Hardware repair guide suggestion/comment thread

This thread is here for anyone who reads the hardware repair sticky at the top of the forum - if you've a question, comment, or suggestion on a procedure or how the sticky can be improved, please put them right here!

The sticky is located here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] pair-guide

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?

Hi frozenlead, thanks for the toshiba a100 disassembly guide. I own the exact same laptop. The problem is that there is no power comin in to the laptop from the adapter. So now am confused if its the adapter thats screwed or the laptop power jack? i checked the power supply cable n thts working. can u pls shed any light on this. thanks.

Rohit

You probably need a new backlight, which generally comes with the LCD panel.
If you just need your documents, you can always plug an external monitor in or take out your hard disk and plug it into another computer.

Hi, I had purchased a sony VAIO, Model #VGNNW23G/B about 4 months ago. I accidently spilled the orange juice on the key board, tried to clean it as much, a.s.a.p I could, but it did not work. I have one year full warranty on it so I sent it to sony, but they are asking a ridiculous amount of money to fix it, $475. I could not afford it, so they sent it back. I plugged it one day and to my surprise, window 7 opened up and I was able to go online but for a short time, windows get ajmmed after a while. Key board has got sort of corrupted and it does not work properly. Any suggestions to fix it? How can I change the key board? How does the keyboard come off? Any help will be appreciated.

hi all,
my lcd mov totly ded ani solution thanks

Plug the external video connector (VGA, DVI, SVideo, whatever) in and see what happens.

But if the HDD isn't spinning up, it's more than just a video issue, your mainboard could be fried, and if it's not sending out death knell beeps to let you know what's up, then it's going to need professional help or else the scrap heap.

Either way it's not going to be fixed remotely unless you get some deeper details and find someone who can communicate them in English.

Huh?

This thread has a specific role and is already accessible from the other sticky.

This topic has been desticky in top of the forum by Buwish

Generally you can't replace notebook GPUs, and even if you can, upgraded cards are hard to come by. What's wrong with yours?

http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/
is the only place I know if, but it will only help you if your GPU is in an MXM slot.

You need to find out if your GPU is integrated into your motherboard (which it likely is). In that case, you'll have to replace the board.

Hi again,

The laptop had been working for half an hour and the CPU was really getting hot.
I just put a vacuum cleaner on the heat sink outlet and kickstarted the fan.
Now it seems to work again! It goes on and off on its own. I hope that will last...

First of all, thanks heaps for the awesome guide! Proved to be very helpful, i.e. this time I didn't have to guess if I was doing the right thing, I was able to look it up and proceed with caution if some parts didn't come off that easily.

Here's my tiny problem: I am working on a laptop just like the one shown on the pics. I need to replace the CMOS battery. Found it, no problem. I just don't know how to make it come out of that "metal thingy" gripping it. It seems so fragile and carefully pulling it doesn't work for me. I noticed you can lift it upwards a bit (kinda like the RAM) but that's it.

Can you help? Thanks in advance, very much appreciated!

That picture doesn't show any VGA cable. The white cable is for the touchpad. As for an individual pinout, I have no idea. They're all different. You'd have to talk to an engineer or someone high up to get access to that kind of data.