light whatsoever only runs when plugged in-the dc area still looks fine and not loose can it be some other connection?
also when putting back together and testing my cables to the video card touched i saw a spark and get a dimmed LCD screen-works fine on external(those flatscreen tvs are great monitors)is this an inverter problem(I HAVE THE SCREEN APART ALREADY)and if its a backlight bulb do i need a whole new screen or can i just get a bulb?
besides the dust build up problem I’d like to keep my toshiba running it is great when it works…
December 16th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Hi CJ:
I am stuck at step 20 – trying to remove the motherboard…. the hex screws are out but I cannot seem to be able to pop up the board by the PC Card Slot…. any tips before I break something? Too bad there is no way for me to send you a photo so you can check the status with your keen eye….
My laptop has been running hot and the fans running a bit excessively, but the other night the screen went black…after fiddling with the lid cover switch I could get the display back on but then it quit again and flicking the switch could only get a momentary view of the screen and then the screen developed a reddish hue…. I had hooked up another external monitor and that was fine….. so I have decided to clean the heatsink and other innards, plus clean the oxidation off the lid switch with DeOxIt from CAIG Labs….. and I got Artic Silver thermal compound from Radio Shack to put on the heatsink….. I was doing quite well with the instructions up to this step,,,, only issue so far was a buggered F8 screw on the dvd drive [only prior work done on this laptop was by Toshiba when they replaced the defective cover two years ago due to the class action]. I regularly clean it by shutting it completely down and using a shop vac to pull out the dust bunnies….
Please give advice on Step 20 because I hate to be so close to getting this done and then have some disaster strike!
December 16th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Hi Cj:
It’s Karen again to update that after some prying that was causing my stomach to churn, the PC Card Slot side of the motherboard is now loose…. but the other side just does not seem to want to budge and I have been flexing the motherboard a bit… I also sliced my finger quite badly on the PC Card mount – beware! Is there some spot that requires to be popped loose along the plastic??
Well I just went to give it another gander and thought I would give it a good tug back towards the PC Card slot and now I have managed to free it up… it does require quite a bit of wangling to get it free…. not for the weak of heart…..
December 16th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Karen,
You have to flex the laptop case, not the motherboard.
The order you are going through is correct.
1. Release the PC card slot.
2. Release USB ports on the right side.
3. Remove the motherboard.
December 16th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Hi CJ:
Thanks for the advice to flex the case…. I was afraid I would snap something…. I did manage to get it out, but ran into an issue taking out the cooling unit which was completely stuck to the cpu, and the cpu came out with the cooling unit…. I cleaned them both with alcohol and keyed up the cpu and replaced it… put Arctic Silver thermal grease on the cpu and replaced the cooling unit…
I also sprayed the DeOxIt on the little cover switch but I was unable to discern if I could detach it and clean it any better…. the entire insides were cleaned and blown out and I have replaced everything in reverse order….
So the big moment came just a few minutes ago when I powered it up and alas, I am still with the same issue of the black screen and momentary views of the screen with a red tint to it when I flick the switch…..
Do I need to replace the backlight bulb? the lid switch? and how do I go about doing that? I can disassemble again but when I am down to the motherboard and the switch, I don’t know what I should be doing…..
Thanks for all your hours and hours that have been spent maintaining this website — I have been reading through posts now for two nights before doing this project…..
Karen
December 17th, 2009 at 4:32 am
Hi CJ:
I spent last night looking on eBay per your suggestions in prior posts, looking for the backlight and an inverter…. the backlights listed there did not appear to have the connectors so I am at a loss as to where I would get them… I suppose even if I were to spring for the factory parts there would still be no connectors on the backlight. And I suppose there is no way to know which connectors I have without opening up the laptop again?
I also was looking at sparepartswarehouse to see if the lid cover switch is available as a separate part but it is not listed there…. is there a chance that the switch is faulty?
Please advise….. meanwhile I have the laptop hooked to an external monitor as a short term workaround and I am using a friend’s laptop to write this post….
Thanks for all your guidance….
