Opening a Toshiba Satellite P205 laptop and removing the motherboard
These instructions explain how to open a Toshiba Satellite P205 laptop case and remove the motherboard.
Removing the speaker cover could be tricky. In order to separate the speaker cover from the top cover you’ll have to use a guitar pick (or something similar).
ATTENTION: The same heatsink covers two chips – the northbridge and the processor. You cannot use regular thermal grease for the northbridge, you have to use special thermal grease. Here’s the part number for this grease: K000051370
For the processor you can use the following grease: X-23-7762-01
August 12th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
artmcbeth,
How it doesn’t work? The key will not pop up after you push on it or it moves properly but will not type anything?
If the key is sticky, you can try removing the key cap and cleaning underneath with alcohol. If the key doesn’t type anything, most likely you’ll have to replace the keyboard.
August 12th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I have one key that does not work. (Spilled coffee).
Any suggestions on cleaning. I looked at the disassebly but I don’t know how far to go for cleaning the keyboard.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Dear laptopka
Thanks your site is AWESOME.
I wish you had instructions for just REMOVING THE KEYBOARD, I ended up taking off alot more then I needed to + I dropped a screw inside, that required taking apart the computer even more.
I was hoping you might know of a good way to replace the enter key? I want to remove a key without harming it and then put it on another keyboard.
Thanks for your time
Yours truly
Brian
June 18th, 2009 at 3:00 am
there are so many screws, i’ve managed to put it all back together and i still have like 20 extra… are they important? i mean, as long as my motherboard doesnt wobble, its fine right? :p is there some kind of screw guide to help?
June 9th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I got the fan for the P205 from National Parts Depot @ 800-524-8338. Talk to Maria @ ext. 2321 and she will fix you up!
DavE
May 6th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Drummond,
In order to replace the fan you’ll have to remove the motherboard as it explained in the guide I linked to.
Check out this part number: K000048100
This is the CPU fan for Satellite P200, P205, P205D, X205. Should be fine for you, but just in case contact the seller and make sure it fits your model.
May 5th, 2009 at 3:11 am
The fan on my P205 is just about dead. Does anyone know a part number for it or the difficulty involved in trying to replace it?
March 28th, 2009 at 11:24 am
From what I remember to remove the top silver cover DO NOT JUST USE FORCE you will only maybe break it. I found out I forgot to take out a screw, don’t remember if it was my mistake or misread the guide. So before you if you’re trying to rip off the top cover and it will simply not give, you’re probably missing a screw (most likely by the top LCD side). This was a big hoop I encountered because then I got frustrated and tried to rip it off out of frustration but don’t make the same mistake, check the screws, they should come out.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Very Confused,
Did you go through all four pages of the disassembly guide?
March 27th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I experienced the same problem of Veryconfused.
There must be some screws inaccessible or invisible.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:21 am
This tutorial seems to be skipping a step. After removing all the screws and wires, the top cover assembly cannot be removed because something is causing it to be bolted down near the top. I think it’s caused by a couple screws and if they are then they are completely inaccessible or otherwise not visible on the surface.
March 20th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
to remove the lcd screen you have to use a lot of power to remove the bezel first
March 20th, 2009 at 5:55 am
I have a P205-S6327 and wondering if the same applies to it as the discussions on replacing the cpu’s in other P205′s are the same. I have a Core 2Duo T5300 processor and want to upgrade to a T8300 if possible
January 28th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
ive been trying to find ways to personaly upgrade my laptop and its seems you have given me most of my answers i was wondering about a few more
are there any tricks to possibly installing a new cpu in my 205?
and how do i know which cpu fits my 205 without opening it up first?
January 4th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
hello,
i love your guide on the p205…
i have a p205-s7476, and i have two questions… what IS that big empty area under the modem cover really there for?? there’s those silver pins you can see non-soldered in your pictures… hard drive, or some kind of pcie-x video card?
2. i REALLY need to get a better video card in this thing… what are my options? something has to be able to be added/replaced… the same model has been sold with intel/amd/ati … i have the intel integrated…
PLEASE help
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I have a Toshiba P205-S7436 running a 1.7GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 processor. Can I replace it with the Turion TL-68- a 2.4GHz processor? Or will the heat be excessive? OR is there a better choice? Great web site!
November 21st, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Hi, i was wondering if you could tell me where the battery for the Toshiba Satellite P200 is exactly on the motherboard and how it looks like. Thanks.
September 24th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Well, it depends on what laptop you have, how old it is, and how much you’re attached to it. I bought my 17″ laptop 6 months ago. So it’s not even a year old. So I decided to invest $200 for a new processor since it’s still got some years left of life.
Mine came with 3GB of RAM and a 17″ LCD. So I decided it was a great long-term investment. To me, $350 seems like a lot of dough to spend on a Dual-Core processor. I’ve seen desktop Quad-Core processors cheaper than that.
But like I always say, if you’ve got the money.. go for it.
So I mean think about how much life your laptop’s got left, and if the only thing it’s missing is a good processor.. then swap the processor. But if it’s lacking in more areas than you’d like.. go for a whole new computer.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Thanks a lot. I have talked to a couple of people and decided to put that 250$ for T8300 or T9500 and save it towards a better laptop for my needs. I am considering the Gateway P7811FX. Unless it goes down in price below 150$.
What do you think, what is a cost effective upgrade for a laptop: a new CPU for around 300-350$ or just to get a new laptop??? Thanks again.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Since the T5250/T5450 has a Socket P, yes you can upgrade to any T5xx0, T7xx0, T8x00, T9x00. This includes the T7700, T8300, and others.
