Toshiba Satellite M35X is a very popular model in the United States. In general, most Toshiba Satellite M35X laptops suffer from the same problems. Here’s a disassembly guide.
Improperly grounded top cover assembly. If the top cover assembly wasn’t grounded properly, then laptop may lock up or freeze up when you touch it in the speaker area. It happens because of a static electricity discharge. This problem was fixed on some laptops, but still there are a lot of laptops with unmodified top cover assembly. This problem should be covered under warranty even if you laptop is not under warranty anymore.
Poorly designed DC-IN power jack on the system board. Overtime, the DC power jack gets disconnected from the system board. If it happens, you will experience a problem with charging the battery or the laptop may not start at all.
Read more:
Toshiba Satellite M35X and A75 power jack and battery charge problem.
Toshiba Satellite 1900 laptop looses power and shuts down without warning.
Laptop CPU overheating. It is a very common problem for some Toshiba laptops. If a laptop CPU overheats, then the laptop shuts down without by itself without any reason. Read more:
Why my Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?
You can use the disassembly guide to take apart Toshiba Satellite M35X notebook and repair it yourself. Do not open the case if your laptop is still under warranty.
April 7th, 2006 at 7:55 am
I have a Toshiba M35X-S149. I got it repaired because of the power cord problem, free of charge. But when I received it back, the keyboard did not work. I took it apart and saw it was disconnected. I tried to re-establish it, but ended up only getting partial use of the keys (some worked some didn’t). Am not sure exactly how the ribbon attaches to the main board. Any hints?
April 7th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Hi Maryann,
It is very strange that they didn’t check the keyboard. If you just repaired it recently, I guess you can send it back as a “Redo” and your problem would be fixed at no charge. Most laptop repair companies offer 30 days warranty for parts and 30-90 days for labor.
If you repaired your laptop in Toshiba repair center, then most likely they replaced the system board. I hope that the cable just is not seated properly but it also possible that the keyboard controller on the system board is bad. Take it back and request to fix it.
To connect the keyboard, you have to open the connector first by sliding a moving part up (2mm-3mm not more) away from the system board. Be very careful or you can break it. After that place the flat keyboard ribbon cable inside the connector as dip as you can. To lock the connector, slide the moving part toward the system board.
May 1st, 2006 at 4:18 pm
I’m trying to fix a client’s laptop that has no video. Upon a cold startup it did have video but as soon as it got to right before the XP splash screen the video would die out and the screen would go completely black.
Upon taking the unit apart I found that the LCD cable’s ground came off of wherever it was bolted down to. I can’t find the place where it was bolted down to and perhaps this is the fix for my problem. Any idea where the ground for the LCD coming out from the LCD and plugging into the motherboard goes to?
May 1st, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Hey Nocturnal,
Toshiba Satellite M35X video cable has a ground cable close to the connector. This ground cable shouldn’t be connected to anything. When you assemble the laptop back just place this ground cable alone with the main cable.
Now about the video problem. Have you tried to boot into Safe Mode? It is possible that the video driver is corrupted. If you can get video when you boot into Safe Mode, then reinstalling the driver can fix the problem. You can also try to install a test hard drive and run a restore DVD to load the laptop back to original factory defaults.
May 8th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
After talking to two other people, who also have Toshiba Satellite laptops, and they have the same DC connector problem, I knew it had to be a manufacturing defect. Thanks for posting this extremely helpful information on how to disassemble my laptop. One thing I think that would help with most of these repairs during resoldering is to attack the solder from both sides of the board, doing the bottom first. This will, in effect, create a supporting brace, increasing the strength of the new resoldered connections. Having repaired car stereos for years, I know the abuse circuit boards take. Again, thanks for this info–I know it saved me at least $150. And it took about an hour in whole, from removing the first screw, to powering it up afterward. Gratefully, Robert Brady of Antelope Valley Web Design in Palmdale, CA.
May 8th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Hey Robert,
I am glad that I was able to help you. If you would take your laptop to a Toshiba repair center they would quote you a new system board (at least $250) plus labor.
You also might be interested in this post. The author explaining how he modified the power jack connection on his Satellite M35X laptop.
May 11th, 2006 at 10:50 am
Thank you somuch for this helpful information. and thanks to google I found you.
Is there a class action suit against Toshiba for this ?
If not is anyone interested in pursuing it besides me?
steve_poindexter@yahoo.com
May 11th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Is there a class action going anywhere?
May 11th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Hi Steven,
I haven’t heard anything about Toshiba Satellite M35X model.
The latest laptops I’ve heard about are:
Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100
Toshiba Satellite 5005
May 19th, 2006 at 6:02 am
My M35X has been nothing but a disaster the past few months and Toshiba has done nothing to help me. One morning the computer decided it was just going to randomly shut down or freeze every couple of minutes. I ran the recovery to no avail, so I called Toshiba and they recommended a service provider to send it to and they would fix it for free since it seemed to be a common problem with the model (and they obviously didn’t want to face a class action). The service provider assumed it was the motherboard but they did hardware testing for a MONTH and found nothing wrong with the hardware. So they sent it back but my computer still didn’t work. Then I realized it was probably this top cover assembly issue and I sent it back to them to fix it. (I determined this because I tried turning the computer on and then tapping the speakers and it would instantly reboot or shut off.)Toshiba said they would replace the top cover assembly and the motherboard. A month later, we finally hear from this company and they say they’re NOT GOING TO FIX THE COMPUTER because they found liquid damage on the motherboard and accused me of spilling on it. In actuality, the computer was semi-usable before I sent it in. There were times that I could get an hour or out of it before it crashed (and it was by me touching somewhere on the computer like the speaker accidentally, so it had to be the top cover assembly). When I got it back after the first month, it didn’t do much more than turn on and now after the second time of sending it in, it’s just as bad. Is it just me, or is this a red flag that the service provider did something to my computer and won’t fess up and Toshiba is taking their side? I didn’t spill anything on my computer and I’m being accused of doing so. Now I have a motherboard that is apparently fried because the thing doesn’t work at all. Any advice? I’ve been arguing with these people for too long and it’s getting me nowhere. It shocks me that they would treat a customer like this and accuse me of lying.
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:34 am
There are two class action suits for the A70, A75, M30X, and M35X:
http://www.lorisklar.com/toshad.htm
http://www.classcounsel.com/news/toshiba.html
June 13th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
I have M35X 149, I never had problem for about a year. But now when I start, the fan will sound like it is starting. But then nothing comes on while the power button indicates it is on. the CDROM is not operating while the power indicator is on.I guess it might be related with the power not being distributed. I have to call toshiba and make them fix it. If not i will join the suit who ever is on the process.
June 14th, 2006 at 9:30 am
I had the bad dc-in jack problem on the Toshiba M35X. Followed your disassembly instructions, resoldered, reassembled and voila it was back up and running. Thanks for the great disassembly instructions.
June 26th, 2006 at 8:02 am
I had the same DC jack problem about the 8th month of owning my m35×149. I got it repaired under warranty for free, but a few months later (just after the 1 yr warranty ran ou… grr!) the computer has become a large, expensive paperweight. Now when I turn it on, the power light turns on, the fan whirs up for 5 seconds, and then nothing. One service store worker told me that he thought it was a motherboard problem, and i’ve been debating fixing the board for approx $200 (a 1/4 th original cost of the laptop), as I’ve seen that a replacement board would cost twice as much. If there’s ANY help you can offer….. please do. Thanks so much.