Karen
December 17th, 2009 at 5:59 am
I know I am becoming a pest…. but I have now had the laptop on for twenty minutes and things are not resolved on the fans…. despite it being whistle clean inside the fans are still cycling — running constantly and getting faster and slower but the bottom of the laptop isn’t anywhere near as hot as it used to get…. just the fans haven’t quit running…..
Should I be upgrading the fans to something more powerful? should I be replacing the fans or what to stop this cycling? Could something else be running that is causing such a draw on the cpu? [I know some of my questions are probably very silly...]
Also I noticed another problem that is no doubt the result of my reassembly — the three indicator lights on the front for the power and charging are no longer functional…. they are all dark….. the blue power on at the back left is fine….
And the touchpad does not work — not that it matters that much as I have an external mini-mouse that I use because the touchpad was always way too sensitive…..
So now my list grows….. backlight, inverter, lid switch, fans, charging indicator lights, touchpad…..
December 28th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Toshiba Satellite A75
any other version of motherboard that can fit into this notebook case.
prefer nothing from A70-75s
thanks
December 28th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Eugene,
Nope. You’ll have to use only A70/A75 motherboard.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Thanks cj2600
my Toshiba Satellite A75 has problem after i spill water on it.
power is turn on, fan is moving then stop. nothing from screen.
is the motherboard fried ?
thanks
January 9th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Hi,
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75. Shortly after turning on it gives a message that computer is preparing to hibernate and turns itself off. It did it today and now I can’t get the power on.
It’s about 5 years old. Is this easily fixable?
Thanks!
January 10th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Kim,
It’s possible that you have a failed AC power adapter. The laptop will not turn on because there is no power coming from the wall and the battery is discharged.
You can test the AC adapter with a voltmeter. If it’s bad, replace the adapter.
February 8th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Hey CJ,
Great walkthrough. The computer kept restarting at random times, so I figured I’d clean out the heat sync/fans. Boy were they dirty. The only problem I had was on reassembly. I can’t figure out how the lcd cable connects to the system board. I’ve researched online and looked at your pictures but I cannot figure out for the life of me what it plugs into. Looking at it witha flashlight there’s nothing on the board for it to plug into. Any specific help is greatly appreciated.
And just a curious question…do you know the best place to find a new battery for an A70 is? How much is a good price?
February 8th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Please help i have a toshiba satellite a75 s229 i need to clear the bios password i hit f2 and it that password screen i cant get into bios. i tried shorting the two interlocking like cc named j1 next to resistor for 15 sec with laptop battery out and cmos not removed or altered and it did not clear the bios password. What it did do is got rid of the password screen for device boot set up it just goes right to the cant find os boot screen to access that you pres f12. note after 3 times of entering wrong password comuter shutts off then i get another 3 trys and same thing over and over again. It does boot but says no os found hard drive is new with no os on it im the registered owner
February 10th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Hi CJ,
First, I’d like to say that your site(s)and disassembly tutorials are absolutely superb!
Here’s my situation. I have a Toshiba A75-S231 that has, for the most part, been a great machine. I bought it new in Feb 2005 as a desktop replacement.
In Dec 2008 I had the motherboard (broken by service tech while attempting to remove the speaker wires), fans (worn out), top cover (static problems) and MultiDrive (DVD) all replaced under warranty.
I had an extended in-home warranty where the service tech (local) came and performed the work in my home office. All was good except I was still having the static problem. Unfortunately my warranty expired two weeks after the repair.
Fast forward to Nov 2009. I began experiencing the dreaded DC jack failure problem. My laptop has been treated with exceptional care and still looks new. I routinely used compressed air to keep all the vents and fans clean.
It started with very intermittent charging problems that got increasingly worse until Dec 2009 when it stopped charging altogether. I found your disassembly tuts and was able to remove the mobo. Using a powerful binocular inspection microscope, I inspected the DC jack and surrounding connections.
I appeared that there might be a separation of the positive pin on the board so I did the solder repair. Put it back together. Problem still exists.
