Today we are going to remove and replace broken display hinges on Toshiba Satellite A20 or A25 laptop. Replacing broken laptop hinges is a very time consuming repair because you have to take apart the laptop base and the laptop display. This guide has a lot of disassembly steps, so make sure to memorize the disassembly process. For all removed screws I usually use plastic caps. I mark these caps by layers: bottom, keyboard, under keyboard, system board, LCD mask, screen, etc. You can use your own names. It also would be very useful to make some notes so you can use it when assembling the laptop after the repair.
Here are the left and right hinge part numbers for Toshiba Satellite A20 and A25 laptops:
Brake hinge, right: P000378510
Brake hinge, left: P000368300
You can search for these parts on ebay on via google. Be prepared, hinges are very expensive.
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:43 am
The guide was great…
I would have landed myself into a lot of trouble had I not used this guide…
Thanks a ton.
June 13th, 2006 at 7:52 am
What are the alternative screens I can use?
I called a company that sells lcd screens and they said that I can use a Sharp LQ150X1LBH3 instead of the original Samsung LTN150X6-L01. Would the hinges match with Sharp?
thanks
June 13th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Jay,
Give me the model name and model number for your laptop (example: Satellite A20-S259 PSA20U-09Z437) so I can find a correct screen.
June 29th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
I have a problem in my RTC Battery “i receive a message in everytime i reboot the system” (CMOS inconsistant).
I charged the battery a lot.
I think it needs change, and if u please send the photos that shows the location of the RTC Battery in the Toshiba Satellite Laptop A20-S103.
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Rabih,
You can see the RTC battery on the step 19. It’s a green disk on the right side from the touchpad, close to the flat cable.
July 13th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
Thanks for putting this guide together!
A co-worker recently dumped a cup of coffee on his Toshiba A20, frying the keyboard. I hadn’t a clue how to remove the old keyboard to install a replacement — really appreciate the help!
July 19th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Thanks a lot this guide is very helpful
August 27th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
I had a noisy fan so I opened up the notebook (A25-S279), used your procedure for A20/A25 replacing broken hinges, and went as far as Step 10, skipped Step 11, did Step 12, skipped Steps 13, 14 and 15 then did Steps 16, 17 and 18. Couldn’t find anything wrong with the fan — this is the secondary fan, not the one that sits next to the CPU heat sink (what is this secondary fan for?). Put everything back, fan has quietened down, but the screen is not working. If I connect an external monitor I can see the display. What are the possible problems that could have occurred? Which disassembly steps do I need to go through agaian to find if there is something loose? Thanks for all the wonderful step by step advice and pictures.
August 27th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Peter,
I think that the video cable might be loose and not plugged properly into the system board. You’ll have to remove the keyboard (steps 7,8,9) to access it, it’s not necessary to disconnect the keyboard, just flip it over. Do not forget to unplug the battery and the adapter before you jump in. The video cable is shown on the step 15. Check both connections on the top, they marked with arrows. I think that you accidentally pulled them from the motherboard during disassembly.
Before you disassemble the laptop, turn it on with an external monitor and check if you can get it on the internal display by pressing Fn+F5. May be it’s just stuck in the external mode. Not likely, but worth trying.
August 27th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Thank you so very much for your prompt and accurate reply. The green connector had come out and fixing it was a snap (literally)! Everything is back to normal. Once again, thanks very much!
October 18th, 2006 at 7:44 am
Great tutorial! Repaired my hinges in less than 2 hours. It took awhile to clean up everything while it was apart. One thing I noticed that may help others is that the screw lengths for each hole is beside the hole F4(Short), F6 (Medium), and S8(long).
October 18th, 2006 at 7:51 am
You are right Michael, all screws are different. F4 it’s a screw with a flat head 4 millimeters long, F6 – 6mm long and S8 – 8mm long (I don’t know what S means).
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:18 pm
I am having a toshiba A25-s207 model. The left hinge is broken ,I have been using the laptop from past 4 months without fixing the hinges. Yesterday my display started flickering very much and if stared more than 30 sec, would even hurt the eyes. Since today morning the display has gone very very dim and it is hard to say even the laptop is turned on.
I followed steps 7, 8, 9 and step 15 to make sure display cable is not disconnected. I am not sure what the problem is now.
Please help.
November 3rd, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Following comment # 13,
Do I have to replace my lcd screen? I checked the video cable connection on the back of LCD screen (Step 25) and everything looks ok. The display is very very very dim. If I have to replace the display, where can i find it ?