June 26th, 2006 at 11:36 am
I Hvae this problem i was woundering if any one could help me. my son dropped some water on my laptop and it works but half of my keyboard does not. is there some way i coudl fix this?
June 27th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
I got M35X. I also have the same problem as you guys. It had been working good since last night. I started it up and nothing come up just the sound of fan running for 5 secs. The power light is on. Sometimes it was able to boot up till Windows is running for a while and it is gone. HELP !! Please
June 28th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Dan, Pooh,
It might be just a bad memory module. If you have 2 modules installed, remove them one by one. If you have only one module, try to reseat it and move from one slot to another.
That’s would be nice if you can find a test memory and install it.
June 28th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Mario,
Liquid spills are very unpredictable. If you are lucky, then only the keyboard has to be replaced. You can find a link to disassembly guide in the post above.
June 30th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Same problem with M35x-s111. Power button is light up, but after a short burst of fan no farther signs of life. System started locking up yesterday and didn’t want to come back up. Swapping memory modules around and trying one at a time at a different slot didn’t help.
July 5th, 2006 at 7:27 am
I have a m35x that, after a mb removal to repair dc jack, and after re-assembly, just gives a hdd blink and a fan burst of about 5 seconds, cannot open cdrom and no video
follow up to my previous post. seems that if I flex the lower right corner of the base up and hit power button, unit boots fine. seems like a bad connection somewhere on the board. this rules out memory, cpu and lcd. I wonder if dis-assembly to repair dc jack could have damaged motherboard?.
thoughts, comments?
July 21st, 2006 at 5:10 am
This is a great website! I followed the disassembly instructions and I got the broken DC jack issue repaired. Just as important, I was able to reassemble everything just as it was to begin with. You can’t tell that it was taken apart.
The two things that gave me some difficulty in the process were desoldering/resoldering the jack (first time I put an iron to a board for 8 years), and reinserting the ribbon cable for the keyboard (that little white piece that clamps over the ribbon just kept getting in the way).
August 4th, 2006 at 1:50 am
I have a m35x-S329, after removal to repair my dc jack, and re-assembly, hit power button just gives a hdd blink and a fan burst of about 5 seconds, unit not boots, can open cdrom but no video. seems like a bad connection somewhere on the board. I wonder if dis-assembly to repair dc jack could have damaged motherboard? Any Suggessions pls.
August 7th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Ramesh,
Check if the memory module is seated properly. Try to move it into another slot.
By the way, if you removed the CPU for some reason, did you lock it up when you installed it back?
August 8th, 2006 at 2:47 am
Toshiba laptop won’t reboot. I here the unit running lights on in front. Screen won’t come up. I tried attaching another monitor still nothing. I had this problem one month ago when I called them. Toshiba says it won’t cover it just went out of warranty.
Going to pick up another RAM stick replace see what happens.
I have one more of these units still has 10 months of warranty. Surely won’t buy anymore.
I just saw the article on ground problem. I feel I have the same issue.
Not happy camper with company’s that hide things from the public.
Well I will continue my search on issue. Appreciate the post to show how to take the sucker apart.
Will learn about laptops on this one.
Then sell the rest of the pieces on the net.
After I remove the hard drive.
thanks
August 11th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
M35x-S329 DC Jack post replacement issues.
Thanks CJ,
I removed and fixed the Memory Module again and it works fine now i can see the display on the screen processor and fan are running, Only thing is after running 10 min system is hanging. I switched off and tried again and agian but it is the same it’s keep on hanging and processor fan blowing continues. Also when i plug in my internet cable i am not able to get the internet connection. Internet brower says page cannot be displayed, that happens to wireless connection also. Once again thanks for your valuable suggessions.
August 14th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Ramesh,
Check if everything is connected properly and if you put right screws in right holes. For example if the screw is longer then the original one, it might touch the system board and cause the problem. It’s just a guess. Check if the system board is seated correctly.
August 16th, 2006 at 8:22 am
I took apart my M35X-309 and replaced the broken/problem jack with radio shack part #274-1576. I had to drill open the old hole a little bit, but it fit in there after some finagling. I soldered it to the board using a couple short wires so as pressure on the jack won’t pull on the board and just the wires which won’t cause any troubles. If anyone wants any more information about what I did please let me know.
In any case after I put everything back together and the power worked flawlessly I realized that for some reason the Volume Wheel on the right side doesn’t work. The only way to change the volume now is to use software tools which stinks. If anybody has any ideas as to why or how this occurred and anyway to fix it please let me know.
Also after putting the screen back in I noticed there was a short wire coming out of the video cable going to the system board. It has a hole in it and is right around where the cable sits in the chassis. Is this cable supposed to go somewhere at all?? I wrapped it in electric tape so it didn’t accidently contact anything else, and everything worked fine on the laptop except of course the volume wheel. Any info on the use of this cable would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
August 20th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
I AM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEMS AS MOST ON HERE WITH THE POWER LIGHT ON AND FAN RUNNING 5 SECONDS AND THEN NOTHING, CAN’T GET ANYWHERE WITH TOSHIBA JUST KNOW THAT I A HAVE A COSTLY PAPER WIEGHT. AND HELP PLEASE LET ME KNOW. OH YES MINE IS ALSO MODEL M35X
August 21st, 2006 at 10:56 pm
Bill,
Sorry for a late response, I’ve been kinda busy. Does the volume wheel spins at all? Sometimes it might get jammed by the laptop base.
The short wire coming from the video cable (grounding cable) for some reason is not connected to anything. Just leave it alone.
August 21st, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Annette,
I would try to find a test memory module and replace it. It might help. Or at least try to reseat the already installed module, move it to the second slot.
August 22nd, 2006 at 4:42 am
cj2600,
Thanks for the response. In any case, yeah, thats the weird part, the whole wheel spins fine either way. The audio out port works, didn’t test the mic port though. Also the Wireless Adapter switch connected the the board also works. The volume seems to be maxed out also so its not like the wheel is “stuck” at like medium volume either. If nothing comes to mind at all on why it would be like this, you think just replacing that board would work and if so you know where I could get one or the part number?? I forgot to write that down when I took the laptop apart.
August 22nd, 2006 at 8:22 am
Bill,
The volume wheel is located on the audio board (part# K000019130 – for audio board with wireless). The audio board connects to the system board through a flat cable. I think you might have just a bad connection between boards, may be the cable is not seated all the way down. Before you replace the board, I would try to reconnect the cable. I think it might fix the audio problem.
August 22nd, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Several keys on my Toshiba satellite keyboard went bad after a soda spill. All this advice was so specific with great illustrations that I decided to try to fix it myself. I was going along fine until I needed to disconnect the keyboard ribbon cable. Couldn’t find instructions on that (too basic, I guess), so I stupidly popped at the holder and it became disattached from the computer. Eventually figured out how the open the ribbon cable holder properly, but now the keyboard is not recognized at all. Tried to use the old won, which worked except for several keys and it is no longer recognized either. Anything that can be done?
August 22nd, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Here’s a picture that shows how a keyboard connects to the system board. If you want to remove the keyboard cable, you’ll have to unlock the connector first – move the brown holder away from the connector (2-3millimeters), the direction is shown by yellow arrows. Only after that you can remove the keyboard cable.
To install it back, plug the cable inside the connector as far as it goes and lock the connector.
Eileen,
I don’t know if your connector is broken or not. Try to plug the cable into the connector and jam it with the holder.