Took it apart again and took a closer look. I noticed that there was some dark discoloration around the inboard side of the mobo where the negative pin went through.
Luckily enough, I was able to locate the tech that came out to do the warranty repair and we began a conversation on determining what the problem was. He told me that the traces were most likely fried inside the board and a new mobo was the only solution. He also said that he’d be glad to help install the new board.
I found a board on E-Bay. Ordered and received it. Then, for no know reason, The tech vaporized. Stopped answering emails and his phone.
So now I’m stuck. I’m sure I can remove and replace the mobo, but there are some technical issues that I am facing.
1.) Without destroying the original mobo, how do you get the left and righ speaker wires disconnected?
2.) What are all the parts that have to come off the old mobo and transferred to the new one and are there any issues that must be addressed during the process?
3.) I was told by the tech that there has to be a DMI update performed on the new mobo so the new hardware will be recognized. How is this accomplished? (I have thousands of $$ of software on my laptop that I cannot afford to loose) Even though I have performed a clone of my laptop using Acronis True Image, if the laptop gets toasted during the mobo replacement, the clone won’t do me any good.
4.) What other issues are there with a mobo replacement?
[QUOTE]After the motherboard replacement they didn’t write correct DMI string (information about your notebook). Without correct DMI you will not be able to start the recovery process. This utility is available only for certified Toshiba technicians.[/QUOTE]
Finally, can any one tell me why the DMI update is such a closely guarded secret that only certified technicians are allowed to perform this?
I really need my computer back in operation.
Thanks,
Rich
February 25th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Toshiba A70
Display is gone very dim. Likely the back light. Repair guys suggest that it is not worth replacing re labor and parts cost would be a major protion of a new lap top. We use it mostly as a desk top, and have an extra monitor that works fine with it. Can we remove the screen from the lap top and the A70 still work with WiFi and all?
Ricks
February 25th, 2010 at 9:34 am
RICKS,
If the display gone very dim, most likely it’s either bad inverter board (easy to replace) or backlight lamp failure (the LCD screen has to be replaced).
I would definitely try replacing the inverter board first. Look for a guide on http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
The wireless card antenna cables are running inside the display panel. If you remove the display you’ll have to disconnect those antenna cables from the Wi-Fi card. Without antennas the wireless card will not work.
I think you have two options here:
1. Remove the display but do not disconnect antenna cables. This will not look very good.
2. Use a PCMCIA wireless card instead of the internal card.
February 25th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Rich Mann,
Use your fingernails to disconnect small white connectors. Pul these connectors by the edges.
Compare both motherboards and you’ll see them.
Usually you have to transfer: memory modules, modem, CPU, heat sink assembly, fans.
You have to apply fresh thermal grease on the CPU before installing the heat sink.
The new hardware should be recognized even before DMI update. Most likely you are buying a refurbished motherboard, so the DMI is already set for Satellite A75.
If the DMI string is wrong, you will not be able to use the recovery disc, it will say: “Wrong Machine”. Other than that, everything should be fine even without DMI update.
The DMI update tool is available only for Toshiba technicians.
You said:
It’s possible that you didn’t do a good job. When you are resoldering the jack, you have to remove the old one, clean it up and solder back in placed.
This process is explained here:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/12/06/dc-power-jack-repair-guide/
It’s possible that trace inside the “+” is broken and causing the problem. This issue is covered here:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2008/10/28/fortify-damaged-power-jack-connection-in-laptop/
Finally, you can remove the defective jack completely and do this workaround:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/05/27/failed-laptop-power-jack-workaround/
Sorry for late response.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Hey CJ,
Just curious if you missed my post back on the 8th of Feb…any help?
March 1st, 2010 at 5:35 pm
I should state an update to my problem. The reason I can’t find what the lcd cable plugs into on the system board is because the port that it plugs into came out with the plug. What is required to put it back on? Solder it back on? if so, the connections are very small and soldering seems tough, especailly since the port didn’t come out with any solder on the connections. glue it? is there any guarantee that it will make a good connection?
