HomeI have a Toshiba A105-s2716 satellite. At first the screen would start flashing. The screen went black and sometimes gray horizontal lines would appear. It would then turn black and go back to normal. After a week now, the screen will stay black after ten minutes of using my laptop. It works fine with a external monitor, many people tell me that its a hardware issue. My warranty expired so I’m trying to figure out the problem before I have it fixed. I need to fixed my laptop ASAP because i need for college.
I’ve seen this problem with Satellite A105 laptops before and I believe the culprit is the the motherboard. Even though the external video works fine, it’s still a problem with the motherboard. I think there could be something wrong with the video chip or with the video cable connector. Unfortunately both the video chip and the video cable connector are soldered on the motherboard. It means the whole motherboard must be replaced in order to fix the problem.
Update:
Please read comment 44 posted by Andy:
I tried to replace the whole LCD panel, but it didn’t help. I was going to buy a new laptop, so I just wanted to mess around with the old one. First thing I did – I upgraded BIOS to most current version. I did it just to see how BIOS upgrade works, and it fixed the problem!
It’s possible that Toshiba fixed this problem with the latest BIOS release. I tried updating the BIOS before but it didn’t help, apparently the BIOS version with the fix wasn’t available back then.
I will try it as soon as I have to repair Satellite A105 with a problem like that.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:37 am
When i turn on my Sony Laptop, upon booting, a loud continues beep sounds and an error message is displayed on the screen which reads “Operating system not found”. When i try loading a new operating system, its wont be accepted. I did not delete the operating system either. What could be the problem? I suspect the memory is faulty or maybe the hard drive is faulty. Please Advise.
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Tee,
Here’s what you can try. Remove the hard drive and start the laptop. Do you still hear the same loud continues beep? If it’s still there, I thing your problem is not related to the hard drive.
If the beep is gone, try booting the laptop from a live Linux CD (still without the hard drive). If the laptop works fine with Linux CD, probably the memory is OK.
It’s hard to guess what is wrong because I cannot hear the beep. Do is sound like a stuck key? Maybe the keyboard key got stuck (contacts are shorted) and it somehow preventing the laptop from booting. In this case try disconnecting the keyboard from the motherboard and start the laptop when the keyboard is unplugged. See if the beep is still there.
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:13 am
Hello. I recently was going to clean the inside of my toshiba A105 and when i took it apart, i needed to take out the ribbon wire from the connectors (sorry dont know the real name). When i went to pull the little tab out of the connector the little hook on the one side broke off. Is there any place i can buy some of those tabs new? i tried to tape the ribbon wire back in but that didnt work. i have been told i need to replace the WHOLE motherboard in order to get another tab???? that just doesn’t make sense. any and all info would be soo helpful!!! thanks in advance!
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:39 am
Alex,
Most likely you will not be able to find this tab in stores, unless somebody sells it separately on eBay, but it’s very unlikely.
Did you break just the hook on the tab or the connector base (plastic part connected to the motherboard) is broken too?
If you broke just the hook on one side of the tab, you still can make it work. Place the tab inside the connector the way it should be but do not lock it yet. Insert the ribbon cable inside the connector all the way down. Now gently press on the tab so it slides inside the connector. If the connector base is not damaged, the tab will stay inside and the ribbon cable will be jammed between the base and the tab. It might work.
If you accidentally broke the connector base, then you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
By the way, witch connector is broken? Take a look at the step 16 on this disassembly guide for Satellite A105.
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:16 pm
no the base on the motherboard is fine, it is the part the u take out of the base so you can remove the ribbon wire that broke, the hook part. all i need is the little tab that pushes into the base.i have tried to push the one tab back into the base but it does not stay in. it is missing that hook to hold it in place. and the other 2 i have lost. do u know what they are called or where i would be able to find anymore of them? i have 3 connectors broke. the one for the power button, the mouse sensor, and the mouse buttons. the big thick keyboard one is still in working order. Thanks soooo much for all your help so far.
August 28th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I have a Satellite A105, and I bought it as a re-firb and therefore it no longer is under warranty. Its screen doesn’t work, one day it just decided not to turn on. I can use the computer if I hook it up to an external, and I know you said that it’s probably the video chip on the motherboard, but that’s a really expensive fix. Do you know of a way to make sure that’s what’s wrong with it before I buy a new motherboard, could it simply be a loose wire somewhere??
Thanks for your help.
Tanya
August 28th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Tanya,
Yes, if you experience the same problem as I mentioned in the post above – gray screen with some white horizontal lines, then most likely it’s a problem with video on the motherboard. But if your screen is completely dark then it might be a different problem.
