Dead laptop? BIOS?

invasian

Junior Member
Oct 20, 2004
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I have a laptop (a toshiba satellite) that doesn't do anything upon turning it on...what it'll do is the toshiba screen comes on and then it just goes to a blank screen with the cursor blinking at the top left

Putting a windows installation cd or linux cd doesn't do anything...it won't even go to installation...i've also tried running knoppix on it, but that doesn't work either...

When i hold escape to go into the bios, all i get is a line that says, press F2 for default settings...i press it and nothing happens...

What do you all think is going on? Is the bios shot or what?

From what I was told about the laptop, the person was just using it, no programs were running, and then all of a sudden this happened...

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Q
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
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Classic symptom - CPU needs reseating.
 

invasian

Junior Member
Oct 20, 2004
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It's a laptop...wouldn't the CPU be soldered on? That's how it is on my sony vaio that i took apart...

How am i supposed to reset the CMOS and stuff? Taking apart the laptop?

Thanks
Q
 

imported_Tick

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2005
4,682
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Originally posted by: invasian
It's a laptop...wouldn't the CPU be soldered on? That's how it is on my sony vaio that i took apart...

How am i supposed to reset the CMOS and stuff? Taking apart the laptop?

Thanks
Q

It depends on the laptop. The CPU may be soldered on, which might mean a bad solder joint. And to reset CMOS, you might have to take it apart. Do you have a manual?
 

invasian

Junior Member
Oct 20, 2004
13
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ok...some more information...yea, i'm a little hesitant to take it apart since it's not even my laptop, but i think it's ok...have to ask friend first...but anyways, here's some more information

i took out the hard drive, and then used knoppix...IT WORKED...which leads me to believe its the hard drive? i put in my hard drive from my vaio laptop last night, but that didn't help either, which means it's a fault connection to the hard drive? i'm unsure...

what do you guys think?

Q

Thanks in advance again
 

imported_Tick

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2005
4,682
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If it was a hard drive fault, it still would have gone to bios, unless it's shorting, which is doesn't sound like, as the HD still works ok.

Try removing all the drives and booting with ONLY ram, cpu, mobo, and a different HD. Then try booting with diff. ram, if you got any. If the CPU isn't soldered in, try reseating it. If you got another CPU for same socket, then you could swap it out, but I don't supose you do. Also, do you have access to a beep code card?