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:57 am
turkandrew,
Probably it has to be soldered back on the motherboard but I’ve never done it myself.
I guess you’ll have to find an experienced tech who can handle this job.
If not, you’ll have to use your laptop with an external monitor.
April 28th, 2010 at 5:28 am
Have a toshiba a75 s231. Is it possible to upgrade to a newer duo-core or quad core processor and more ram? Also want to be able to use windows 7, what other upgrades are needed? Will I need a new mother board? Is my first time opening and doing any work to.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Spike,
You cannot upgrade the CPU. This model will take only Pentium 4.
But you can upgrade memory. There is one slot on the bottom of the laptop, you can install up to 1GB memory module into that slot.
June 16th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I have a Toshiba A70 with 512MB RAM and I purchased a 1GB stick of Crucial RAM (CT12864X335). After installing the RAM, I went into the BIOS to update, but it would not allow me to change the current memory setting of 384MB. Also when I went into “my computer” to see how much RAM it is recognising, it also states 384MB. How can I get my computer to recognise the added RAM? BTW, the laptop boots up fine and runs like normal. Thanks.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:25 am
Chris,
Make sure the 1GB memory module is seated correctly. The new memory module should be detected and configured automatically.
Most likely you just didn’t install it correctly.
July 16th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I have a A75-S209.
Turns off after 20 minutes. Computer store says mother board is fried, but after reading the posts here, I am not so sure.
Anyhow, I have every screw off the back, but still cannot get the cover off to access the mother board. Is there a picture or diagram somewhere? What am I missing?
Thank you for your help.
Louie
July 17th, 2010 at 6:53 am
i need to know haw to enter to the Bios Setup of my Laptop Toshiba A70 SP205 that start to show me an error messege PXE-E61 and dont see the HD and the DVD drive
July 17th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Jorge,
It’s either Esc, F1 or F2 keys.
Turn on the laptop and try all this keys one by one. One of them will take you to the BIOS.
July 17th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Louie,
Probably overheating. Try cleaning cooling fans and heatsink with compressed air. Blow air into the fan grill on the bottom of the laptop unill both fans are clean.
Take a look at this article and you’ll see what I’m talking about: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/01/04/toshiba-laptop-overheating/
There is a link to the disassembly guide. Here it is again: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/ToshibaA75/satA75_1.htm
The guide has three pages explaining how to access the motherboard.
Try cleaning fans before removing the motherboard.
July 25th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
I have a Toshiba A75-S209, SSN X4345796K. The wireless card internally went kaput – no bars at all directly under the Router. I know the Router works okay, as it is powering the next HP desktop right in the next room. I had the Laptop downstairs, but brought it right up in my den under the Router, and NO bars. Actually, I came back from a 37 day trip and found the computer very slow and no wireless. The battery is okay, as I always plug the computer in to AC power. I’ve tried to find out the cost of the internal wireless card, with no effects – even from Toshiba. Can any one help, other than recommending a PCMPIA plug in?
September 19th, 2010 at 8:43 am
I have an A70 I picked up free with the broken power plug.The HD was removed, so i bought a new 160GB drive,and picked up 1GB pc2700 ddr1 333 ram. I resoldered the power plug,put in the new drive,but it will not boot with the ram installed.it powers on,but the monitor does not turn on.Without the ram it boots fine,and reinstalled xp no problem.I saw a bios update on the website.Will this fix the ram issuse or is that ram not compatable with this dinosaur?
October 9th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Hello:
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S1253 that runs with a loud fan noise most of the time, occasionally it gets quiet.
When I shop new tsink/fan assemblies online, they all look the same. I have 2 old Toshiba Satellites (A75-S226 amd an A105-S4134 that are just here for parts. Is there any way that I could substitute one of the older ones (A75-S226 OR A105-S4134) heatsink/fan units for the S1253′s? Will the other ones fit and run in the S1253? I’d hate to order a new heatsink/fan for the exact same unit (A75-S1253) if I can use one of the older ones, especially if it will still be loud with a part made for it.
Please help,
Randy Donahue