Can you see anything on the screen, maybe a very faint image? Does the screen change color when you turn on the laptop? Does the backlight light up when you turn on the laptop?
August 28th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
The screen does nothing at all, there are no lines, no lights, no gray-ness, nothing.
August 28th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Tanya,
Here’s what you can try.
Start the laptop with the external monitor and try switching video signal from the external monitor to the internal LCD screen, maybe it somehow got stuck in the external mode. Press and hold down the Fn key and at the same time press on the F5 key. You should see a screen menu on the desktop. Press on the F5 (holding down Fn) until only the internal screen is highlighted. See if it help.
Also, try setting the screen resolution to minimum settings (800×600) and switch from external to internal after that.
It’s also possible that the video cable got disconnected from the motherboard and the LCD screen doesn’t get any signal from the motherboard/video card. Reseating the video cable connector on the motherboard might help to fix this problem. Toshiba laptop disassembly guides.
If the above mentioned methods do not help, probably you have a hardware related issue.
It might be:
1. Bad video cable
2. Bad LCD screen
3. Bad motherboard
Unfortunately I cannot tell you with part is failing without testing the laptop with known good parts.
August 28th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I’m having the same problem with my laptop, same model (s2716) and the screen does not show anything. However, the light of the screen does go on, and it does work fine with an external monitor.
I’ve heard there could be a problem with a broken video connector to the screen? Where would I find this cable?
August 28th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I will try all of those things, thank you SO much for your help!
September 27th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Dee, I am Toshiba certified and have fixed thousands of Toshiba laptops.
It sounds like your lcd cable has fallen out of the back of the screen. Pop off the rubber stickers, unscrew the screen screws and, with your fingers and from the inside-out pull off the bezel. Plug in the lcd cable and secure it with tape at multiple points on the cable. Reassemble and I’m 90 percent sure you will get internal video.
-INNOVA
September 27th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Hey INNOVA,
Thank you for your input.
I agree, if the display has no image (and no horizontal lines) but the backlight turns on, it’s likely that you have a loose connection between the video cable and the LCD screen. Reconnect the video cable and after that secure the connection with an extra piece of sticky tape.
October 1st, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I have a A105 with a somewhat different problem. The LCD fades out (sort of looks like an etch a sketch) first gray, purplish, and then I get vertical lines of different colors. If I move the LCD, as if to close it, it comes back but soon after it fades again. It started yesterday by just flickering and I accidently bumped it and it cleared up..lines started today.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:17 pm
JAMES,
Does it look like example 1 or 7 in this post? If yes, probably you have a bad screen.
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Hi Laptop Tech,
Not exactly. My lines are vertical and I can still see part of the image on the screen. I move the screen on its hinge (more tha once) and it come back. After a while (for now), it works fine.
If it is a “bad screen,” is that the motherboard issue you mention above? Should I just use it until it dies and then fix it?
Thanks!
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:51 pm
JAMES,
Test your laptop with an external screen. Using Fn+F5 keys set video output on both internal and external screen and wait until it fails again. If video on the internal screen fails but video on the external monitor is fine, most likely there is nothing wrong with the motherboard.
It’s possible that you have loose connection between video cable and screen. Just in case, you can open up the display assembly and reconnect the video cable on the back of the LCD screen.
October 10th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Man, you are all AWESOME! I had a dead Satellite A105-S1712 screen. No nothing. I turned it on one day, all gray screen. Turned it off, then on, nothing after that from the monitor. External CRT was fine. SAW Dee’s #10 post, then INNOVA #12 reply suggesting the video cable was out. Once I got to the cable plug, I thought “it’s taped, it didnt fall out”. I gently pulled away the black tape, reseated the plug…AND BANG…the screen turned on when powering up. AWESOME – you saved my mucho time and money!
October 14th, 2007 at 7:41 am
I have same symtoms as James described above..(my lines flickering are horizontal though) but slight movement of the screen clears it momentarily.. but flickering is still there! I read that possibly could be a faulty inverter (or one going bad) and/or the backlight assembly. any thoughts on this by any one in the know????? TIA
October 14th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Mike,
So, the lines go away when you move the screen, right? I would check connection between the video cable and the motherboard and try reseating the cable. It could be just loose connection.