August 23rd, 2006 at 6:17 am
cj2600,
I wish I had seen that picture before I started - it really shows what I should have done! The connector did not break and I can put the ribbon cable in there and slide the tabs back in and it seems to hold it. Then I took the connector piece, which I had mistakenly pulled off the board, and put it back on the board, over the two vertical pins at the ends of the connector. But that seems to be an insufficient connection to the board. It is not recognizing the keyboard. There are a series of pins protruding from the long side of the connector towards the front of the board, but they don’t see to “fit” into anything - seemed more like they were just sitting in a hardened green gel. I can’t figure out what should be making the board read the keyboard connection. Is this a new motherboard situation?
Thanks. Eileen
August 23rd, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Eileen,
If the connector is not broken and you can put the plastic holder back into the connector, then it should work. It should work even if you accidentally break a pin on the holder, because the keyboard cable actually stays inside because it gets jammed between the connector and the holder. The series of pins connect the contacts on the keyboard cable when you lock the connector.
Make sure that you plug the cable all the way down and it’s positioned correctly, the contacts on the cable should face the pins inside the connector. The holder also has to be positioned correctly so it pushes the cable toward the pins when you lock the holder.
I had the same situation this morning. I was working on Satellite M35X and after I assembled it back the touchpad didn’t work. I took it apart again and reconnected the touchpad cable (the small version of keyboard connector) and it fixed my problem.
BTW, thank you very much for your generous donation to www.irisvista.com !!! People like you keep me motivated.
September 11th, 2006 at 6:26 am
cj2600,
Thanks for creating this nice site for disassembling toshiba laptop. I have toshiba m35x-109 and having issue with my dc power jack. I followed your detailed instructions and disassembeld it. However, I am not able to remove the system board from the base (step 18). Is there any trick to remove it while taking care of chasis? It seems proturding parts of system board like monitor jack, network card eject knob makes removal difficult.
npatel
September 11th, 2006 at 8:01 am
I have Satellite M35X. Same problem as mentioned; power light comes on, fan for about 5 seconds, then nothing (cannot open CD-rom). Just wondering if anyone has found resolve for this? PS - also had the DC jack problem. I would be very grateful. Thank you
September 13th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Npatel,
Start removing the system board by lifting up the edge as it shown on the step 18 and at the same time press on the PC card knob. After that, when the PC card knob is out, you can slide the board from the case and free up the monitor port.
September 16th, 2006 at 2:48 am
Okay I love your guide and its the best thing anyone who owns one of these things can hope for. But i have a m35x s161 and i out everything back installed a new dc plug and now my lcd screen wont power on i dont know where to ground it and im completely lost
September 16th, 2006 at 3:01 am
Also my laptop also goes on fan spins for 5 seconds and the nothing happens and i really don’t understand the whole pc card knob thing
September 16th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Hi,
Ive got a Toshiba M35X-S114 laptop.
The problems I’m having is that the LCD monitor will not work at times. It’s “glows” a bit so I know it’s on, but no picture whatsoever. I plugged in a secondary monitor and it works fine. I have tried the Fn-F5 keys to toggle between monitors, but it’s still not working. Is this a common problem or an easy fix? Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Ulises,
Even though the video cable on this model has a ground cable, you don’t have to connect it to anything, just place it along with the video cable. Make sure that the memory module is seated properly, remove it from the memory slot and put it back in place (it’s a very common mistake).
September 20th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
George,
It’s not a common problem for Satellite M35X. If the external screen shows normal video, I assume that the motherboard works fine. You say that the screen glows, it means that the FL inverter is OK too.
So it could be a loose video cable, a bad video cable or a bad screen. I would try reseating the video cable before replacing parts. You’ll find a guide for taking apart the display assembly for Satellite M35X in the right pane of the site.
September 30th, 2006 at 8:39 am
thank you all for this wonderful site.
my toshiba laptop(mx35x-s114) intermittently does not boot up to windows. after the toshiba flash screen(display is in touch with toshiba) it goes to a black blank screen with just the blinking cursor on the upper left side. i turn power off/onn and if i am lucky it will boot up to windows.
any suggestions to fix is greatly appreciated.
thanks,
eli
September 30th, 2006 at 11:23 am
Eli,
I think you might have a failing hard drive. You can download Hitachi drive fitness utility and test the hard drive yourself. Also check if the hard drive is plugged into the connector all the way down, disconnect and connect the hard drive back.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:16 pm
So I put everything back together now the problem is that the fan spins for 5 seconds the cd-rom doesnt come out and it wont show anything on the screen does anyone know what i can do ? i replaced and swicthed the memory modulea about a thousand times and nothing yet, I don’t know what to do does anyone know ? Thank you a lot, and thank you for this awesome website!
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Ulises Salazar,
Did you remove the CPU from the socket during disassembly? If you removed it, did you lock the socket after you put the CPU back in place?
The laptop will not boot if you forgot to lock the CPU socket.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:35 pm
Yes I did that too my friend, man this is a head ache… can’t I just send this to you and pay you or something lol???
October 7th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Yes I have a Toshiba M35X-S111 and I have a problem with my display.I can see my display using flashlight. I checked my close button and then I could see a light in the lower right hand side of my screen. I believe I have a inverter or backlight problem. Any help you can give me.
October 8th, 2006 at 11:35 am
When i push the power button on my M35x-s111 all it does is turn the light on around the power button, and the fan will turn on for about 5 seconds. The Cd drive doesnt open either. I do not know what to do.
October 8th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Ben,
I would try replacing the FL inverter first. You can buy it around $40-$45 on eBay and you have good chances to fix the problem.
October 8th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
Tim,
It could be a memory related problem. Reseat the memory module/modules to make sure that they make a good connection with the socket. If you have two modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop after each step. Run Memtest 86+ utility for memory test.
October 8th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
I had the same problem with DC connector for the Toshiba MX35. I followed your direction and resoldered the connection. But when I put everything back and turn the computer on, all I get is the Toshiba sign on the screen and it is asking on the botttom left to “press F2 for setup, press F12 for boot device selection menu”. But when i press the F2 or F12 there are no response from the computer. I also took the keyboard connection out and placed it back several times. I would appreciate any help.
October 9th, 2006 at 5:39 am
I tried the memory thing that didnt help. The laptop still doesnt do anything. The only thing it does appear to do is if i push th FN key the light blinks once and i can keep pushing it and it will work until i push another key then the FN key doesnt work anymore either.
October 13th, 2006 at 4:03 am
Hi
I have the M35x model. Usual problem DC socket went, replaced it - computer was fine for about a month, then one day it died on touch. All that happens is fan whirls for ~5 seconds and nothing (although power light stays on). I am interested to know what resolve (if any) is available. Do I need a new motherboard?
Very interest to know. Thank you dominic.mcgaw@cmmc.nhs.uk
October 13th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
cj2600,
thank you for your reply to my post dtd sept 30. i found that the issue was the hibernation function. i remove the battery and put it back , the laptop booted up to windows, then i disabled hibernation. and i didn’t have reboot problems from then on.
again, thanks…
eli
October 15th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
I just finished resoldering the pin at the DC power block to solve that problem. When I reassembled, I temporarily had exactly the issue Tim and Dominic had. I reseated the memory cards, and it booted up fine.
October 15th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Emad,
Make sure that all cables are properly connected. Reseat all cables.
October 21st, 2006 at 4:16 am
I tried all of those and they did not work, but the other day I just killed the battery and then plugged it in and tried to turn it on and it worked. But after 10 minutes of running it shut down on me and did the same thing it was doing before
October 21st, 2006 at 4:33 pm
I forgot to mention that none of my drives get power but after about two hours of laptop powered on the wireless card power light turns on
October 27th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
CJ 2600
I need a sound card for a M35X-S309 You told
Bill that the part# K000019130 was for that card.