Thank you very much for the great step-by-step instructions. Its an amazing work !!!!
November 7th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Jason,
When you use a laptop with broken hinges, the display could be very loose and the cables can get damaged. Take a closer look at the video cable and the LCD wires and examine them for any visible damage.
It’s also possible that the connectors on the inverter board got loose. Reseat the inverter board connectors on both sides of the inverter board.
In most cases it indicates a FL inverter board failure. If the cables are not damaged and reseating them doesn’t help, I would probably replace the inverter board. It shouldn’t be very expensive, much cheaper then replacing the LCD screen.
November 12th, 2006 at 2:09 am
hi,
i have a toshiba satellite A20 S103 and i’m in trouble with the hinges.. i disassembled the pc with the guide, even if when i put it back together i had 2 F6 and an F4 left over everything seems to be ok…
The hinge seems to be broken, as the monitor is pretty loose and that “half a tube” of metal is loose in the hinge under the speaker (does that mean it’s broken?)
i didn’t look at the one on the right but it’s probably broken too…
what can i do other than spend 140$ on 2 stupid hinges ??
thankyou very much
PS oh, another thing, the cd burner won’t burn cd’s properly anymore…any suggestions other than replacement ?
thankyou again,
Carlo
November 16th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Carlo,
To find out if the hinges are broken it’s necessary to open up the laptop. Usually you can see a broken hinge right away because the top side (connected to the display) of the hinge separates from the bottom part (connected to the laptop base). Hinges for this model are very expensive and if you don’t want to pay $140 just for hinges save money for a new laptop.
Make sure it’s not just a software related problem. If it’s necessary, reimage the drive using a recovery DVD (backup all personal files before you run the restore). If the drive still doesn’t work after you reload the software, then most likely you have a bad drive.
November 17th, 2006 at 2:55 am
i’m not sure if it’s actually broken
the hinge doesn’t really come apart, but the
hinge normally looks something like this from the side…
screen
|
_|
laptop_______(O)
and mine looks like this now
screen
|
|
laptop_______(O)
(without the top part of tube…which is broken off…)…is it normal for that part to come off ?
(in the last picture of the guide it’s off….
thx very much for the reponse
bye,
Carlo
November 17th, 2006 at 2:57 am
(hmmm….the drawing didn’t work properly above…
drawing 1:
screen
|
|
|_
(O)_________laptop
my hinges…:
screen
|
|
|
(O)_________laptop
November 28th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
Anyone know how to get at the hinges on a Satellite 2400? If anyone has info about the last post please contact me……..Thanx
December 3rd, 2006 at 10:35 am
Great guide!
I had to fix a broken hinge in my laptop this summer and just winged it. I ended up with a couple of extra screws at the end but everything works.
Now the other hinge is broken (the side with the video cable). My question is a simple one - is left relative to the laptop our the user? I can’t find a part source that actually has a picture with the model number and I want to make sure I order the right part.
Thanks,
Mac
December 6th, 2006 at 5:43 am
I bought a battered old version of my laptop from ebay for pennies and took out the working hinges, bargain! If I follow the instructions and disassemble and reassemble my own laptop will it still function as normal? i.e. Will removing the guts of the computer and putting it all back together effect it when I go to turn it back on? Or will it not know that anythings happened and function as normal?
December 23rd, 2006 at 11:17 am
The hinges are labeled left and right as seen with the display open and you sitting in front of it, ie: the left hinge is on the Esc key side and the right one is on the Home key side of your laptop.
February 7th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Hey I have a 5205-s705 (compatible with a few others.
WHERE can I buy hinges for this notebook? Ebay is useless for my model..???
Anyone?
kevflynn@alltel.net
March 21st, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Toshiba Satellite A25-S3072. I had a very dark monitor that would improve every once in a while by flexing the cover open as far as it would go. I used your instructions to check physical cable connections on motherboard, back of LCD panel, check for broken wires etc. Nothing obvious. Then the fun began…powerin up is shot.
When I put it all back together and plug it in and look at the little lighted display panel at the front where the various status lights are: the plug symbol is lit, the power symbol comes on/off when you press power button, the battery symbol comes on, the main fain turns on from time to time, the heat sink gets warm, the Link light on the network jack responds, but nothing else happens–no hard disk symbol light, the CD drive won’t open/light doesn’t blink, etc. The FN key lights up on the keyboard but nothing else responds.
