Toshiba Satellite M35X. How to fix most common laptop problems.
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.
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).
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?
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.
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 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 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 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 26th, 2006 at 8:02 am
I had the same DC jack problem about the 8th month of owning my m35x149. 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 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 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.
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
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 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 11th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Is there a class action going anywhere?
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 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 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 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 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?
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.
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?