On the ribon cable on my card it is P/N:NBX12002100
Do we have diff cards? His was for a 309 and mine
is a S309. And, where can I get the card?
Thanks Harold
December 7th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
what is the fastest CPU that can go inside the M35X-S111?
I am just looking at changing the CPU not the motherboard (I have upgraded the memory).
Regards,
Jon
December 17th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
If any of you guys with the 5 second no boot problem were experincing over heating you may have burned out the processer.
December 24th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
Hi, I have a M35x. I would like to upgrade to a dvd/r. Will the cdrw come out easily and a dvd go in? Do I need to follow all of your instructions down to the remove cdrw part in order to get the cdrw out? Thanks. Mary
January 1st, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Mary Murdock,
You don’t need to follow all the instructions. The DVD drive is secured by one screw located on the bottom of the laptop. Turn over the laptop and find a sticker with the laptop name, model and serial number on it. You’ll see two screws on the left side from the sticker, one of them secures the DVD drive. I don’t have this laptop in front of me and cannot say exactly with screw to remove, so remove both just in case. After that open the drive as it shown of the step 3 and carefully pull it from the laptop. Transfer the mounting bracket from the old drive to a new one and install it into the laptop. Done!
I hope your new drive is compatible with your laptop and you have not problem after installation.
January 21st, 2007 at 12:38 am
I disassembled an M35X-S149 looking to clean the heatsink due to an over heating problem but found no dust. Upon deciding to reassemble the laptop I found that both brake hinges were locked an would not rotate at all. They were also not lined up with eachother which made reattaching the screen assembly impossible. The word booby-trapped came into my mind. Is there any way to fix this problem and re-attach the display ? Is this condition what is meant by the term “broken hinge”. It seems odd that they both “broke” at the same moment.
January 21st, 2007 at 3:21 pm
It looks like the brake hinges were not stuck after all.
Two pairs of pliers got them to move. It was just a matter of leverage.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:36 am
Need help identifying part!
Toshiba M35X came apart eaisly with the help of your detailed instructions and great photo. I am trying to fix a problem wherby the computer powers up and runs fine off of A.C. but will not power up at all from the battery. Battery indicators show full power.
Upon poping the case I noticed a part lying loose back by the power input. It is a metal strip about 1 1/2″ long 1/8″ wide and has a small White bumber or it might be a mount for it on one end. The other end has four tiny holes in the shape of a square in it. I have looked extensively for a logical place for it. Might be some sort of a ground What is this mistery piece?
January 24th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I found this site very helping. I have Toshiba laptop. M35X. All of sudden once it turned off and did not turn on. All the indicators( LEDs ) attached with the system showing the status of the lap to show that lap top is “ON ” e.g LED under turn on switch and middle LED on the front remain ON, but nothing appears on the screen. If I turn it off and then turn ON by pressing power button, it sounds that fans are running and after some time fans sound stops and nothing appears on the screen.
After going through the instructions on this site I disassembled my lap top and did not found any thing wrong, One I assembled it again it turns on and works well but shuts down at once if I lift it up. and turns on again after few attempts. Can any one guide me what may be the problem and how can I fix that. I will appreciate for this big help.
Thanking you in advance
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:30 am
I want just thank you! Instructions were immensely helpful.
February 9th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I’m at present looking at toshiba m35x with a power jack problem. upon pressing the power button it comes on for a few seconds, you hear the fan then nothing. no light on the screen no boot. The problem is simply the power jack not letting the system board get power. There is a crack somewhere that i cannot find. Soldering the one contact does not fix the problem. but the problem is near the power jack because i can lift on it while powering the laptop and make it boot. If anyone has a scematic diagram of the board I’m sure I can find a better work around for fixing the problem finally. Even a good high definition photo of the bottom of the board would help.
February 15th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Nastier,
I had the same problem as yours. I just wonder if the inside layer traces lose contact to either the + or the - sides of the power source. When you lift on it, it kind of temporarily connects to the losing trace(s). I’m looking for the schematic too. Any experts out there, please shed some lights on this.
Thanks
February 15th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
To the Mod,
I forgot to check the Notify me of followup comments via email from my previous post.
Please disregard this one but keep notify me via e-mail.
Thanks Mod
February 26th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
I’ve read through ever troubleshooting statement here, but have yet to find the answer to the problem when:
My laptop led lights come on, the battery will charge, and I can run off wall power. However all my laptop does is turn on and the fan spins for about 5 seconds, the LED stays on, but I have no screens or BIOS boot, my laptop does not boot at all. Also the CDRW drive on the side does not light up or let me eject it. After the fan gets done spinning the power leds and the other leds are correctly lit, but my computer does not boot and the LCD screen shows nothing.
What do I do?
~Eric.
March 14th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
On the m35x, I have one that I have been reserching the problems with the power jack. It seems that the power jack is responsible for most of the symtoms of most of the post here. I have not been able to create a permenate fix for mine, because to board itself is a piece of shit. The contacts surrounding the jacks sometimes break creating a nightmare to resolder. I have tried to find a scematic of the motherboard so I can jump past some of the weak contacts. If someone out there has a scematic or can direct me to one I believe I can find a more permenate solution for the power jack fix.
March 16th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Guys, and Gals, All those m35xs that will not boot. Fan comes on, a couple of leds light up, no light to the screen at all, they have the same problem. It’s not caused by loose ram, or bias problems. It is simply the power jack problem, which can be very tricky to repair, because it sometimes break traces on the motherboard. They are small and hard to see. Once broken toshiba or any other tech will try to sell you a motherboard. Then even if you are lucky enough to fix yours it make break again. If any on can locate a scematic diagram of the power section of the mb please post it so I can put together a more permenate solution. Thank you all.
March 19th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Here is the correct solution to the M35X DC jack problem from someone who actually repairs them for a living.
The jack MUST be isolated from the motherboard. A screw on type jack can be fastened to the case, with flexible wires going to the motherboard. Putting side pressure on the jack will not be able to flex the motherboard, which causes the solder joints to break.
Problem #2 is that after repairing the jack, it still does not boot. The blue power light and fan comes on, nothing else.
What causes this is that some solder joints have broken on a 48 pin chip that is next to the DC jack. That is why it will sometimes bootup if side pressure is applied to the jack. It flexes the motherboard enough so that the broken solder joints make contact, usually temporarily. This is why it is so important to isolate the jack from the motherboard, so the solder joints don’t keep breaking.
This chip has extremely small pin spacing, making it difficult for the average person to solder. It takes a sharp sodering tip, magnification, and a steady hand.
These two repairs will put 90% of the M35x’s back in service. If you need some advice on repairing this yourself, contact me a jrhirsch_at_netscape.com.
April 7th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Hi,
I have a toshiba Satellite M35. I replace my HD and install a windows xp with sp and installed all driver but when I push Fn botton for more contrast and brightness nothing happened, in general my Fn botton doesn’t work.
please tell me what can I do?
thankz
Fred
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Hi to All,
I also Have got Toshiba Satellite M35x-149….First the Problem Was the Same as all of yours it Switched on ran the Fan for 5 Seconds , No display and then nothing. But Sometimes it Booted…so it was based on luck if it wanted to work or not…After reading about the Dc Jack problem i Soldered the + Pin of the Jack and reassembeled the Laptop… Now the Status LEDS show power but the POwer On Button LED does not come on and does not Switch the Laptop On and No Cpu Fan Running either….so it seems that from bad i have come to Worse…Any thoughts… Thanks In Advance
April 25th, 2007 at 12:33 am
HI
THANKS FOR THIS SITE AS I MANAGE TO REPAIR THE DC JACK FOR OUR TOSHIBA LAPTOP.I AM GETTING THE SIMILAR PROBLEM OF NO SCREEN DISPLAY WITH FAN SOUND FOR 5 SEC AND BLUE POWER BUTTON ON. PLEASE ANY ONE ASSIST.
