Taking apart Toshiba Satellite A60 or A65 laptop
Toshiba Satellite A60 and A65 used to be a very popular laptop a few years ago, many people still have these laptop. This guide will show you how to take apart these laptops.
I’ve seen many Satellites A60/A65 but it looks like all of them have very similar problems:
1. Laptop tends to overheat. In this case you can remove the keyboard and clean up the fan and heat sink with compressed air.
2. Onboard memory failure. Sorry guys, if that’s the case then you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
3. Power jack failure. This problem is fixable but you’ll have to take the whole thing apart and replace or resolder the power jack.
You can find more information about these common failures here.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Hello, this is a great site! I have a problem that is stumping me. I thought I had an overheating problem with my Toshiba A65 S 1063. It would run for aprox 10 to 15 mins before the hard drive would stop seeking. shortly afterwards the computer would become unresponsive and I’d get the BSOD error and it would reboot. I tried blowing it out and got minuscule amounts of lint but it still did it. what I ended up doing was getting a new hard drive which solved both the rebooting and the supposed heating problem. Now the thing will run for hours without missing a lick, and the fan seems to cycle up and down properly as I increase and decrease work load. the problem is when I shut down and reboot it restarts multiple times, sometimes showing a BSOD error and dump, or the screen that says “sorry, windows has encountered an error” and gives me a choice of restart procedures. Even just logging off the network will produce a “windows has recovered from an error, send or don’t send” dialogue box when I log back on. It states that ATI Radeon Mobility 7000 IGP is the cause, but everything else works fine. I’m inclined to think either the settings are wrong, or windows is loosing track of the chip somehow rather than the chip itself being bad as once it boots it performs flawlessly for hours until I shut it down again. This was a clean install of XP pro from a Toshiba factory technician’s restore disc specific to the A65 on a new hard drive. The clock never looses it’s setting so it isn’t the CMOS battery. I have installed SP3 to see if that helps and nada. I have downloaded the proper Omega drivers for the ATI chip, as the latest ATI drivers no longer support the Radeon Mobility 7000 IGP, but I would like to get a second opinion before doing anymore to it. Got any ideas? Thank you.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:27 am
I’m having a few problems getting my keyboard off it doesn’t seem to keen on the idea…any ideas?
January 18th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Hi all
What a great website. I have an equium a60 laptop and while reflashing the bios the computer shut down. now i have a very nice paperweight. After asking toshiba for there help they advised that all i could do is to replace the motherboard because they wont supply just a bios chip. Can anyone advise where i could get a bios chip from or is there a jumper setting i can try to see if the bios has a protected area so that this will alow me to load the protected area and then reflash the bios back to standered. Thanks for any help or advice..
peter.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Hi all
Just got this annoying Gericom laptop to work, finally. It had the infamous bad onboard RAM fault where one of the chips fails, causing instability. This can be heat related, in fact one or all of the chips can overheat noticeably in this failure mode.
Unfortunately, most if not all laptops do not allow you to disable onboard RAM, requiring an expensive motherboard replacement or SMD rework.
A simple fix however is to download the datasheet for the RAM chips, in this case Winbond W942516AH-75, and locate the CS or /CS line on pin 24. Connect this to Vdd via a resistor or wire link and all the onboard RAM should be disabled.
If this works but there are still odd memory faults but less frequently, try a lower speed module. If this works fine then remove all four bad chips, as they may be interfering with the data lines even with CS disabled and all should be well.
On this one, I found that 256MB PC2700 would fail but 128MB would work fine, am going to try the chip removal technique to see if this has any effect.
So far so good, although the laptop will now only work with a stick fitted.
Hope this helps some Toshiba/Gericom/Compaq/etc owners.
Regards, -A
January 4th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Hello and congrats for this great website.
I just received a pair of hinges to replace mine from Ebay but they don’t rotate, anyone have any idea why, I am missing something?
Cheers
L
December 29th, 2007 at 7:40 am
I broke my laptop a few months ago and i found this perfect website too late. I need to change my motherboard in Satelite A60-302, PSA60E-00J036G3, but i cant find part nummber for it. Could you anybody to help me how to get a part nummber?
December 18th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I followed the instructions that were given exactly, every step and i ended up breaking the laptop. I somehow “fried” the motherboard Just By Touching It, and now it will cost 250 dollars just to replace the motherboard, i will never listen to any idiot giving instructions on anything on the internet again. Beware, you may break something valuable and not even realize it.
