Toshiba Laptop Will Not Boot (Black Screen, but has power)

[dannyboy]

Hi all, my dads Toshiba Satellite L300D has all of a sudden stopped booting. When turning the power on, I get a black screen, the power light is on and I can hear the fan but it just will not boot, the screen is totally black.

When it first happened I took the RAM out a couple times and it did boot, but the next day I had the black screen again.

I've noticed the hard drive light doesn't flash or access at all when it wont boot. When it has booted, ive noticed the hard drive light kicking in straight away. I've tried without an hard drive but still a black screen. So I guess this rules out a faulty blacklight on the LCD because the hard drive light doesn't flash at all when it doesn't boot and does when it has booted....

I've changed the RAM thinking it was that but still no luck. After googling lots seem to have the same problem, most solutions say do an hard reset (remove battery and power, hold power button for 30 secs, then plug in and power on), but this hasn't worked.

Any idea's?

[big3card]

Processor would be your next step then bud imo , failing that the board has gone tits providing the ram you swapped out is working , also try removing the bios batt and holding power down for 30 secs with no batt or charger attached ....b3

[evilsatan]

Strange problem with the led, I have repaired hundreds of the l300/l300d units, they often suffered a loose LCD cable which can be checked by just lifting the keyboard. Could be dodgy ram or board. Usually you can pick up a l300/l300d mobo cheap on eBay, the D models are AMD processors. All boards will fit in your case but specs will vary.

They are easy to take apart so perhaps take it completely apart, reseat the CPU, new thermal compound, clean the heatsink, fan, and reseat all cables. Give that a try connected to an external display and go from there.

[dannyboy]

Thanks guys, I opened the laptop up yesterday and checked all connections and all were fine. I dont think it could be the LCD because surely the HDD light will access and boot up, it doesn't do that at all. I tried good RAM from my own laptop but that was the same. Im off to get some thermal paste in a bit and i'll try reseating the CPU. If that don't work i'm guessing MB?

My dads on about getting another laptop though but he needs his data off this one. Will it just be a case of booting it in a caddy on the new laptop and retrieving the data off it (office files, emails, bookmarks etc)?

[evilsatan]

By the sounds of it the unit isn't POSTing and when it does POST it boots to the HDD so yes you should be able to just hook it up to a caddy and copy the files off mate.

[doughboy]

Same happened to a mates. Is your left button broken?

[evilsatan]

The mouse buttons on this model break very easily, they are held to the top case with a thin bit of plastic. They are still usable but the plastic feels loose as it is not held in place. The major flaw in this model was a weak bracket which holds the DC harness in place and poor plastic on the DC harness so often you would find the charging port falls into the case. Easily fixed through DIY, just hot glue it in place.

[big3card]

If reseatting the processor doesnt work then change it out for about a fiver ebay

[doughboy]

Same happened to a mates. Is your left button broken?

What I meant by that was if it is broken then that will eventually damage the mobo underneath.

[DejaVu]

I had a similar thing a few months back with a Toshiba. But the BIOS screen would load and get stuck. Recovering the Phoenix BIOS did the trick.

Still, my guess is still going to be GPU. Tried connecting an external monitor? If that fails, you could always try reflowing the motherboard. I've had some luck doing it in the past, but made sure that was the last case scenario.

[evilsatan]

What I meant by that was if it is broken then that will eventually damage the mobo underneath.

On this model there is a separate PCB beneath the mouse buttons so there should be no contact with the mobo. Newer toshibas have the mouse buttons surface mounted on the mobo though and as you say can scratch and damage.

[dannyboy]

Yeah left button was fine on this. Anyway I removed the heatsink, cleaned it up, reseated the CPU with new thermal paste, put it all back together.....and it's still the same

[big3card]

replace the processor jobs a guden

[DejaVu]

Just remembered another.

Check the USB Port's. If something has been rammed in there and the terminals are shorting, that can give the same results your experiencing. If bent, straighten them out a bit with a pin.

Also, according to this act of god, it's a short in there somewhere.

[masher]

DejaVu, there is a link in there somewhere and I'd love to read it! I can hear that there is a short on the MB. Only happens when DC power is in. Wont start from DC at all but will if battery is in!

Please help...

[masher]

oh and when I mean start I mean that the fans start up and the HDD powers up. Black screen after that. hoping its not the CPU or board.

[ozy]

graphics chip failure, very common fault on the l300, sometimes a reflow will cure it if not graphic chip will need changing, as this is a bga chip best option will proberbly be a replacement mobo ( or better still new laptop)

[blaggard]

DejaVu, there is a link in there somewhere and I'd love to read it! I can hear that there is a short on the MB. Only happens when DC power is in. Wont start from DC at all but will if battery is in!

Please help...

You can't read links because you are a leech, read your welcome PM and rules and you might last. You have signed up, jumped all over someone else's old thread (Feb 2012) you are a shade away from a ban. Introduce yourself in the appropriate forum and become a contributing member, THEN you can ask for help.

[ozy]

I didn't notice this was a revival of a year old post.

[TheGuy]

Hello, I registered here to ask help i have toshiba L500 who dosnt boot up, but i ear the fan running, the driver read dvd, if was motherboard the dvd players dosn't give any signal, I put the cooling usb and its on , Dont know what happend i did what people saying pressing the button 15-30-1m and removed the rams and put in another laptop and they are okay, might be faulty graphic card? please the laptop has power just the ODD light dosnt turn on.