April 29th, 2007 at 5:26 am
AA, Hi to All,
Well my Laptop has come back to its previous state of the same old same old of 5sec Fan running Power button blue Led on and all LEDs Working and i noticed another thing that the Video Chip Heatsink Warms up so i think the Power is being distributed to the ICS when in this state. ANYBODY WHO KNOWS A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM… ALOT OF PRAYERS WILL BE COMING YOUR WAY IF YOU CAN HELP US…MAYBE SOME TOSHIBA TECHIE OR REPAIR GUY…THANKS IN ADVANCE. AH
April 30th, 2007 at 7:33 am
There appears to have been a class action suit filed in California against Toshiba that has resulted in them extending the warranty on the M35X machines through November, 2007:
http://www.a70m30xsettlement.com
April 30th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Hi guys ,
sorry for my bad english (I’am German). I have a M30X-148 and have the problem too that the CPU Fan run for 5 sec. the blue light round the startbutton runnig too. The battery will charge and Battery indicators show full power.
But the differents between all the problems of you and me is, that I can open my CDROM and the screen looks like a “Whitescreen” (I think the backlight is running only)after starting the Toshiba.
I have solder the DC powerJack too, but the Notebook don’t boot. I don’t know what can I do, to repair my Toshiba .
Hope you understand my very bad english and you can help me to get the toshiba running fine again.
Greets from Germany
Michael
May 25th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Hello I know this isnt the right place to be asking about my toshiba Satellite 1200 but this area seems to be active recently where as that one doesnt..
Do I have to take apart my whole laptop just to get to the dc power jack bit? Im not sure if thats the correct term.. I mena the bit where you plug the end of the power cable into your laptop. Thanks for any help.
May 26th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Hello
I have an M30X and had the DCjack come away from the board completely. This didn’t surprise me, however, as I had been experiencing problems with charging up the battery (having to wedge the power plug to get the lights on etc…) I took the laptop apart following your excellent instructions. A friend soldered it back with ‘heavy duty soldering’. We also put some rapid epoxy resin between the jack and the board on the edge and layed the soldering iron on the jack, This warms up the epoxy and allows it to flow down between the board and jack. I’ve also put a rubber grommit or washer round the plug wide enough to hit the outside case and stop the plug from being pushed into the jack too hard, therefor taking the strain off the jack. There had been some carbon signs of shorting out very close to the DC jack, but it was washed off with alcohol. To my amazement the computer fired up and has been working fine ever since!
Many thanks for your great website.
Rodger
May 30th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
My Toshiba M35X-S114 did all of the above.
It turned the blue light ‘ON’. All three LEDs turned on. The 3 to 5 seconds CPU fan ON and then nothing…
The difference NOW is that if I let it sit like that for probably about 10 minutes (I have not time it, yet) and then WALLA!!!! It boots up out of the blue.
Just like in the ’70s, turn the computer on, go to prepare your coffee, drink it while watching TV, and when you remember about you computer, it will be there…
ON!! And ready to be used.
So, for now that is my problem, I did the soldering trick and the ‘not booting’ problem got fixed. I soldered all 4 points right next to the jack. I put my 25 Watt soldering iron for a good 5 seconds to allow the solder to liquefy very good before removing the soldering iron tip from the board.
And my question is: Am I in the right track, do I need to open it again and re-solder it again.
Thanks for any help provided.
May 30th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Norberto,
First of all try this.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Thank you cj2600.
I think, I have spent enough time trying all of the different things posted here, but now is time to use the warranty. It could be the fix to all my problems.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Just had someone give me an M35X-S111 recently. Had it a month and the HD crashed. Also have an A65-S126 that though 2.8ghz is slower than the 1.5ghz M35X.
I ordered a new HD for the M35X, but once it gets here I’m tempted to just clean them up and sell them both.
Question - Can you add internal wireless to the M35X-S111? I looked at your excellent instructions, popped the kyb out, but under the wifi cover, I find nothing to attach the card into. Is that just for later models of the M35X?
Thanks so much for your great site.
June 7th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Following the instructions of
Jerry Hirsch (response 78, dated March 19th, 2007) I managed to fix the M35X DC jack problem.
Thanks, Jerry!
June 10th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I have a m35x with the same problem that power tunrs on then the fans turn on for 5 seconds, then nothing else turns on. when you flex the bottem right hand corner, it posts good. the problem was fixed by resoldering the memory connectors. Its no easy task, the only reason I figurerd it out was becaused I worked as a tech for Dell and they have the same problem.
June 16th, 2007 at 12:41 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite M35X-S311 Part #PSA72U-2JZ00U with Windows XP.
MY problems started when I brought the laptop out of hibernation and the mouse didn’t appear on the screen. Right clicking on the touch pad brought the mouse icon back on the screen only to be enlightened with a frozen system. I then shut the system down. When started up the system would not even show the bios screen. The blue power led, and the three yellow leds on the front, would come on, but the system would appear to go into hibernation after 5 sec. After exhausting all the closed case options I opened the case. I cleaned everything on the inside of the laptop. Started the computer up, but still had the same problem. Removing and reinstalling the battery and memory several times seemed to be the only way to get the system past the bios and into the xp login screen. Once there my laptop froze again, and I was back to the beginning. After thoroughly researching the internet I was pointed to the dc jack, and a few other problematic defects that plague this laptop series. Finally my ac jack would not turn the laptop on, so i moved the dc jack to the outside of the computer. The laptop started up immediatley without any problems at all. It even ran tremendously faster than when it was new. A few hours later my laptop froze again. Only this time several multicolored rectangles about 2mm HX6mm L started randomly appearing on the screen. I have tried removing every part one by one to no avail. All of the hardware seems to be okay. Except something in the video system\s. The power is perfect from the ac cable to the left side of the inverter, but there is no power coming out of the right side of the inverter. Laptop doesn’t get far enough to dispay anything on an external monitor, but when it displayed on the external monitor I could already see it on the laptop’s lcd anyway. The hibernation switch on the board is working just fine. Could this be caused by the laptop not sending the signal to the lcd to display anything like the original problem did? Or could a faulty inverter keep the entire system from booting?
Any pointers and help would be greatly appreciated,
Chris
June 17th, 2007 at 7:29 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite M35X-S111. It shuts down either when it is booting or just after it cranks up the fan after the power on button is pushed.
I read all the reasons it freezes, which it did before, but now I can not even start it. It is not giving me enough time to even diagnose.
Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!
June 23rd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Hi all, this is my problem…
I have a toshiba M35X S149, after replaceing the jack using the halp of the guide, my LCD has some problem.
They are more explicits in the next pics:
http://www.geocities.com/ceteclaguna/IMAG0005.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/ceteclaguna/IMAG0006.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/ceteclaguna/IMAG0007.JPG
The strange thing is that as you can see on tha pics is that the imgage its full, its not cut, it seems that theres a normal LCD and not a Widescreen LCD.
Excuse my english.
Thanx
June 25th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Rodrigo,
Try reseating the video cable on the back of the LCD screen. It is possible that the video cable is not making a good contact with the screen. Also try reseating the video cable connector on the motherboard.