What have I done!? Is there a grounding wire I accidentally unplugged or a way to tell if I have fragged my motherboard without paying someone to test it (we are a non-profit, so budget is an issue). I’ve tried taking it apart and reassembling just to see if I missed a screw or something, but same response.
April 25th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I own a A25 S279 laptop and need to replace the power jack. I had disassembled the laptop and unsure if the power jack needs to be soldered or is fixed in this model. Would like to clarify if I can pull this apart if I were to replace the power jack for this model. Your timely help is very much appreciated.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Hi,
I have a toshiba s2450-101 and the hinges are loose so the display can’t stay erected. I tried looking for hinges on the internet but they are no where to be found for this model. Does anyone know where I can find hinges to this specific model? alternatively, are there any other hinges from other models that would fit on my laptop?
Thank you,
May 7th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Has anyone replaced the FL Inverter Board and still have a problem with a dim (dark) screen. I have a Satellite A20-S207 which is almost 3 yrs old. My screen was flickering for a day & then went dark. I researched & purchased a new FL Inverter Board. I just replaced it but did not solve my problem. My connections are all tight. Could it be a light within the LCD screen? If so, how do I get to it?
Thanks for helping!
May 7th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Jason,
Regarding comments 13 and 14:
what is status of your A20-S207?
were you able to correct your dim screen?
I am having same problem with my 3 yr old
Model A20.
See my comment # 28 above.
thanks!
June 2nd, 2007 at 6:40 am
Where are the memory modules in this model, I have a very corrupted memory and I want to exchange it, but I can’t find where the memory is located :S
Thanks.
June 2nd, 2007 at 6:49 am
Ups, I didn’t saw the other pages… now I know where they are, thanks anyway and GREAT job.
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:42 am
Hi, I have a Toshiba S2450-S203 and unfortunately the LCD display got broken. The original one is a LG-PHILIPS LP150X06 (A2) and I’ve found that SAMSUNG LTN 150X06-L01 and SHARP LQ150X1BH3 are 100% compatible.
Can you help me? Are they really a perfect replacement for the original one?
Thank you for your help,
Renzo
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:59 am
Renzo,
It looks like your Satellite S2450-S203 is a European model and I don’t have a part list for this unit.
Here’s what I found for a similar USA model - Satellite 2455-S305.
You can install the following screen into the Satellite 2455 (and I believe Satellite 2450 too):
LG Philips LP150X06(A2) - like yours.
Samsung LTN150X6-L01
Sharp LQ150X1LHC3,
Sharp LQ150X1LHC3 A,
Sharp LQ150X1LHC3 B
June 3rd, 2007 at 10:37 am
Helpful info to pass along.
My satellite laptop hinge (right side) broke. CDROM started acting strange a few weeks later (jumpy startup and play, difficult to burn, shut down during playback, turn off during movies, etc. Thought my disc was going bad or my drivers were messed up.
That wasn’t the problem.
Turns out, when the hinge broke, it released a tiny screw into the CDROM housing area. Right-side hinge sits directly above it. Go figure. Removed it. I don’t know about any long term damage, but disc works fine now. Next step will be to fix that busted hinge!
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:03 am
Thank you so much for your help. I’ve checked and the 2455 il looking like
my 2450 so I will be looking for one of the listed LCD display.
Thank you again,
Renzo
June 4th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Hello.
I have a Toshiba A20-S207. I forgot my bios password and I can´t use it anymore. Could you help me, please?
How can I unblock it?
Thanks
June 4th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Alex,
Here’s some help for you. How to remove BIOS password from Toshiba laptops
June 7th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
I have a question I have a Toshiba Satellite A25-S207
the screen hinges are very loose “the screen flops down once you get to a certain point. Do the hinges need to be replaced or can I adjust them?
June 17th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I have a question I have a Toshiba Satellite A25-S207
the screen hinges are very loose “the screen flops down once you get to a certain point. Do the hinges need to be replaced or can I adjust them?
July 14th, 2007 at 3:25 am
HEY!
thanks so much for this guide, it was exactly what I needed.
A few weeks ago, the left hinge has totaly broken apart when I opened the screen. From this point on, the screen could only be used in the upright position (balanced), or, all the way to the back, in the rotation limiters.
clearly, this sucked. Especially since it was in a 3 week during testweek of my University.
Then I found this site, scrolled through the replacement guide and simply became wild of enthousiasm. I orderd the hinges, and weird enough, recieved these right after my last test.