Go to NewEgg.com and search mobile Socket P processors.
So yes you can upgrade a T5250 to a T7700 or T8300 and others on a Toshiba P205.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Hello, I was also wondering about the CPU upgrade. I have P205-S7402 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5250 1.5GHz, 2MB L2, 667MHz FSB Mobile Intel® GM965 Express Chipset. I have not seen a definetive reply that a T7700 or T8300 can replace a T5250 and would fit into P205-S7402 model. Thanks a lot guys.
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Regarding the T7700 upgrades.. you should be able to get any Socket P CPU with a Front-Side Bus speed that doesn’t exceed your motherboard.
I was going to go with a T7700, but decided to go with a T8300, it was less expensive than a T7700, and I’ve read 45nm’s run cooler. The only numeric difference is that the 7700 has 1MB more in Cache, but it performs great. I haven’t tried out a 7700, but I don’t really think it’s worth the extra dough since the 8300 is a newer 45nm chip. If I was going to spend money on a 7700, might as well get a 9300. If you get a 45nm chip, make sure your BIOS supports it usually by making sure the BIOS version is up to date. Mine went in, no problem. But 7700 and 8300 is where I had some decision-making to do.
Some Socket P Processors.
T5450 1.66GHz/2MB Cache/667MHz FSB/65nm $ 50
T7700 2.40GHz/4MB Cache/800MHz FSB/65nm $325
T8300 2.40GHz/3MB Cache/800MHz FSB/45nm $250
T9300 2.50GHz/6MB Cache/800MHz FSB/45nm $335
You can of course find them cheaper if you look in the right places.
Hope I helped you guys figure out some CPU questions.
September 21st, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I’ve seen keyboards for the P205′s on eBay.
Anyways, I just want to thank you for this 30-step guide. Thanks to you I was able to successfully upgrade my Intel T5450 processor to a T8300. Though I did mess up some of the trim trying to pry the cover open.. Turns out I missed 1 or 2 screws on the bottom cover, after that it just lifted up. Thanks again!
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
hi all:
i need to replace the plastic thingy that holds the numbers of the numeric keypad on my satellite p205d-s8804. i also want to replace the number keys as they are starting to wear off. does anyone know where i can buy the items mentioned above?
i appreciate the help.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I have the same question as someone else earlier. I am wanting to replace my cpu with a 2.4 ghz t7700. Is this possible? Thanks
August 9th, 2008 at 12:41 am
hi i have a satellite P200 and the screen is now playing up it goes all colours intermixed and blury if you get the screen in the right place it works fine it seems as if it is a bad connection any idears cheers paqul
June 21st, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Gustavo Caballero,
Removing or disconnection the BIOS battery will not clear the password, don’t even try. Take your laptop to a repair service center and they will clear the BIOS password for you. I believe Toshiba will clear the BIOS password even if the laptop is not under warranty anymore because some older BIOS versions had a glitch when laptop sets the BIOS password on its own.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Hi from Mexico, could you pls tell me, Where is the Bios Battery?
I need to reset the passwod of it becase I dont Know this password, is it necesary jus to desconect the battery to reset the Cmos Password? Other question I have is Do I need to open all to get it?
Thanks a lot.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
i have a p205-s6347 i need to replace my fan it stopped working do i need to buy the same exact fan for it or an i use a spare one i got the seems like it should fit. the connectors are different but i figured i could replace the connector from the old one as well wat do u think?
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
I have a p205-7476 I got about a month ago on ebay, it’s been a champ. But being a typical techie, now I am looking at the greener grass, i.e., stuff other machiens had that i wished it did, just to have the biggest, baddest laptop. That won’t happen with this, as I just saw the 20 inch HP laptop LOL. But wondering, follwed your disassembly of the p205 here, as I was going to start out with that though 200 gigs is plenty big and I only half filled it, I am itching to get one of the 320′s, seems WD makes a scorpio that looks to be a match, and toshiba has made it hard to find, but has the only other match. Also seems that getting a CMS data transfer package is REALLY smart. Wondering a few things, the big empty area on the bottom under the 2 screw cover, where the hard drive is to the next one screw cover to the left, it sure looks like a second hard drive woudl fit there, and the sata pin guides for the main drive are visible in there; what DOES go in this spot, can a p205 support a second sata drive or ONLY swap the main drive? (Another reason to swap the factory drive OEM 4200 rpm and sata 1.5 versus the 320′s are sata 3.0 and 5400 rpm, so faster transfer rate, and a faster spindle besides gaining 40% more space). Finally, assuming the memory slots on this are a totoal of 2 (didn’t look) and assuming OEM is 2 1 gig chips, can they be mix and match, i.e. replace one iGB with a 2gb for a total of three assuming same type/speed ram (so like a total of 3 gb) or does it have exact matchign pairs? This seems to be a really nice laptop (nicest I have ever owned, though I only used it for work; it would seem a good desktop replacement machine too for those leaning that way). Sorry this is so long, one BIG rub I have with Toshiba after for years owning HP and Dell laptops and towers and hearing what POS’s Toshiba’s were, I chanced it, so far, nice machine, but the factory support, pdf’s, tech manual type stuff, etc is a MAJOR joke, i.e. HP and Dell will give you info overload, yet Toshiba’s site is pathetic, it more just is pushing accessories. MAJOR disappointment – guys like you shouldnt have to lovingly make things like this – this fact alone no matter HOW good this laptop turns out to be – like buying a great car but bad dealer service – I won’t EVER buy another Toshiba long as their info online for high tech guys like us that like to tinker, the info is not there in any way, shape or form.