June 27th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Hey all - I know this seems to be off of the general vein of conversation but I was hoping somebody could help me out.
I’m updating the RAM on my M35xS114, but I lost my manual and can’t find any info on my mother board - do I HAVE to use DDR 2700, or can I use DDR 2700+ or a DDR2 type RAM? Anyhelp would be great.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:13 am
I recently had a Toshiba m35x given to me by a friend. I found this site and decided to take it apart expecting it to be a simle power jack fix. I found that the plastic from the power jack MELTED and left a hardened pool around the power jack. What could i use to clear the hardened plastic? Has anyone of you ever even seen this happen before?
July 27th, 2007 at 3:35 am
IM LOOKING FOR MOTHERBOURD FOR MY M35-TOSHIBA IF SOM OF YOU WANT TO BUY MY LEPTOP SEND ME E-MAIL
OFEREK1@WALLA.COM I LIVE IN ISRAEL I HAVE ,SKYPE.MESSENGER/ICQ 228075927
THANKS
OFER
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:02 am
i have a toshiba laptop M35X-S311 with part # psa72u- 2jzoou.i formatted the laptop with M70 recovery disc when it was seriously affected by virus. the disc was able to clear the memory of the system but could not reinstall system software. please what do i do to bring the system back to life? I WILL be more grate if you can send me the recovery disc via or send me website were i can get the softwares for free download. thanks
August 4th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I got M35X-149. I also have the same problem as you guys. It had been working good since last week. I started it up and nothing come up just the sound of fan running for 5 secs. The power light is on.
After I read all the information in this Forum and I re-soder the 48 pin chip that is next to the DC jack and now my laptop Back up and running again.
Thank you all.
Jimmy
August 5th, 2007 at 3:50 am
I have a M40X, which seems to have cover similar to M35X.
. I mean, I don’t have to remove all the screws of the bottom cover etc.?
I want to replace the ever bad performing Intel 2200 BG wifi mini pci card by the Atheros based Gigabyte SUPER A/B/G Mini-PCI Adapter - GN-WI01H T.
To replace the card, I should only remove the securing strip above the keyboard with a thin object, the keyboard itself and the wifi cardcover to get access to the wifi card (steps 6, 7 and partly step
Do you think I’ll encounter problems (hardware or software) when replacing the card and get the new one working
August 5th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Andrew,
I’m not sure how you were able to format your laptop with M70 recovery disk. Usually, when you use recovery disks from other models you get a “Wrong Machine” message and the recovery process will not proceed any further. Weird.
Anyways, to reload the operating system on your laptop you can use recovery DVD from any other Satellite M35X. I doubt that you’ll find if fro free download but you can buy it cheap here, just search for “M35X recovery”.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Peter van Breemen,
In order to replace the wireless card you have to get under the keyboard, it’s not necessary to remove all the screes from the bottom. Just remove the keyboard strip, lift up the keyboard (it’s not necessary to disconnect it from the motherboard, just flip over on the palm rest) and replace the wireless card.
It’s not difficult to replace the card but I’m not sure if you can find a working driver, so your card is recognized and it works correctly. The only way to find out is replacing the card and loading the driver.
August 14th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Please,someone help me out.I have a Toshiba Satellite M35X notebook and the keyboard appears to be broken. the space bar,among other things,doesn’t work normally and I have to keep pressing down hard on it to make a space.I ordered a new keyboard.does anyone have any simple instructions on how to take the broken keyboard out and replace it with a new one?
any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks
August 14th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Richard,
It is relatively easy to replace the keyboard and you’ll find instructions in the disassembly guide I linked to in my post. You don’t have to remove anything from the bottom of the laptop.
All you have to do is:
1. Remove the battery
2. Remove the keyboard strip - silver cover located above the keyboard
3. Remove two screws securing the keyboard
4. Disconnect the keyboard from the motherboard and replace it.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:11 am
thanks a million cj2600.
the top silver plastic cover on my Toshiba laptop is loose in the lower left hand corner near where a little speaker is. I can lift it up slightly with my finger. I can also hear at times little pieces rolling around inside when I pickup my laptop and tilt it. not sure what broke inside.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:21 am
my Toshiba Satellite notebook was in its case on the back seat of my car and when I stopped for atraffic light, the case rolled off the seat and down onto the floor. I didn’t think anything was broken at thetime and itinitially appeared towork fine.then I developed problems with the space bar on thekeyboard not being responsive and also started hearing little pieces rolling around inside the notebook.
ordered a new keyboard and hope that fixes the problem. need to investigate what the little pieces are inside.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:45 am
cj2600 wrote:
“2. Remove the keyboard strip - silver cover located above the keyboard”
cj2600,what is the best tool to use to pry loose the plastic keyboard strip…a stiff butter knife? I don’t want to break the plastic prying it out.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Richard,
It could be a loose screw or a broken plastic latch from the keyboard cover. You will not know until remove this piece.
You can use a small flathead screwdriver to lift up one side of the cover, so you can grab it with your fingers. When one side is lifted, continue removing the cover with your fingers.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:27 am
The first rule of laptop repair is don’t force anything!!!!!
To remove M35X keyboard, first, with lid closed, on rear side of laptop, push up to unlock backside of hingecovers. There should be a 1/16″ gap.
Second, from front with lid open, pry with a small flat screwdriver between hingecover and LCD cover on right side. Lift off hingecover from right side, there is a tab under left side.
Third, remove 2 keyboard screws,and unlock center clip. Pull off keyboard, remember the ribbon cable is still attached, and lay down forward upside down.
Fourth, remove ribbon cable cover. Pry up ribbon cable lock on back side of ribbon cable connector with fingernails or two small flat screwdrivers simultaneously. They only pull up about 1/32″, any more and they break. Ribbon cable should slide out easily, do not force.
August 14th, 2007 at 11:41 am
HOW TO REMOVE THE KEYBOARDSTRIP OF A M35X (OR M40X)
Sorry for my bad English but….I easily removed the keyboardstrip starting with the 2 black upstanding hooks that are part of the strip. (They cover the hinges of the lcd panel)
At the backside of the lcd panel these covering hooks can simultaneously be lifted up with you fingernails (to do this, leave the lcd panel upright). The hooks click off the housing. Doing so, you get more space around the hooks. Then stick a small piece of wood (long size cocktail pin) in these spaces between hooks and hinges and carefully lift further. Using a little more force bit by bit and get more space under the rest of the strip, you can just pull off the whole strip (hearing clicks). This way I removed the keyboard strip without any damage, unscrewed and flipped over he removed the keyboard to get access to the wifi card.
Good luck
August 14th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
thanks Gentlemen. I appreciate all your helpful tips. when the new keyboard arrives in another day or so,I will follow your tips and try to get the mission accomplished without breaking this Toshiba Satellite M35X and sending it to its grave.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Jerry wrote:
“The first rule of laptop repair is don’t force anything!!!!!
To remove M35X keyboard, first, with lid closed, on rear side of laptop, push up to unlock backside of hingecovers. There should be a 1/16″ gap.
Second, from front with lid open, pry with a small flat screwdriver between hingecover and LCD cover on right side. Lift off hingecover from right side, there is a tab under left side.
Third, remove 2 keyboard screws,and unlock center clip. Pull off keyboard, remember the ribbon cable is still attached, and lay down forward upside down.
