How to take apart Toshiba Tecra laptop 9100 and remove motherboard
Here are step-by-step instructions for taking apart a Toshiba Tecra 9100 laptop and removing the motherboard.
In a Tecra 9100 laptop some key components can be accessed from the bottom. In order to remove both memory modules, hard drive, DVD drive and Bluetooth moduele follow steps 1-3.
If you are using this guide for removing and replacing the laptop keyboard, simply follow steps 4-7, do not remove anything from the bottom.
After the top cover and display assembly is removed, as it explained in steps 3-11, you can access and clean the cooling fan.
By the way, in a Tecra 9100 the motherboard consists of two different boards. The I/O board shown in the step 17 and main board shown in the step 20. If your laptop suddenly lost sound and Wi-Fi connectivity at the same time, most likely there is a problem with the I/O board.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Can I replace the fan without removing the motherboard? Is it possible?
May 12th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Ian,
Nope, you cannot replace the fan without removing the motherboard. Take a closer look at the disassembly guide. You’ll see that there is no door for the fan on the bottom of the laptop. You can clean the fan without removing the motherboard, but you cannot replace it.
May 12th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
i need help to tecra 1900, VGA card / display not responding.
Thx
May 12th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
irwan,
You didn’t provide much information about your problem but I would suggest reseating/replacing the memory module first.
May 28th, 2009 at 1:25 am
does this laptop have on board graphics or can it be upgraded. 16mb not suitable for pc games?
July 25th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
need to remove the keyboard. removed strip and 2 screws and it still feels connected at the bottom. do I need to pull tith more fore or remove any screws from the bottom?
thanks, chris
July 25th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
removing the keyboard: I removed the strip and 2 screws but the keyboard still feels as if it’s held by something along the bottom. how much force is needed to pull the keyboard after removing the strip and screws?
thanks, chris
August 5th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Chris, SHould not require any force whatsoever!!! Just make sure that you have unscrewed the retaining screw on the underside that holds the centre of the keywboard in. It is approximately in line with the Accu Point Mouse button. Also dont yank the strip from the motherboard – lever the pastic slips on either side to release it first.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:55 am
These “guides” do not show ANYTHING about how to fully disassble a laptop pc or remove the motherboard from such. All these do is show you how to open the case and remove some peripherals.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:04 am
Drew,
Are you really sure about that?
Maybe you should read the guide again before complaining?
This guide has MORE than one page.
On the first page I explain how to remove some peripherals, but if you proceed to pages 2 and 3, you’ll see how to remove the motherboard.
Maybe I’m missing something?
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Is there any jumpers on the Mobo to reset the Laptop like a desktop? If so where are they?
August 25th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
ddpianoman,
Nope, laptops are different. There are no jumpers.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Great help. . . Thanks. Love tinkering with laptops.
Have several 9100s I need to replace RTC batteries on. Opened one that also says it has no sound card using your directions and everything came out fine. Except I have a copper wire with a single connector (like the wireless card connectors) not attached to anything. So am going to replace the RTC battery and the sound card. I/O Board next. But can’t seem to find where this single wire connects to. Wire is on the front of the upper cover assembly and seems to go back to where the the speaker cables are. Was thinking maybe a mic connector but can’t find anything to connect it too. Any thoughts? — Ted
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:23 am
Found it! It was the Bluetooth cable. Since there was no Bluetooth card when I opended that compartment, I didn’t think I had that cable. But it had come out of that compartment and was laying on the RTC card. Thanks. Great instructions. — Ted
November 16th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
We’ve found the same loose cable in my computer and looked for at least 15 minutes for some place to connect it. Now we know – the cable has no function in my computer! Many thanks!
This site was a very great help for us!
February 15th, 2010 at 8:40 am
I have two faulty T9100′s – what’s the most likely cause of no display, no drive activity and no beeps? Both the power ON and Hard Drive LED’s come on green when powered up but nothing else. The drives are geting no power for instance. If I then press the Function key, the LED illuminates (which tells me it’s getting power ok), then the Battery LED blinks orange.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Mike,
If the power/battery LED starts blinking orange, long and shorts blinks, this is an error code.
Most likely major power failure on the motherboard. I cannot tell what exactly is wrong but again, most likely this is the motherboard failure.
