Help...Mystery Laptop wont power up some days? (Toshiba Te..

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Could do with some help here........

I have Toshiba Tecra 8100 that has started to fail at start up. This
means some days I can turn the laptop on ok, and some days it appears
to be dead (its getting worse).

When the laptop fails almost everything appears to be dead except for
a couple of LED lights (ie dead screen, hard drive sounds quiet).
Although when I press the On/Off Button the hard drive does sound like
there is a little activity for a very short while but doesn't go any
further and goes quiet (screen also dead). I have tried removing the
battery (which is shot at) and re-inserting, and I now only use mains
power. Yet some days the laptop works fine?

I have heard that this is a fairly common hardware problem? Is this
correct? I heard a component needs replacing. "If" correct, can anyone
tell me the component and were to buy it as I should be able to repair
myself (I work on Mobile Phone Motherbaords/and have some skills).

Can anyone help? Replies appreciated as I have some important work I
need to access.

Mark

P.S If this subject has been covered before then apologies but I
couldn't find anything in google search with a positive answer.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

markymark@spamifulike.aol.com wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 19:48:59 +0100, markymark@spamifulike.aol.com
> wrote:
>
>> Could do with some help here........
>>
>> I have Toshiba Tecra 8100 that has started to fail at start up. This
>> means some days I can turn the laptop on ok, and some days it appears
>> to be dead (its getting worse).
>>
>> When the laptop fails almost everything appears to be dead except for
>> a couple of LED lights (ie dead screen, hard drive sounds quiet).
>> Although when I press the On/Off Button the hard drive does sound
>> like there is a little activity for a very short while but doesn't
>> go any further and goes quiet (screen also dead). I have tried
>> removing the battery (which is shot at) and re-inserting, and I now
>> only use mains power. Yet some days the laptop works fine?
>>
>> I have heard that this is a fairly common hardware problem? Is this
>> correct? I heard a component needs replacing. "If" correct, can
>> anyone tell me the component and were to buy it as I should be able
>> to repair myself (I work on Mobile Phone Motherbaords/and have some
>> skills).
>>
>> Can anyone help? Replies appreciated as I have some important work I
>> need to access.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> P.S If this subject has been covered before then apologies but I
>> couldn't find anything in google search with a positive answer.
>
>
> I will answer this question myself as I have now found the answer and
> maybe others will one day do a search on google for help.
>
> The solution to this problem in my case was the CMOS battery (internal
> clock battery) had failed or expired. As soon as I opened the laptop
> and fitted another internal battery which has a short cable that plugs
> into the motherboard I was back up and running perfectly. The Toshiba
> 8100 Tecra uses a 2.4 volt 40 mAh battery.
>
> Mark

Mark,

Congratulations and thanks for posting the followup.

So many people fix their problem and then in their joy forget all about the
post they made. Some lucky soul may Google for this later and it will be
very helpful at that time.
--

Mike Russell
www.geigy.2y.net