Fourth, remove ribbon cable cover. Pry up ribbon cable lock on back side of ribbon cable connector with fingernails or two small flat screwdrivers simultaneously. They only pull up about 1/32″, any more and they break. Ribbon cable should slide out easily, do not force.”
ooops!! I broke the white plastic ribbon cable connector. does anyone know how I can find this part to be able to order a new one?
in the alternative, can I use use some tape to hold down the keyboard board cable in the motherboard socket?
August 20th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
OK - this should be an easy question. Is there a specific type of memory I need to use to upgrade my m35x-s149? I just went and purchased some Kingston 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz and it doesn’t fit. It looks like it is just one pin off. This was just the basic notebook memory that was on sale at Circuit City. Does this laptop require a special pin configuration or something that is not standard?
Thanks for the help
August 21st, 2007 at 10:31 am
I answered my own question. Toshiba doesn’t carry the plastic hold down keyboard cable connector. if you break it, they want to sell you a whole new motherboard. you can’t buy a nickel piece of plastic.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:37 am
i have a m35x-s111 I am having the same problem first it was the powercord- I replaced that. it came on for about 2 hours than it blacked out and now the fan sounds for 5 secs and nothing after that. I never took my laptop apart so I don’t know what is going on - also my laptop eventhough i is a m35x-s111 it was not part of the class action suit i was told. So please help.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
I have Toshiba satellite M35-S359. My unit powers up the fan never turn it on but the screen comes on always
it says press f2 for set up or f12 and freezes after five minute litte pop up window shows boot or setup after clicking one of these I can go the set up screen or boot from hard drive rarely. never read the cd/dvd drive. the bios screen the cpu info. not showing.
Can anyone please help me, thanks in advance.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Burke,
It doesn’t feet because you need DDR memory, not DDR2. Use a PC2700 memory module (333MHz) and they will fit.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
teri,
Who told you that? Did you try calling Toshiba? If you purchased this laptop in the USA, it should be covered by the extended warranty.
By the way, you might have a faulty memory stick. Try reconnecting the memory modules, test the laptop with a known good memory.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Adil,
I believe on a Satellite M35 (not M35X) the cooling fan will not start when you turn on the laptop. It starts later, when the CPU is hot. So, it’s normal.
Check the memory module, make sure it’s a good memory. Try turning on the laptop without the hard drive and see if it still freezes.
Test the laptop without the CD/DVD drive. Does it work properly without the CD/DVD drive installed?
August 30th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Hi,
I have a M35x-S349. I have fixed the DC jack problem but when I disconnect the AC power and try to use battery only computer will not start. When connecting the AC power the battery seems to be charging normally and the OS reports the battery as fully charged.
Anyone experienced this problem?. Any solutions?
Thanks.
August 31st, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Hello,
One day my I was using my laptop and my after 10 min of use my keyboard started to act strange. It started randomly displaying different characters if I am typing something. I formatted the computer thinking that it was a virus or something but it didn’t work. Every time i use it, it works good for 10 min and then starts to act funny. If anyone can help me I would really apreciate it.
Thanks,
John
September 1st, 2007 at 11:19 am
Hey. I have a M35X-S311. I would like to replace the dvd/cdrw drive with a dvd drive that records both cd and dvd. Does anyone know the number for a replacement, or if it can be replaced? As usual, Toshiba was no help. Thanks.
September 1st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
TZ,
This is either a battery problem or there is something wrong with the motherboard. Sorry, the only way to find out what is wrong is testing the laptop with a known good battery.
September 1st, 2007 at 7:48 pm
John,
That’s a weird problem, I’ve never seen something like this. Test your laptop with an external USB keyboard and see if it works fine. Maybe something is wrong with the laptop keyboard? Make sure the heat sink is clean. There is a chance that this problem is somehow is related to overheating. This is just a guess.
September 1st, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Mary Murdock,
Sure, I’ll help you.
Here’s what you are looking for.
Panasonic - K000015860
Teac - K000015870
Panasonic - K000024880
KME (double layer) - K000029610
All above mentioned drives will be able read/write CDs and DVDs.
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:41 am
Hi,
Is there a way to check if the battery is good using a multimeter and checking the battery pins? If the battery is OK, is it possible I may have forgotten connecting something back when I disassembled the laptop, or is the battery connected directly to the motherboard?
Thanks for your help.
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:23 pm
cj2600 Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it. Mary
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:42 am
Hi,
Has anyone tested the battery using a multimeter. What are the voltage pins?
Thanks
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Well, I just took about an hour to read this whole page. There is some good info out there. Thanks for helping. But I am having the same problem as everybody else. The blue power button turns on but it does not boot up my computer. I guess we have not found an answer yet. I just contacted the Lawyer for the Toshiba settlement and hopefully they will fix it. I will continue my search and will post if I fix it, until then any help is appreciated.
September 5th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Checked the battery using a multimeter and it appears to be ok. Seems the motherboard is able ot charge it. I cannot however run the laptop of the battery. AC is ok. Does anyone know if there is a way to check that motherboard is faulty since it cannot switch to battery only.
Thanks.
September 5th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I called the Toshiba 1-800 number and they gave me a local authorized repair shop. I took it to them and they are going to fix it for free. Our laptops are still under warranty until november 6, 2007. Even if you did not pay for it.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:28 am
My original warranty ran out on my m35x on feb 6, 2006.
Does anyone know if the extra 12 month warranty that started in november of 2006 still applies to me?
September 12th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Here’s a really beginner question. I have a M35X-S311 that I bought in 2005, my warranty was up in 2006. I have been reading about all the problems with the battery charger and the connection on the motherboard thingy. About 6 months ago, my battery gave up. It wouldn’t charge anymore. I am wondering before this new warranty period ends, if I should send it in, in case something is wrong? How long does a battery last? Is a year and a half a long time? When I put in my linux hard drive it shows it is charging to 3%, and the charging light doesn’t come on. but now it doesn’t even charge in Linux.
September 13th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Hello,
I have been working on my friend’s A70 and it has the same widescreen display problem exhibited in the post by Rodrigo on June 23, 2007. I already attempted to reseat the monitor cable (located under the plastic panel in front of the keyboard) but it had no effect. Did anybody ever figure out a solution to this? I noticed that in the video driver’s monitor panel, the display for some unknown reason was reporting a max resolution of 1024×768 when the native resolution is of course 1280×800. Forcing the screen resolution to 1280×800 simply made the system pan around in 1024×768, so I am thinking it’s a hardware or driver problem.
Thanks for any ideas,
-Vic.
September 16th, 2007 at 1:24 am
Victor I just want to say that i have made everthing, reseating the cable on both sides, but nothing, change drivers, and still the same problem.
Dont know what can it be.
Still looking over the internet to solve my problem, if i find it i will post it.
good luck to all!
September 16th, 2007 at 6:31 am
Hooray!!! I managaed to find some new plastic ribbon cable connectors in China and they just arrived. Now I can put my Toshiba M35X laptop back together again.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Thanks for the great guides and pics!
Am in the midst of the repair for the DC jack (alternative version using the RadioShack 274-1582) M35X-S3112.
A couple tips to share…
For those having trouble removing the securing strip — mine was very tight though I was able to use a jeweller’s screwdriver to pop the corner. At the top edge of the keyboard (underneath the securing strip, closest to the LCD) you can see where there are about 4 screws securing the keyboard to the base that run underneath the securing strip. I used another slightly beefier flathead screwdriver tip and twisted it away from the corner that I’d popped. This popped another section loose from the base. After trying at the other screw ports, I tried loosening the hinges a bit more as they don’t really lift out straight since the LCD doesn’t lay back enough. So I flipped the laptop over and used the same small jeweller’s flathead and popped the second hinge and loosened the first one more. This allowed the strip to be pried a bit more, eventually releasing first from the edge nearest the LCD, then nearest the keyboard. At that point I was pretty much pulling the strip up from the LCD side first. This made it much easier to remove without putting too much force on it.
