Toshiba Laptop Issue!

[smashedpumpkins]

Okay, my bros laptop decided to stop working this morning. He was hanging with me last night and it was working fine. The laptop was on all night, but it was on a hard surface. This morning the laptop was still on, but the screen was completely black. He turned it off and when he turned it on the screen would turn black and a white dash would blink in the top left for 10 seconds and then the laptop would turn off. After a few more resets all he ever sees is the black screen with the blinking white dash. Now it never turns off. It just sits there with the blinking dash. Any ideas? Did it over heat or something?

He has a Toshiba Satellite only a year or so old. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

Does it POST alright, or does it not POST and you immediately see the blinking cursor when you turn the laptop on?

 

[smashedpumpkins]

Hello,

Does it POST alright, or does it not POST and you immediately see the blinking cursor when you turn the laptop on?

Yeah no boot options at all. I turn it on and it goes right to the black screen with the blinking cursor. Nothing changes. No boot screen. No Toshiba screen. Just the black one.

 

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

Strange.

Have you tried resetting the BIOS? Also, try troubleshooting by removing the hard drive and extra memory modules (if there is more than one memory module installed) then power on the laptop.

 

[smashedpumpkins]

Hello,

Strange.

Have you tried resetting the BIOS? Also, try troubleshooting by removing the hard drive and extra memory modules (if there is more than one memory module installed) then power on the laptop.

How do I reset the bios on a laptop? I don't get to any screens by turning it on. The only thing that appears on the screen is a black one with the white cursor. Is there a bios reset in the hardware? Also just remove the hard drive and memory and see if any are bad?

 

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

Usually, there's a coin-cell lithium battery which you remove to clear the BIOS CMOS. It's usually located underneath the keyboard, but this depends on your laptop. It will require some unscrewing. Search online for a service guide, or information on how to reset the BIOS, for the particular Toshiba Satellite laptop.

Also just remove the hard drive and memory and see if any are bad?

Yes. Although it's the memory that's the focus of this troubleshooting step. Again, don't remove all the memory modules, just the extra memory module (if more than one have been installed). You could switch between the modules to see if it makes any difference.

Also, do you know if the laptop is still in warranty?

 

[Jorsoft]

Try unplugging the laptop and removing the battery for a bit. Then hook everything back up and see if that helps.. Any chance it's still under warranty? Check it out ASAP

 

[carnageX]

Usually Toshiba laptop CMOS batteries are soldered onto a metal connector on the board; I tore one apart recently and found that out.

 

[smashedpumpkins]

Crazy... We pulled out one stick and it said "The File is possibly corrupt. The File header checksum does not match the computed checksum." We stuck one in and took the other out and it worked. Then we put both back in and it worked. Oh well lol. Thanks for the advice guys! Something made it work.

Maybe it was loose? Not sure. Haha

 

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

Strange. Glad it's fixed though.

You don't have to do the following, but just for precaution, you might want to run Memtest86 to see if there's any problems with the memory modules. It can take a while for the scan to complete, but it can be run overnight.