Instructions: 0/100
December 4th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Just saw this – comment #93.
Apparently removing the chips does work!
December 4th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Great article! This confirms what I already suspected about these laptops. Toshiba should issue a recall on A65.
For anyone else who has dead memory, I worked out a solution using Linux. It seems like Toshiba uses the additional storage first and then jumps to the onboard chip. So I started up Ubuntu with the “mem=380M” option and got it going. Just run MemTest to see where your problem is. You might be stuck with 250M or whatever. Still have the video problems however.
Also, question for cj2600: what would happen if I just removed one of the chips and didn’t replace it? Do you think it would run?
November 20th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Hi, and thaks for all the information that you show us here.
My Satellite A60 – 682 Hard drive has become dead. I’m looking for some replacement but other 2.5” HD i have tryied don’t get recogniced by the BIOS i upgrade to 1.90 and still nothing.
Anybody knows were can i buy a HD for that computer?
Thanks a lot for the tutorial.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Hi all!
My laptop (Satellite A60) overheats, so I wanted to blow off the dust. I removed the keyboard (as written in steps 5-8), but there was no dust there! I think, it’s somewhere deeper. Maybe something else should be removed from there (the fan, …). If you succeded (practically!) in this, please tell me what to do.
Thanks in advance.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Lovely site – inspires confidence.
I was removing the DVD Rom on my A60 to replace with a DVD MultiWriter I bought on ebay. Key stage is remove the B2 screw that holds the DVD drive into its bay. Its at the back of the DVD accessible from underneath – next (east) of the RAM cover. Little LED torch extreamly useful to see things. Also see post #11
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:53 am
RE post # 17 by me. Never mind ? on getting the “hidden latches”. I turned on another light and saw that there were another 2 screws. SO I’ll be able to proceed and check out the on/off switch issue.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Perhaps a tip on getting the final latches in the front loose so the top cover comes off. I have all bottom screws out DVD and hidden screws, keyboard off however, the top is held in seemingly by the two latches in the front. I have depressed them, pushed them toward the rear. essentially tried all I seem to sense will work to no avail.
Again I am trying to access the bottom of the on off switch.
Thanks again!
Bob
November 1st, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Thanks for help. Further tip on removing the DVD. (I had preformed all the above only to have the metal guides not want to come out. I then turned the laptop bottom up and the entire unit then slipped out very easily.
I am in the midst of seeing why the power on button isn’t working. Hopefully just a loose solder joint.(I have a low volt micro solder iron) If not and is a bad switch do you have part number for the switch?
Thanks!
October 27th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I would like to add to above post. Going back a few months I was quoted approx £250 to replace power jack on my laptop. Decided it wasnt worth it but decided to have a nose on the net and found your site. With your help i have replaced the jack, and fan and laptop is working again just perfectly. Costing me approx £25 instead of £250.
Many thanks to you, and your easy to follow instructions.
October 27th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Not wishing to over use this comment area but whilst successfully cleaning the heatsink on my Equium A60 I noticed that the left hand hinge is broken. It has cracked right through along the edge which attaches to the base. Does anyone have detailed instructions on how to replace the hinges. I can obviously follow the useful guide on this site describing removal of the LCD on the Satellite A60/A65,but what is the minimum needed to remove the hinges from the base unit?
Thanks in anticipation.
Steve
October 27th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Hi,
First can I just say what an excellent site this is, I have been experiencing overheating problems with my Toshiba Equium A60 which is a very similar model to the Satellite A60.
I have totally cured the problem by cleaning the lint from the heatsink and would like to pass on the method I used. Follow steps 5 to 7 in the “TOSHIBA SATELLITE A60/A65 Taking apart laptop” guide to remove the keyboard. Having got this far it is easy to remove the fan from the heatsink assembly, two screws come out without problem the third is a little more tricky as it just catches on the keyboard support bracket. However there is just enough room to get the screw out and when replacing it you can just lever up the bracket enough to get the screw back in.
With the fan removed the finned part of the heatsink is accessible and the lint and dust can be brushed and vacuumed out.
This task is really quite straightforward and just requires a small crosshead screwdriver. Take care and good luck.
October 11th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I have an A65-S126 completely torn down in hopes of replacing both RTC batteries as I have timing problems . But can find NO batteries . I’m stumped ..