Disassemble the laptop as much as you can. Leave only motherboard, memory and CPU. Make sure the AC adapter is good. Plug the AC adapter and turn on the laptop. If the LED still blinks, most likely you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
March 21st, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Excuse my bad english, but I want to know, how the cover could be removed full, it “hangs” on Front, but all Screws and cables was released. Are there “snaps” to release? It is in cause of the “No Soundcard, no Modem, no SD-Card”-Problem. Or is that the soldering problem of the I/O-Board?
March 26th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Stefan: see end of this message for your problem.
Re the 2 faulty T9100′s I have.
cj2600: I know about flashing LED’s but they aren’t flashing in this instance. See below for fix.
The problem is the main connector between the main boards. The solder has cracked allowing the legs to lift off the pads. Reflowing the solder has brough them both back to life and they run like new – no faults whatsoever. This smacks of a design flaw where daily stresses (whether mechanical or thermal) shears the thin soft solder.
My only concern is whatever caused the solder to crack will happen again. Is there any sort of re-inforcement I can add such an epoxy glue or something?
Stefan: Do not force anything. Double check all screws are removed both on the underside and three under the keyboard. There is also an aerial for the bluetooth that needs to be passed back through a hole or it will snag. Otherwise it just a matter of lifting it off the tabs.
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Tecra 9100…the power led is blink…how can I do with this case…Please help me…
April 8th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
I wish to upgrade the VGA on Tecra 9100 as 16mb is basically rubbish, is it simply a case of removing it from a slot on the motherboard and inserting the new VGA (like the RAM) or would I need a soldering iron or something
April 21st, 2010 at 4:21 am
I was having a problem with my wireless connection on my Tecra 9100. I had figured out that if I applied some pressure coming up from the bottom (say sitting on my knee) with my knee, while applying a little pressure on the left and right sides while pushing down… The wireless antenna indicator would light up and I could get internet access…
I thought to my self… loose connection – right?
I followed your instructions on how to take my laptop apart thinking this will all work out, I’ll look for something out of place and correct it(very nice instructions, I might add)…
After I reassembled the unit, here is what I got…
When plugged in the plug-in indicator lights. When I hit the power button, the power indicator lights, but nothing else happens… The unit seems dead…
The only option after that is to hold down the power key, until the unit shuts down.
Did I loose something in the process of taking the unit apart? Did something not get put back together correctly?
I really appreciate your help if possible.
Best regards,
Alan
July 7th, 2010 at 3:37 am
I am trying to remove the laptop keyboard but it appears to be stuck, how much force should it take to remove?
July 17th, 2010 at 9:31 am
michael,
If you removed the bezel and all screws securing the keyboard, no force needed.
Make sure all screws are removed.
December 22nd, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Hi! Sorry for my bad english but I need some help.
I just got a tecra 9100 as gift and it seems to have the same problem many others 9100 have. After 10 minutes or less of using, the computer frezze and nothing else happens. I still seeing the display as it was before de computer does not respond anymore. I readed something about the cooling plate from the video chip and I would like to try this but I do not know which one is the chip and also wanted to ask if I have to remove the fan for it?
I will be very glad if you can answer or give some other tipp!
Thanks a lot.
Damián.
February 9th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Hi there:
Were any of the 9100′s made without sound cards. I can’t seem to detect one using Linux or Windows…
No Sound, also can’t read SD cards with SD card reader (known good card) and USB ports (USB 1/1.1 or 2?) on back are dead, though the ones in dock work when laptop docked. This smells like and IO board problem. I’ve been away from tech support for years and I worked on Servers and destops then but it has that feel, Thoughts?
May 2nd, 2011 at 4:07 am
Having ploblems to marry the 2 tecra 9100 boards !
Anybody has practical tips or tricks ?
thanks wolf
June 2nd, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Is there a trick to reconnecting the keyboard cable to the motherboard. My keyboard is not working after removing and replacing the cable. Thanks! Thom
July 26th, 2011 at 3:41 am
I have successfully disassembled the laptop because I had to get to the cmos battery. I have gotten everything back but I have one, pinkish color wire with a brass colored connector on the end and I cant locate where it is to connect. It looks similar to the black and white wires (same connectors) that connect to wifi component. The wire is routed to the front of the laptop and is routed in such a away that the connector has to be in the general area. I have yet to be able to identify where it goes and I would love to know what it’s purpose is. Any help would be greatly appreciated.