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.
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 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 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
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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 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 2nd, 2007 at 12:30 am
I want just thank you! Instructions were immensely helpful.
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
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 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 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 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.
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
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 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
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
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 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 15th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Emad,
Make sure that all cables are properly connected. Reseat all cables.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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.