Interesting power issue with Toshiba laptop

[Mattster]

So I am working on a Toshiba laptop for a friend. It's a Satellite P205D-S7454. The issue is that when the power is plugged in, the system will lock up whenever it wants to. If I remove one of the DIMMs and run with a single, it boots up just fine and is happy to do whatever I want. Now here is where the fun begins. If I unplug the system with both DIMMs in place, it works just fine. Plug it back in and the lockups and reboots start to happen again.

So, long story short, there is a problem here and I can't decide whether its the motherboard or the processor. I thought it might be the processor and potentially the memory controller that could be the issue, but unplugging the power from the system blows that theory. I am now inclined to think it is a problem with the motherboard.

What do you guys think?

 

[mpilchfamily]

Have you considered that the power brick may be where the problem is? Sure its supplying enough power to get the system running and charge the battery when you take out the extra DIMM but it can't handle that ever so slight increase in power needs when the DIMM is plugged in. Try replacing the brick first. Go threw a good store/site where you know you can return it if the problem persists with the new brick.

 

[Mattster]

Well, I ended up replacing the motherboard actually. Upon closer inspection around the power circuitry on the original board, there was a surface component that looked burned up to a small extent. I put the new board in and it is back to the client and working perfectly now.