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Salvaging a battered notebook

M

marcplante

Senior member
i recovered a Toshiba Satellite X205 S7483 17" notebook from my nephew who has fairly well trashed it. he was going to throw it away, but I fugre I'd try to save it or at least harvest parts.

There are several keys missing from teh keyboard, the CD drive door is destroyed, and the unit does not power up.

I have built several of my own desktops, so I understand the general componentry in a computer. I figure a notebook is the same bits just crammed into a smaller case.

Is there a likely candidate that I might try to troubleshoot this mess and get it to life? possible loose connection between the PSU and motherboard?

Can anyone point me to general tech notes on Toshiba notebooks to help me crack the case and look around?

If not, I'll be parting it and selling off RAM, screen, CPU, etc for what they're worth.

Thanks,

Marc
 
Originally posted by: marcplante
i recovered a Toshiba Satellite X205 S7483 17" notebook from my nephew who has fairly well trashed it. he was going to throw it away, but I fugre I'd try to save it or at least harvest parts.

There are several keys missing from teh keyboard, the CD drive door is destroyed, and the unit does not power up.

I have built several of my own desktops, so I understand the general componentry in a computer. I figure a notebook is the same bits just crammed into a smaller case.

Is there a likely candidate that I might try to troubleshoot this mess and get it to life? possible loose connection between the PSU and motherboard?

Can anyone point me to general tech notes on Toshiba notebooks to help me crack the case and look around?

If not, I'll be parting it and selling off RAM, screen, CPU, etc for what they're worth.

Thanks,

Marc
Click to expand...

Here is my take on it. Depending on the specs of the system, it may not be worth fixing. What all have you tried to turn the system on?
Do any lights come on regardless of the power on (or lack thereof).

The CPU may or may not be removable, if it is it might be worth something, the RAM basically nothing, the screen? Maybe?
 
I tried plugging it in with the power cord both with and without the battery in. Next step was to try another power cord, then consider whether the PSU has been knocked loose or whether the MB is broken.

I figure there's some drivespace in there that I can reformat and hook into my Desktop as storage.

Shame, I could have used a portable around the house. Esp one with decent graphics for Movies at the plasma screen.

 
Originally posted by: marcplante
I tried plugging it in with the power cord both with and without the battery in. Next step was to try another power cord, then consider whether the PSU has been knocked loose or whether the MB is broken.

I figure there's some drivespace in there that I can reformat and hook into my Desktop as storage.

Shame, I could have used a portable around the house. Esp one with decent graphics for Movies at the plasma screen.
Click to expand...

Well, if the DC-in board is shot and the battery is then in turn dead, then it will never turn on. Unless you can put in a verifiably charged battery and test that way, then you will still wonder if it is the power cord (cheap, easy) or the DC-In board (potentially cheap and potentially moderately difficult), or the entire motherboard could be shot. With a fully charge battery though that is at least one more thing eliminated.

And no, i am not sure how you could go about charging the battery aside from dropping it into a working laptop.
 
Salvage it for parts. Pull the HDD and check it out in another system. The creen may be saleable on E-Bay. Sounds like the mobo is trashed. The A/C adapter - charger may also be saleable.

This may help some: Toshiba
 
Originally posted by: marcplante
I tried plugging it in with the power cord both with and without the battery in. Next step was to try another power cord, then consider whether the PSU has been knocked loose or whether the MB is broken.
Click to expand...

Before trying a different AC adapter, use a multimeter on the one you already have.

The DC-in jack breaking off the mobo is a common problem.
 
Thanks for the hints. I also found a teardown guide for the unit online. Definitely looks like the parts costs are more than a new unit, so if it's not something straightforward, I'll be mining it and selling parts here or in the 'Bay.

Thanks for the pointer on the DC in Jack. i'll look at that area.

Good news is that the power cord and other parts seem to be relatively pricey, so if I sell, i might get some useful value out of the scrap.

Marc
 
Actually, now that I scan the teardown guide and the attached price search on Ebay, it looks like the replacement parts I need might not be that bad. A replacement DC jack and cord back to the MB is about $25, and a new keyboard would be $22. I may be on my way to a decent little portable HTPC. (it has an 8700 graphics card and HDMI out).

I know...don't get my hopes up. But it's kind of a fun project.

 
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