Laptop will not boot

I am working on a Toshiba laptop. When I boot it up, it goes through the logo screen and then sits at a blank black screen. No beeps, no errors no reaction at all. When I boot it and I try to enter the boot menu (F12) or the BIOS setup (F2), it doesn't respond to the key strokes and goes through the logo screen and sits at the blank screen again. I can't get it to boot to a live Ubuntu CD either. I removed the hard drive to get any kind of reaction and it does the same thing. I was able to connect the HDD to my PC via an enclosure and pull the data off with no errors so the drive appears to be fine.

I think it may be a board issue but I'm not sure. I've never seen a laptop act like this.

 

If it doesn't react to the key strokes F12 or F2, there might be a problem with the keyboard.

The reason it might not boot from the live Ubuntu CD is that the CD drive is not the first boot device. Since you can't access the BIOS, you can't check that out and change it.

What model is it? I'm seeing lots of black screen and blinking white cursor in the corner for Toshibas.

 

i had a similar problem with an IBM.. never did get it figured out. Got the data off using my desktop and the owner (my friend) was happy with that.
*EQL*

 

It's a Satellite A305-S6095.

 

I'm not seeing black screen problems for that model.
A current thread here mentioned that 1 bad RAM slot might cause something like that. (except the function keys not working suggest something else is wrong).

I found disassembly instructions
http://www.laptopka.com/2009/05/08/take-apart-toshiba-satellite-a300-a305-laptop/

 

Shot in the dark: when the machine boots, immediately press and hold the Esc key for three seconds, and then release it. When prompted to, press the F1 key.

 

That didn't work.

From doing some more research, it sounds like a corrupted BIOS. I have a BIOS update from Toshiba but I wonder if creating a bootable USB flash drive would be a possible way to run the update.

 

I wouldn't mess with flashing the BIOS just yet. If it turns out to be something else then you could make things a lot worse.

Firstly I'd put the bootable CD in, turn off the comp, remove the hard drive, and then power it up. Feel the cd drive - is it trying to spin? If not, clear the BIOS settings (tiny reset button or removing/replacing the CMOS battery) and repeat - does the CD try to spin now?

I think the thread plodr mentioned about the faulty RAM slot was probably mine. In which case remove all but 1 RAM module, and repeatedly try powering the comp up with it in each slot.

Also try accessing the BIOS using a USB keyboard.

 

I tried all the test you suggusted. After removing the hard drive, I put my Unbuntu live CD in and powered it up. The DVD drive did spin up and after the logo screen went away, it spun higher for a couple of seconds and then slowed down with no reaction on screen. I can't find the BIOS reset button but I'll go to Toshiba's site for that.

I tried the RAM test. The laptop has 2 sticks of RAM (3GB) so I tried each stick in each slot (4 tries total) with no success.

I used a USB keyboard to tried to get to the BIOS menu and boot menu with no success.

 

I found the instructions for clearing the CMOS but I want to make sure that will fix it before I try to do it.

 

Clearing the CMOS is one of the results of flashing the BIOS, so if you're ready to flash the BIOS then there's no reason not to clear the CMOS.

Have you tried outputting to a monitor? If the BIOS has the quiet boot option enabled (usually is by default) then it may just be speeding past the BIOS and the black screen occurs with Windows loading. For that to be the case I would expect you to be able to enter the BIOS, so do you have a different USB keyboard to test with, a different USB port to use, or does the laptop have a p/s2 connector and a keyboard to match?

Besides doing that, clearing the CMOS would be the next least invasive thing I can think of to try.

 

I've tried two USB keyboards in every port with no luck. The keyboard is receiving power since the caps lock and num lock lights come on.

It doesn't have a PS/2 port.

I haven't tried outputting to a monitor but I can sneak it into work tomorrow and play with it at lunch.

My only concern with flashing the BIOS is the laptop not booting from the flash drive. I hope that clearing the CMOS will unstick whatever is locking up the board.

I'll try clearing the CMOS tomorrow night and see what happens.

 

Fingers crossed!

Also I should have suggested physically disconnecting the keyboard before trying the USB keyboard tests. If the internal keyboard is faulty then rather than doing nothing, it could be spamming a key or a garbled signal. I even once had a situation where I would type a key with a working keyboard and a different key would print into notepad, but then removing the faulty internal keyboard and using just the external keyboard it typed correctly. I don't recall if that was an external PS/2 or USB keyboard though and was the only time I encountered it. I have certainly seen many broken keyboards spamming a key ('stuck key') and preventing me from entering the BIOS however.

I still really don't think the keyboard is the problem however - it would have to be a bad keyboard and display problem combined, which would be very unlucky! But it hasn't been totally ruled out without testing with the internal keyboard removed.

 

I strongly doubt it's a keyboard issue either. I tested the laptop here in the office and it's not a display problem as it didn't work here either. I'm going to create a bootable USB drive tonight and put the BIOS update on it. Between that and clearing the CMOS, I am almost out of ideas.

 

Not knowing the age of the offending Laptop, I'm just guessing, but.....

A while back, I was given a ten year old Toshiba laptop that would no longer boot up.
Under the keyboard I found the CMOS battery, which was effectively DEAD. It was made up of two little Ni-Cad cells welded together. I replaced it with a single 3v CR2032 battery soldered to the wires from the old battery. After installing the new battery the little computer booted and allowed me to remake the settings in the CMOS/Bios.
Now it boots and runs just fine. I upgraded the OS from Windows ME, to Windows XP-Pro-SP3 and the little old computer is running like a champ.
All it took was one little $3 battery.

So check out the CMOS battery in your own laptop.

Happy Holidays!
The Shadow

 

I've only encountered real problems with old CMOS batteries in two circumstances. Both were old (as Shadow mentioned) IBM Thinkpads, and both presented errors stating the batteries were bad during the POST screen, and wouldn't boot. On every other machine I've encountered I was able to boot with no CMOS battery connected at all, they just wouldn't keep time!

Having said that, I think we're at the desperation stage. It looks like it has to be either the motherboard itself, of one of the critical parts on it (the RAM slots, CPU, corrupt BIOS etc).

 

The laptop is almost two years old so I don't think it's the CMOS battery. While the laptop was at work today I tried booting it using a USB DVD drive with no luck and using a hard drive from a Thinkpad I was working on with no luck. Next step, clearing CMOS.

 

hi did you ever figure out the problem? I'm having the same issue as we speak with a compaq presario v5000.. checked everything i can think of and everything in this post except the cmos battery.. and nothing works.. idk what to do?

 

kris32, please start a new thread with your problem. Also mention when it started and what version of windows you are running.

 

Kris32, When you make your new thread include the exact model number from the tag on the bottom, we want to narrow it down to one of these models.

Please describe your problem exactly. Is screen completely blank after HP screen (no cursor)? Keyboard doesn't respond at all (F10 during HP screen does nothing)?

 

I never got it running. It wouldn't boot from a bootable flash drive to load the BIOS update.

 

Your symptoms don't exactly match but since you have tried everything else...Try removing the CDROM (Just one screw from the bottom of the case holds it in) and see if there is any change in the boot process.
Some Toshibas have a problem booting with a faulty CDROM but it usually hangs on the Toshiba boot screen not a blank screen. Should only take 5 minutes to check just in case you get lucky.

Looks like Step 9 picture shows the screw. http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-A305/laptop-disassembly-process-2.htm