Dead Laptop

[alanf617]

My laptop is about a year old, not used often. When I tried to turn it on, I could get nothing - not even the bootup check and the friendly beep.... Recharged overnight, with same result. Turn on whilst connected to the mains - same result. The only thing I can get out of it is a green light showing connection to the mains. Hard drive does not start up, nor does the LED labelled HDD glow.
Any thoughts? Is there an internal battery like the one in a desktop, that may need replacing? Does anyone know where my kids have put the manual that came with the laptop?

[MovedGoalPosts]

Is there any form of hard reset button. Have you held down the power on / off button for a good 15 seconds (10 is usually enough, but 15 makes sure), and then press it firmly again. Sometimes the laptops get stuck in a standby mode.


You might want to post laptop model, OS and suchlike for other more tech bods to offer guidance.

[MikeyB]

When you plug into the mains to charge up, does the charging or power light come on the laptop?

Could well be a duff power adaptor, have you tried wiggling the wires when it's plugged into the mains.

As for the manual, it's either down the back of the sofa, or behind the fridge!!!!

[alanf617]

Cheers!
No reset button, and it's a Toshiba Satellite 1410, Windows XP home
Press and hold power button just makes the green power LED go off for a second or two

[alanf617]

Yes, charging light comes on, power adaptor gets warm. Does this mean that there isn't a small internal battery (as opposed to the big battery that powers the machine) in these beasts?

Will move the fridge tomorrow, when I have counted the children to make sure that we're not missing one of those as well

[Paul K]

Yep there should be a battery in it to charge, sounds like the charge circuit or the battery has failed Should be able to get a manual pdf online, might have a look in a minute for you

[Paul K]

Is this the manual you are after ?
http://support.toshiba-tro.de/tools/...rman-na-en.zip

[Alan Waddington]

I'd double check for a small pin-hole reset button on the bottom of the case. If found, use a straightened out paperclip to reset the computer. If no joy, try removing the battery pack & then reinserting it. There's often a separate controller chip for the power management & the only way to reset that is to remove the battery.

[alanf617]

Thanks to both of you.... the manual looks like the right one, you didn't find a child behind that fridge, did you?

Search of manual does not find the word "reset", nor is it labelled in the picture of the beast's bottom. Will take away its battery for a bit and then retry.... tomorrow

[Paul K]

Nope jsut searched the pdf file and it doesn't mention the word reset at all
From what the manual says, you may have a dead battery in there

[gooner4life]

try removing the battery for about 10 seconds and then putting it back in then connect it to the mains and try the power button.

[alanf617]

will try as you suggest - when you say dead battery, I presume it's the RTC (clock) battery - manual refers to it (e.g. page 118) but search doesn't find it (bl**dy Adobe?), and not the big battery that you mean

[punky]

I'd personally try running the laptop without the battery, and see if that boots. If the battery is dead, the controller might not be switching to the mains properly

[alanf617]

Gentlemen, many thanks. Will try later today / over the weekend and let you know

Goodnight

[abailey152]

Some friends of mine have a Toshiba Tecra 9100. The RTC battery on that is tucked inside the case just near to the front, and not easy to get to. They had a very similar problem to yours, and as it was out of warrantee, they used a company in West Bromwich.

http://www.laptopsolutions.net

I *think* the repair cost about £150. The company arranged for courier to collect and return, and rang back with a price before commencing work. Not sure if this was value for money, other than the repair was guaranteed and their laptop has been okay for the few months since.