The P/N # ref’s by toshiba is P000444350
Any insights ??
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
iolau Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 11:16 am
First make sure to remove the screw marked as B2 – This holds the drive in place. Insert the pin into drive to open the load tray, and extend the tray out fully. Grasp the metal rail of the load tray (Caution- do not use the plastic tray to pull the drive out as it may damage the drive), you should be able to gently pull the DVD/CD drive out.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I follow This guide to take apart my A65, but at the STEP 4, after i opened the DVD drive i don’t know how to Carefully remove the DVD drive from my notebook to reach the hidden screws. Can someone help me, I need some detail to continue STEP 4, thank you.
August 29th, 2007 at 8:24 am
I have a A60 laptop, and have trouble with the power jack. I am now thinking, I will have a go and with your help try and replace it, but….. I took it to a shop first and they told me that it would cost too much and wouldnt be worth it, i had left the laptop with them, but seeing as that was all that was wrong with it i asked if I could come collect it and have it back.
Now that I am trying to open up the laptop, looking at your guide, removing the memory card, I have that slot on the base of laptop, but it seems empty, is it possible that it could be empty?? am I just being paranoid? Sorry If I am, but any help would be gratefully received. Thanks
Lel
August 19th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
oh, the touchpad was working after i reinstalled xp, but after i took it apart, it started not working. should i try reinstalling xp again?
August 19th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
URGENT PLEASE!
Hi, i recently took apart my Toshiba Satelite A65-S1065 to clean the mouse because of sticking (i made a big mistake because i found out that you can’t clean it) and when i put it back togeather, the touchpad and clickers right under it don’t work. Another thing is that when i checked device manager, the touchpad and mouse doesn’t come up! I am using my USB mouse atm and another thing… i broke a little tiny tiny piece of plastic with somekind of metal thing inside. i took out the unpluggable plug which has a red and black wire on it. i thought i had it fixed when my dad said he could solder it back togeather, but melted the whole thing. If you need more specific detail about the piece i broke, i will give you the information about it. it seems as if you don’t need the piece to actually run the system but maybe that’s the thing that you need to run the touchpad. ive tried reinstalling the driver and just redownloaded windows xp on my laptop.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME, I AM IN NEED AND IT IS VERY COSTY TO GET IT FIXED AT THE REPAIR STORES!
i will greatly appreciate advice,comments,and the answer…
August 13th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Spenser,
Most likely you’ll have to replace the fan, you’ll find the part number in the disassembly guide.
Actually, you can try to replace the CPU fan without taking the whole thing apart. I’ve done it a few times already.
You can see the fan if you remove the keyboard. The fan is secured to the cooling module by three silver screws. You can remove two of them very easy, but the third one is located under the plastic cover, so you’ll have to lift up the cover.
Remove screws located on the bottom under the cooling fan, so you can lift up the top cover just enough to access the third (hidden) screw.
After all three screws are removed, unplug the fan and replace it with a new one.
Be careful and proceed on your own risk.
August 13th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Metalmedic,
Toshiba Satellite A60/A65 has only one memory slot available for upgrades and you can easily access this slot from the bottom, just remove one screw and lift up the door (right in the middle). That’s it. Take a look at the step 2 in the disassembly guide, the memory module is shown in there.
August 12th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I am having incredible difficulty removing the last three or so screws from the bottom side of the computer (underneath where the battery usually is). Any tips on getting those little bastards out?
Also, I’m doing this because my fan is making this really weird noise, and sometimes it looks like it kind of pops off its little rotator and then stops spinning. I’m not sure how to fix it. Any tips?
August 12th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
How do I access and upgrade the memory on the A65? I read about taking it apart, and I also find on many memory selling sites the exact type of memory I need to upgrade. What I am not finding is how to access the memory slot to install the unit.
August 7th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Rob Uhl,
Do you get garbled image on the internal and external screens? If yes, most likely happens because of a faulty memory chip. Toshiba Satellite A60 and A65 has shared memory – part of the main memory is used for video. The main memory is permanently soldered on the motherboard and if it goes bad, you’ll have to replace the entire motherboard.
Technically it’s possible to unsolder the faulty memory chip from the motherboard and replace it with a good one, but probably you cannot do it at home. You need special tools and professional soldering skills.
August 7th, 2007 at 9:14 am
what about replacing the memory card. ATI Mobility radeon 7000 IGP, I think it has gone bad.
Thanks,
Rob