The next day, I opened up the A20, and folowed al the steps. After 3 hours of RELAXATION and having a laptop spreaded across the floor, the job was done!
Once again, thanks for this guide, since it was very clear, step by step, and made me very relaxed during the process!
July 28th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Hi!
Thank you so much for these instructions!
I have a problem with the saound card of an italian satellite s2450-s203 which “looks like” the a20.
I want to ask you:
can I replace the sound card by few simple operations? Or the card is welded to the motherboard?
thanks and sorry for my english, I hope you will understand me!!
July 31st, 2007 at 8:24 am
I have a new couple of Toshiba Satellite hinges (P000368310, P000368300). If you are interested in buying them contact me at mattia.pascal at gmail.com
September 27th, 2007 at 5:26 am
This is a wonderful guide, step by step, and not a single error or ambiguity that was not explained in the additional “things to know before you start” section. I would recommend looking there for the keyboard cable removal instructions.
I was done in 2.5 hours, going nice and slow. I’d recommend getting some small bags and numbering them so that you can put screws in for each of the numbered steps you come across.
Thanks again. I would not have even attempted this without this guide.
For any fellow Canadians, I found the hinges here:
http://www.notebooksolutions.ca
Under laptop parts, lcd hinges and brackets.
October 4th, 2007 at 5:56 am
This looks like an excellent guide. Thanks.
My laptop’s screen flops down once I get to a certain point. I think the screws may be loose.
Do we have to follow all these steps to tighten the screws on screen hinges? Or can we follow some selected steps from the guide?
October 20th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I have a Toshiba A25 S207. The display is floppy, but I don’t know if it is the hinge that is broken or not. It looks like a metal piece that holds the hinge in place under the speaker broke off. How can I tell what is really broken? It is the hinge on the HOME key side.
Thanks a lot!
October 21st, 2007 at 12:20 pm
same thing that happened to me but on the Esc key side…
October 24th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Donna,
You’ll have to remove the screen bezel as it shown on the steps 21 and 22 and take a closer look at the hinges.
October 29th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Might right hinge just broke on my A25-S2792 satellite laptop and noticed that there were some screws missing from the bottom. I don’t know the part numbers to the screws and was wondering if you could help. I am missing an F3, B2, F6 and one of the screws on the corner and a screw where the battery is.
October 30th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
This guide was fantastic - Would not have been able to replace my hinges without it.
Thankyou very much.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:16 am
I did the steps but I remained as soon as I found the processor that I must do later to be able to find the modules of memory
November 28th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
I’ve got an older Toshiba Satellite A-20 and I use it for pretty much nothing today, I’ve even taken every file off of it… However, I it seem like such a waste to throw it in the trash when the only thing wrong with it is that it randomly shuts off instantly… wether it is connected to the AC or running off the battery… it will be working fine and then pop off it goes, no blue screen, just completely off and silent as if it were never turned on.
I know it isn’t a software problem as that is what I do for a living… but hardware is beyond my scope. Could it be a bad power supply? If so can I buy one and replace it?
Has anyone experienced this problem, if so, what did yu to do to fix it, apart from throwing it in the trash.
any help is much appreciated
November 29th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Kevin,
I don’t know much about laptops but the only time that my laptop has ever done that to me has been when it got too hot. If I sat my laptop on my lap and had it on for a while it would just shut off because it couldn’t cool down because it was sitting on my pants.
December 20th, 2007 at 10:58 am
hi!! this was great when i replaced the hinges but now my back light is done…should i replace that myself with you help? lol or should i just get a hole lcd screen together? and if i was to get the lcd screen do i need a new inverter? thanks so much
December 20th, 2007 at 11:00 am
i have an A-20 now and it used to shut off when it got really hot..if that is the case just get a can of air and spray it at the back in the fan and also in the one at the bottom..hope it works..
December 24th, 2007 at 8:57 am
I have a a20-s259 with a bad RTC battery. Do I have to go through all 19 steps to replace it?. If there is a short cut, please help. Thanks
January 13th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Hey thanks alot… used this A20 guide to replace the broken hinges on my Toshiba 2450. Everything was identical except for a few tiny details. Wouldn’t have even attempted it without this guide!