November 12th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Dan-O Says:
October 10th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Man, you are all AWESOME! I had a dead Satellite A105-S1712 screen. No nothing. I turned it on one day, all gray screen. Turned it off, then on, nothing after that from the monitor. External CRT was fine. SAW Dee’s #10 post, then INNOVA #12 reply suggesting the video cable was out. Once I got to the cable plug, I thought “it’s taped, it didnt fall out”. I gently pulled away the black tape, reseated the plug…AND BANG…the screen turned on when powering up. AWESOME – you saved my mucho time and money!—yes! It’s working! 100% – Bravo!
November 19th, 2007 at 4:05 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite M70. When I plug my computer on the AC my screen turn dark! After I use an external monitor (which works fine) I can re-activate my monitor on batterie only. As soon as I plus my AC again, it goes dark again! Any idea?
regards,
Mike B
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I wonder if JAMES# 14 & #16 could fix his problem. Mine is exactly the same. I did every step Mr. Laptop Tech mentioned to do it: with a monitor aside Fn+F5 I have checked the video cable at both ends (motherboard and LCD) and I still can not get the image clear and in place. It flicks around. When I am about to close the screen, bang, there is a position that the image comes back but fades away again.
Do you think if I change the video cable could work ? Or if I change the LCD Inverter could also work? Does these 2 components get demage up to the point to replace the current ones by new parts ? JAMES, I would also like to hear from you.
Thanks and regards to all.
Scarpa
December 7th, 2007 at 9:39 am
sorta the same problem here, my lcd works at start (can see toshiba screen then goes blank. works fine with external crt monitor. at one point I tried to do a dual screen to show both the lcd and crt at same time, this worked and a screen came up on both saying would reset in 15 secs if didn’t click okay, I clicked okay and both went black, rebooted and was able to get crt back but lcd still refuses to show anything but toshiba logo then goes black, then is grey with white mouse then back to black again.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:10 am
somefurther info, My screen does have an image that can be seen when shining a flashlight on it so problem is a backlight. The backlight does come on when first starting but then goes out. I have a model m-105 toshiba satellite and have heard that maybe a pin needs to be dislodged but find none near hinges, does my model have its pin located in the latch area instead? thanx
December 11th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Toshiba A105-S361. The laptop boots and runs for a while then goes gray with the white lines. If I Function+F5 through the modes, I can get the screen back. Does this sound to you like loose connections or motherboard? Thnaks in advance.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Allen,
Gray screen with white HORIZONTAL lines but video on the external screen always works fine, right?
I don’t want to be wrong, but from my experience with Satellites A105, most likely this is a problem with the motherboard.
Just in case you can try reconnecting the video cable on the motherboard, it’s not difficult. This connection is located under the keyboard bezel, on the left side.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I also have a Toshiba A-105 S2716 where the screen goes gray with horizontal white lines. It stays gray even when moving the screen back and forth. I noticed that the screen looked OK when rebooting into safe mode. This showed that the video driver and chip were probably OK. Then after half an hour, it went gray again.
I noticed that the laptop was getting a bit warm and I wondered if this was a heat problem. I put a small fan on each side of the laptop and it has been running normal for 24 hours without going gray.
I suspect the CPU or case fans are not working. What do you think?
Thanks.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Hi,
I have a Toshiba A 105 S2617 and I had similar problems(the original post’s problems) with my laptop in march of this year. Toshiba was a royal pain and I ended up sending it in to be diagnosed and repaired (a pricey ordeal). They replaced the motherboard and told me that it was only guaranteed to work for something like 6 months. Earlier today, I was working on my laptop and the screen turned to a somewhat static-y black and white problem (unlike the horizontal lines to gradual complete black that i had before). After this pattern, I shut the laptop off. Now, when I try to restart the computer, the fans will start up for about a second and then stop and it will not turn on. None of the lights are on unless the Power is plugged in. Will I need to get the motherboard replaced again? Is it even worth the money replacing it this often or would I be better off just buying a new laptop? Any advice would be a godsend.
Thanks,
Katie
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Hi, I have a Toshiba Satellite A105-S4384. It has been trouble since I bought it, with 2 motherboard replacements already – it was purchased brand new this time last year. Now, when I boot it up, the screen has green pixels where there should be black (not all, just some). Everthing can still be seen, except with a green hue. If I tap the case at the rear of the LCD, the screen reverts to the correct coloring. And, conversely, a touch to the case when the screen looks good can cause the green coloring to return. Would this be the video cable?
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Paul,
Yes, it’s possible that the video cable is not making a good contact with the LCD screen and reconnecting the cable will help to fix this problem. If not, apparently you have a problem with the LCD screen itself.