The small jeweller’s flathead screwdriver also made it easier to pry up underneath the fan and speaker connectors which have a small lip. Prying on one side then the other back and forth jockeys the connectors enough to loosen them for removal.
I’d expected to see lots of dust in the area of the fan and heatsink since this laptop got very hot when running (hot enough to need to shift it from spot to spot every few minutes when using it in my lap), but the fan and heatsink were relatively clean.
On the oher hand, the speakers were filthy. It seems that this particular laptop design didn’t take into account that placement of the speaker nearer the user increases the amount of lint, dust, crumbs, etc. that can fall into the speaker grille. So I’ve cleaned these areas.
For the audio board cable, I noted that though the connector had a brown section, it does not apparently loosen like the keyboard connector. Instead this cable is just pulled out by pulling it up and toward you (rear of the laptop facing away from you).
Everything went fine for me step by step until the final step to remove the motherboard. It seems to be frozen in place, perhaps stuck by some of the same stuff used for keeping the screws in place? The hex nuts for the serial & parallel port have been removed, and I’ve checked to make sure I didn’t miss a screw removal, but its not budging. Don’t want to force things so thought I’d give a shout here before doing soldering only on the top of the motherboard for the fix. It seems that the board is tight/stuck near the serial & parallel ports on the back as well as near the DC jack and CPU. Ideas on removing the board without breaking it are sure welcome!
Thanks in advance for any help on unsticking the motherboard!
September 21st, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Hi, I recently installed a regular edition of Windows XP Pro, but it did not have the Toshiba drivers. I went to the Toshiba web site and got almost everything I need downloaded and installed.
I have one problem left. When I press the shut off button the option to put it into standby is shaded out and will not work. I did install Toshiba’s power setting program.
Does anyone know what I can do to restore the standby function?
As always, thanks for all your help. Mary
September 21st, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Did you install “Toshiba Console for Windows XP/2000″ first?
September 21st, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I uninstalled the power untility and then installed the console. Then I installed the power utility again.
However, after rebooting, the standby still does not work. It is not listed as an option on shut down and closing the lid does nothing. Thank you for responding.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I have no idea why it worked, but when I installed the video driver for intel, the suspend option was again available. Thanks very much for your help.
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Well, re-soldered the bottom of the DC jack and added a second new jack (Radio Shack part) near the old one. Checked the voltages on both before and after soldering to the board.
Starting up the board seems to fail.
Could use some help on this. Its my main work laptop and, as typical, I’m in the middle of the project and of course there is some work I’d like to retrieve (about 1 wk worth after a backup). Yes, lesson learned on backing up — actually am in the process of building a file server to get that in order, but here’s what I’m trying to do now…
(1) Gain access to the data from the M35x-S3112 laptop I tried to fix.
(2) Determine why the ‘fixed’ laptop doesn’t go beyond fan power up.
For the HDD, I’ve still got it out of the case and am struggling to figure out how I can connect it as an external HDD to my other laptop — The connector appears to be a proprietary insertion type versus a regular(?) 40pin laptop IDE. I have a wiebetech combo dock and other external enclosures as well as a 40 to 44 pin adapter, but of course those won’t connect directly to this HDD. So any help/ideas here would be very much appreciated. This is the more important of the 2 issues to fix for me at this point.
On the laptop powerup problem…
It seems to power up the fan, then turn off in a matter of seconds. All front lights appear as they should (on AC, laptop on, battery charging) and the blue LED(?) around the power is colored. I guess I would expect the system to keep going to at least beeps, but it may be that I’m missing the clue-bird on this one…
I’ve got everything installed except the HDD. So, should the laptop progress any further than the power up to get the fan and LEDs going, battery charging then because it finds no HDD power down? Or is this near immediate power down a sign of a failure somewhere? Or short?
I’ve done the soldering all on the bottom of the board — the original DC jack was loose around the inside pin, so in addition to adding the wires to connect to the second new jack, I soldered the bottom of the old jack. Multimeter tests on the top of the board (via the jack) indicate that the voltage is as expected (19+v) for plugging into either jack. So, it seems that the jack is okay. The board is from a M35x-s3112 whose motherboard is very dense — not much space for new solders though I was careful to avoid other connections.
I also disassembled a second time and added more thermal grease in case this is a heat issue for both the video and CPU, though I guess I’d be surprised if things heated up in only 2-3 seconds to the point of power down.
Anyway is the current power off typical? Perhaps there is a way for me to boot via CD to test before putting in the precious HDD with my critical data?
Ideas welcome! Thanks!
September 25th, 2007 at 1:12 am
HDD connector resolved.
)
For anyone else puzzled by the Satellite M35X-S3112 laptop’s HDD connector here’s what I found:
While the HDD doesn’t appear to be in a “caddy” the HDD has a small brownish plastic cover over its 44-pins that allow it to mate wth the HDD connector on the motherboard.
You can see examples of this small piece by searching for “Toshiba HDD caddy connector” or “Toshiba HDD laptop caddy connector” (no quotes). Several are listed on eBay.
This connector can be carefully removed by using a small flathead jeweller’s screwdriver (or similar) and prying under it’s shoulder away from the HDD alternating each side until you can lift the connector off the normal IDE pins.
Once the plastic connector is off, the HDD which is a Hitachi Travelstar (in this case its an 80 GB model tha goes under the name of Travelstar 80GN as found on hitachigst.com). The HDD pinouts are provided on Hitachi’s site, but for this drive they are:
43 — 19 — 1 C A
44 — 22 — 2 D B
That is 2 rows of 22 pins with row 2-44 missing a pin at point 22. 4 additional pins A-D are at the right and are for the “drive address setting” (my assumption is that this may be like the typical master, slave, cable select setting).
Anyway, the exposed IDE pins allow the HDD to be mounted in an external case and connected to another laptop or computer via USB cable. Generally these sell for under $20.
Hopefully this info will help someone else trying to access their data but afraid to start prying this plastic part off the HDD. Of course the bottom line is carefully and without too much force…
HDD data access resolved (ahhh…)
Now just to figure out if the laptop can be revived.
October 1st, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Thanks for the well-prepared 20 step instruction set to corect a broken connection on the DC input jack - the problem plaguing many Toshiba MX series owners. Neither of us had ever taken apart a laptop, however in 3 hours, we had repaired (re-soldered) the cracked pin connection to the system board and verified that it worked like new. This unit was a Toshiba Satellite M35X S311. We could now probably repeat the fix in half the time. I recommend this procedure to anyone who has basic tools, good vision and patience. The documented steps with well-marked images was the key to our success.
October 18th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Toshiba M35x-311
Im having a problem no one else seems to be having. My compuiter worked fine untill I shut it off. When I tried to turn it back on in normal mode it freezes within the first minute. It boots up ok in safe mode. I formatted the HD and had the same problem. Used the recovery CD and the problem still hasnt gone away. How do I troubble shoot all the hardware on this thing? Could I find out whats causing the problem in the event log? Are there any known hardware failures? Ive been without a comp for 2 weeks in college so its crippling me. Please help! E-mail me or post with any solutions, thanks! koige@stthomas.edu
October 18th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Kayode,
You can get free repair from Toshiba, this model is covered under extended warranty. Hurry, it ends soon.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I’m having problems with my keyboard.
Sometimes, certain keys will not function. It’s always the same keys.<