Thanks
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Hi, I only discovered your wonderul guide after paying $180 for hinge replacement on my Toshiba A20-S103…
When I brought it back I started having a feeling that before the repair the built in speakers played a bit more bass - they now seem to exaggerate the high frequencies and are quite devoid of any low ones. Am I just being suspicious or could the service people have affected the sound quality? Also, now the lid/screen is quite stiff… Could they have over-tightened the hinges? Is the looseness adjustable at all when replacing the hinges?
Thanks in advance for your patience with my silly questions…
Thanks a lot!
February 7th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Hi,
I have a satellite P100 with a bad RTC battery.
Can anbody tell me where it is?
Thanks in advance.
Chris
February 7th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Chris,
Take a look at the Toshiba Satellite P105 disassembly guide. You’ll see the RTC (CMOS) battery on the step 16, it’s attached to the motherboard by the PC card connector.
February 8th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Hi,
This is a very useful tutorial, congratulations!
I was wodering if you knew how to access the mini pci slot on the A20 ?
Steve
February 27th, 2008 at 1:07 am
This information is just great. My kids have broken the display of my A20-s103 and I could manage to replace it by myself. Thanks a lot. I bought a no name 15″ LCD display. I had to transfer the side brackets and the LF inverter connector from the defective one. At first attempt probably I connected the pins in wrong position (there is two pins)and the bottom of the display and LF inverter became too hot. Display started to blink. Then I changed the pin positions and everything works well now. The other point was, the data cable did not reach the connector behind the display, I have removed the cable bracket for the data cable in order to extend it a litle bit, and not installed the cable bracket anymore. Now the computer works fine.
Thanks a lot for detailed and illustrated instructions.
Oguzhan
March 5th, 2008 at 7:30 am
This tutorial can be helpful also for Toshiba Satellite 2450-101 - it’s the same body construction like A20
March 6th, 2008 at 8:30 am
hi i was wondering if anyone knows how to replace the backlight for the toshiba a20????
March 6th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Alex,
Check out this article.
How to replace laptop backlight lamp (CCFL)
It’s not for a specific laptop model but may help you.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:28 am
alex again…hey guys i took apart my laptop to replace the backlight…i got it in but the balb does not come on…any ideas ???
April 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Hey guys,
I have a Toshiba A15 S157 laptop. One day the screen started flickering the same way like I put a speaker or cell phone next to it, but there was actually nothing next to the laptop… after that shortly, the screen went very very dark. I can barely see anything how dark it is… If I hook it up to the external monitor, it works, so it’s not the video card… I was thinking if my screen went bed or maybe something else? If the screen is bad, then is there a list of all compatible brand and generic screens that I could maybe buy from ebay and save myself some money? (if that’s a screen problem at all…)
Thanks,
Robert
April 29th, 2008 at 6:50 am
hey rob…i have a toshiba a-20..and the same thing happened to me..i ordered a backlight and hoked it up but it did not come on. most of the time when your screen is out like that its the backlight. which is the balb in the lcd….i donno if i have a bad lcd or a bad new balb….so its prob one of them and if you find out let me know. thanks
April 29th, 2008 at 8:55 am
hey Alex… I read online that may be the inverter board for the screen… so, now I don’t know which one to order… the lcd, the bulb or the inverter board…
April 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
hi…ya i have already bought an inverter for mine before i got the backlight and it did nothing…i heard when you can see a faint image on your desktop its the backlight.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
for #66 you should check all screen connections, may be lose or if screen is bad just chuck it its cheaper to get a new laptop.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I have a A20-S207 and for the last year the screen has been tempermental. The right half flickers everyonce in a while. If you play with the position of the screen in stops flickering, but you can tell that there is a dead pixel line. It is like the sides overlap very slightly. I have checked everything and nothing seems loose. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I have a
tecra a2-s336
the lcd seems to be responding with the fl tube, dims and brightens ok, but the lcd fades to the white light every time you let go of it…meaning you have to hold it tight at the left corner of lcd panel and then it works briefly…..
you think the lcd panel sounds dead
also are there any known replacement screens for this lg.phillips 150×06
love how the toggle for open/close is a magnet..it cant break….
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:43 am
Hi there,
I was diassembling my Toshiba A-20 laptop to replace a broken hinge. I noticed there was a tiny plastic coating surrounding the left hinge, which was broken. I believe I can also see the plastic part in the middle of this picture.
I believe this is useful for the lid close switch. Do you have any idea ?
July 16th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Nevermind. Figured it out.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:54 am
can you tell me if all toshiba satellite laptops have a mini PCI slot? not an express one.