Hardware repair guide suggestion/comment thread

Nice work, hopefully it's very useful to many people.

hi all!
thanks for the hardware repair guide.
i have a Toshiba Satellite P300-16E and the build in DVD drive Matshita DVD-RAM UJ 850S makes some problem. when i insert a dvd its played normally, but when the drive stands still and it should be started from a programm or application, then the drive will start and soon stop again, and start again, stop again and so on, like the DVD couldn't be read. the only solution is to open and close the drive, then the DVD will be read normally. i reinstalled the driver, but it didn't help, so i think it might be a hardware problem and i contacted the Toshiba service, as i still have warranty. they told me that i can only send the drive, and don't need to send the whole laptop. but now i don't know which screws i have to open to remove the DVD drive, does anyone know that particilar laptop?
thank you very much for your help.

You guys should start your own separate threads for your issues - this is here for comments on the sticky. Once you do, I'll be happy to help you both.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] _20_0.html

Sorry for posting this in the wrong thread originally, i didn't notice the bit asking for comments to be posted here (despite the bright red type - doh!)

The machine in the tut, the Satellite A100, looks identical to the Equium A100 and i was just wondering if they're basically the same inside too? Also, if it turns out they're totally different inside, does anyone know if the cpu in the equium A100 is removable?

I have an Equium A100 027 that belonged to my partner and i need to replace the cpu, or at least i think that's what it needs to get it working again.
The machine will no longer power up and before it died completely, it used to suddenly cut out with no warning while in use. This would happen whether it was running on mains power or from the battery.
The period of time it would take before the machine would cut out gradually became shorter and shorter - it went from lasting about an hour or two until eventually it wouldn't even stay on long enough to finish POST.

By the time i got my hands on it, the machine was basically a doorstop. I think the cpu had been running too hot, maybe the fan wasn't spinning fast enough or something, and its caused permanent damage to the cpu over time. Which is why i want to replace it if possible and save myself the expense of buying a new laptop.

Any advice or tips would be massively appreciated. I'm not confident when it comes to poking around inside laptops so i need all the help i can get!!
Thanks, B

Bluetooth come up much in disassembly?

I mean that, for instance the T4*p series has a modem / bt daughter card with an antenna running the left of the LCD. The antenna looks similar to wireless. Just something I'd point out because people can and will get confused.

Come to think of it, there really AREN'T that many laptops with internal bluetooth. . .

But now I'm curious to see what you come up with.

Which battery? The main or the CMOS?

I don't know which one so could you explain them both please. tutshe

I'm impressed

The LCD does house the backlight, you're correct.

LCD assembly troubleshooting is difficult because the LCD and inverter go together. The only real way to determine if one is bad is to replace one or the other. On rare occasions you'll get symptoms that tell you which is bad. You can test the inverter with a multimeter also, but depending on how the inverter is wired, this isn't always reliable as a test. If you can get your hands on a spare backlight (known to be good), you should be able to plug it into your inverter - if it lights up, the inverter is good. If not, the inverter is bad.

What do you mean by extremely dim?