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.
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 8:31 pm
Burke,
It doesn’t feet because you need DDR memory, not DDR2. Use a PC2700 memory module (333MHz) and they will fit.
August 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 9:11 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
July 27th, 2007 at 3:35 am
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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?
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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!