How a laptop dies
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From: Don Phillipson on 25 Feb 2010 17:51 Advice requested: ancient Toshiba Satellite 1900 (new battery last year, used seldom) while connected to mains power (downloading Ubuntu upgrades for 40 min. or so) emitted a soft pop and went wholly dark. Power button initiates startup process for about 5 seconds, dying with the same soft pop before GRUB has timee to load. On a desktop this would suggest a PSU failure. Has anyone seen this elsewhere? -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
From: Roy Smith on 25 Feb 2010 18:36 On 2/25/2010 4:51 PM, Don Phillipson wrote: > Advice requested: ancient Toshiba Satellite 1900 > (new battery last year, used seldom) while connected > to mains power (downloading Ubuntu upgrades for > 40 min. or so) emitted a soft pop and went wholly > dark. Power button initiates startup process for > about 5 seconds, dying with the same soft pop > before GRUB has timee to load. > > On a desktop this would suggest a PSU failure. > Has anyone seen this elsewhere? Yup! A Toshiba MX-35S I had did something similar, though mine would run for about 5 minutes then go blank. Power indicator would still be lit, but no drive activity and nothing on the display. Turn it off for 5 minutes or so and it would start up again, then go dark after running for 5 minutes. Local PC shop said that the motherboard needed to be replaced and would cost over $500. So I just decided to trash that laptop and buy a new one. -- Roy Smith Windows 7 Home Premium Timestamp: Thursday, February 25, 2010 5:36:56 PM
From: Barry Watzman on 25 Feb 2010 19:15 The most likely problem is a capacitor or switching transistor failure in the power supply section of the motherboard. Chances of fixing it are slim (not zero, however, just slim; it MIGHT be visibly obvious if you remove the motherboard). What I would do, however, is look for another Toshiba 1900 on E-Bay. One is likely to turn up, and to be cheap (under $20 for the entire laptop). Don Phillipson wrote: > Advice requested: ancient Toshiba Satellite 1900 > (new battery last year, used seldom) while connected > to mains power (downloading Ubuntu upgrades for > 40 min. or so) emitted a soft pop and went wholly > dark. Power button initiates startup process for > about 5 seconds, dying with the same soft pop > before GRUB has timee to load. > > On a desktop this would suggest a PSU failure. > Has anyone seen this elsewhere?
From: BillW50 on 26 Feb 2010 07:47 In news:hm73qb$i5i$1(a)news.eternal-september.org, Barry Watzman typed on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:15:04 -0500: > The most likely problem is a capacitor or switching transistor failure > in the power supply section of the motherboard. Chances of fixing it > are slim (not zero, however, just slim; it MIGHT be visibly obvious if > you remove the motherboard). What I would do, however, is look for > another Toshiba 1900 on E-Bay. One is likely to turn up, and to be > cheap (under $20 for the entire laptop). > > Don Phillipson wrote: >> Advice requested: ancient Toshiba Satellite 1900 >> (new battery last year, used seldom) while connected >> to mains power (downloading Ubuntu upgrades for >> 40 min. or so) emitted a soft pop and went wholly >> dark. Power button initiates startup process for >> about 5 seconds, dying with the same soft pop >> before GRUB has timee to load. >> >> On a desktop this would suggest a PSU failure. >> Has anyone seen this elsewhere? If you both are talking about the old '94 era 486 T1900 series of Toshiba laptops... I didn't know there was any of them still running after all of this time. As Toshiba didn't use any fans and the power regulators would cook themselves to death in about 5 years of everyday use. And here is a handy link for those old 486 Toshibas. The Ultimate Unofficial 486 Toshiba FAQ http://home.att.net/~ronkar/toshiba.html -- Bill Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2
From: Mike S. on 26 Feb 2010 09:28
In article <hm8g67$jnq$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, BillW50 <BillW50(a)aol.kom> wrote: >In news:hm73qb$i5i$1(a)news.eternal-september.org, >Barry Watzman typed on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:15:04 -0500: >> The most likely problem is a capacitor or switching transistor failure >> in the power supply section of the motherboard. Chances of fixing it >> are slim (not zero, however, just slim; it MIGHT be visibly obvious if >> you remove the motherboard). What I would do, however, is look for >> another Toshiba 1900 on E-Bay. One is likely to turn up, and to be >> cheap (under $20 for the entire laptop). >> >> Don Phillipson wrote: >>> Advice requested: ancient Toshiba Satellite 1900 >>> (new battery last year, used seldom) while connected >>> to mains power (downloading Ubuntu upgrades for >>> 40 min. or so) emitted a soft pop and went wholly >>> dark. Power button initiates startup process for >>> about 5 seconds, dying with the same soft pop >>> before GRUB has timee to load. >>> >>> On a desktop this would suggest a PSU failure. >>> Has anyone seen this elsewhere? > >If you both are talking about the old '94 era 486 T1900 series of >Toshiba laptops... I didn't know there was any of them still running >after all of this time. As Toshiba didn't use any fans and the power >regulators would cook themselves to death in about 5 years of everyday >use. And here is a handy link for those old 486 Toshibas. > >The Ultimate Unofficial 486 Toshiba FAQ >http://home.att.net/~ronkar/toshiba.html This brings back memories of my old T1950CT. The on-board PSU was particularly finicky and prone to instant damage. One story circulating was that you needed to plug the external power supply into the computer _before_ connecting it to the wall jack. If the power supply was "live" when first connected to the computer, it could fry some component in the internal PSU requiring motherboard replacement. I once added a memory card in the dedicated RAM slot only to have all sorts of power-related blinkies occurring. The machine would not boot on battery alone, only with the AC supply connectedf. Ick. |