Toshiba laptop won't boot to bios

tias2001 · #1 (**permalink**) 17-08-2006, 11:38 AM

Hi there,

Let me firstly say that this forum seems quite helpful and informative - I look forward to helping with computer problems that people have

Ok here is my problem...

I dis-assembled a laptop in order to fix a broken power connector socket. That being fixed I re-assembled the laptop and proceeded to switch it on. The laptop would not boot - not even to bios it just came up after a very short cd-rom spin with the image below:

Thin vertical blue lines on the screen.

I have since dis-assembled and re-assembled the laptop many times over and have not found any visable problems yet the same blue vertical lines appear when I try to boot.

If I remove the ram modules the computer beeps as to say that the ram is not installed so the bios must be working in some shape or form... In contrast when I remove the hard drive there are no beep sounds and the blue lines appear so it can't be the hard drive (hard drive has been independently tested in a portable enclosure). Since there is at least some sort of graphical presence I presume the graphics card is working..

Anyway any ideas where to start looking would be greatly appreciated. The details for the computer are below:

Toshiba Satellite P20
3.0ghz Pentium
512mb Ram
17inch Widescreen
Separate graphics (not integrated)
80gb hard drive

Thanking you in advance!

Regards
Mathias

jephree · #2 (**permalink**) 18-08-2006, 02:14 AM

Welcome to D-A-L !

We look forward to the help you have to offer.

My first thought is the somewhat delicate nature of the screen connections thru the case hinge.

If you removed the screen from the body I would go back and recheck all the connections involved.

Quote:

Look closely at the LCD display screen. If you can see a faint image on the screen, the display screen's fluorescent backlight may be turned off. Shining a flashlight directly at the screen will make it much easier to see whether or not there is a screen image actually present, though not lit up. On most Toshiba portable computers, there is a small plastic or metal pin near one of the LCD display lid hinges. When the display lid is shut (closed), this pin is pressed against an internal switch which turns off the backlight, saving battery power. You may be able to turn the backlight on again by tapping this pin repeatedly. The normal screen image will then suddenly appear, or re-appear.

If there appears to be no display image at all, the problem is probably not related to the backlight. In this case, press and hold the Fn key and then press the F5 key several times, pausing several seconds between each keypress. This will cycle through several display output modes: Internal, External, Simultaneous, and possibly one or two more.

If no image appears on the LCD display after cycling through the Fn-F5 sequence, try doing so with an external CRT monitor attached, if possible. If you still see no image, on either screen, try restarting the computer with the CRT monitor connected.

http://askiris.toshiba.com/ToshibaSu...%200%204509878

tias2001 · #3 (**permalink**) 18-08-2006, 09:46 AM

Hi there,

Thanks for the post

However the connections for the lcd are fine - I have double checked them. The computer doesn't seem to boot though - as in the hard drive is not accessed after initial spin up. The lcd is working ok since i can adjust the brightness on the lcd and it adjusts the brightness of the blue lines and surrounding black on the screen.

Any other suggestions? Has anybody ever heard of blue vertical lines on a lcd screen with no booting?

Regards
Mathias

wrg · #4 (**permalink**) 19-04-2009, 05:59 PM

I know this is an old post but perhaps it will help others in the future.

I had a similar problem and found a solution. I am not the author of this fix, I found it on another forum but it worked for me.

Remove all power (adapter power Cord and Battery (for laptops))
Hold down the ON button for 30secs (dispersing internal voltage)
Plug the power cord in only (ie leave battery out, for the moment)
Turn on
If it worked replace battery

jephree · #5 (**permalink**) 19-04-2009, 06:08 PM

Thanks for the tip!