December 29th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
My problems are similar to the original question. I have a Satellite A105 and after about 20 minutes of use the screen flashes. It can go on for about 2 hours with intermittent flashing but no apparent pattern. At some stage the screen will black out with only a few horizontal grey lines at about a third way down the screen. If the computer is running on battery power than the screen goes white and flashes with the horizontal lines barely visible. It does not happen on an external screen. Otherwise the computer continues to function and can be switched off by pressing the on/off button.
I have opened the computer and cleaned the heat sink and reapplied grease to the processor but it makes no difference. The computer is almost 2 years old and was getting very hot for some time with no adverse effects. Although it doesn’t get as hot now it’s been cleaned I wonder if the overheating in the past has caused irrepareable damage.
Any help would be appreciated.
January 12th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I have a problem, but my lines run vertically, with one bright green one on the left hand side. Backlight appears to be working. Tried to reseat the cable and that does nothing. Could it be the inverter (pls say yes) or is it more likely the video chip (pls say no). External monitor works fine.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Jim,
Unfortunately this is not inverter problem. If you still can see image on the screen and the screen is bright, it’s not the inverter.
What kind of lines you are talking about? Are they about 1-3 pixel wide? If yes, this is the LCD screen problem.
Take a look at the example 2 in this article:
Laptop has bad video on the LCD screen. What is wrong?
Does it look like your screen?
January 15th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
hello i have an issue my sitter dropped her earing in the cd drive as it was closing she somewhat opened the bottom to retrieve it, which she did, i ask her was it worth more than my laptop all she could say is its worth 1,000. words now my screen has no pic. i need to know where the 2 strips connect to both ends. i have a toshiba satellite a105 s2101.
thank you
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I have a toshiba a105-s361 and I have the same problem with the grey screen with horizontal lines running through it. It happens after it starts to boot and as it is going into the log-on to (profile) screen it goes grey with the lines. I can sometimes get it the lines to go away by hitting the function key + F1 cycling through the external monitor setups it will sometime work. Also if I boot into a knoppix liveCD it does the same thing but as soon as I hit the function + F5 macro it works perfectly the grey goes away and stay away until I shut linux down and then it goes black.. very strange.. Any ideas?
January 26th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Regarding the loose connection into the LCD on the back of the LCD, that is definitely my problem (same symptoms as above for an A105), but apparently it isn’t simply a loose connection, because i can plug it in and just the slightest jiggle in the connection makes it go out again…then a further jiggle makes it come back on. Is that a bad LCD, bad cable, or something else?
February 4th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite A215 – S7416 and i am expirencing some problems. My notebook will boot up fine and work properly, but every once in a while the screen will go black and become unresponsive. All music stops, but the computer seems to still be running. The blacklight is still on i believe, but the screen just turns black. If i manually reboot it, it will work fine… that is, until it turns black again a few hours later. My notebook is less than two months old! Any clue what is going on? Help would be appreciated. Thank you.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
iman,
Do not try fixing it yourself. The laptop is still under warranty. Take it to the authorized repair center or send directly to Toshiba.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I have a problem with my Toshiba Satellite screen. It has an intermitant fault which gives it a grey mesh like appearance and the image is frozen.
I’ve jiggled and wiggled it, nudged it and teased it, around and around. The result is I know where my problem lies but I do not know if there are any good remebies. It’s not : the motherboard, video cable or video / lcd connector.
It appear to be where the lcd’s circuit board connects into the lcd itself. If I gently touch (press or pull) the metal strip at the very top of the lcd the problem goes away for a while (seconds or minutes). It seems like the lcd itself is not ‘seated’ properly at this point and the connections are made or broken accordingly.
Does anyone know how to re-seat the lcd onto the lcd’s circuit board connections ?
thanks
February 13th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Me again.
I’d still like to know how to fix my screen problem properly but here’s a work around and it’s as cheap as cheap can be but very very effective…….
I’ve used a miniture bulldog-clip (you know – the larger than a paper-clip but still a paper-clip thingy).
Anyway I’ve simply clipped one onto the top part of the screen where the problem lies and hey-presto my screen problem has gone away. The screen faca even fits neatly over it. Now that’s saved a stack of cash and cost me a few pennies.
Anyway if there’s a real solution out there then please do let me know – thanks in advance.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:59 am
At first the screen of my Toshiba (Satellite A105 S361) was black with gray horizontal lines. Then became no longer work. I read on a site that could be a BIOS’s problem. I updated it with a new version from Toshiba’s site. My notebook is running perfectly now.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Help! my toshiba satellite a105-s4114 recently started freezing up and I would have to hold the power key down to shut it off. the problem then got worse and when I turned it on it gave me an error message.. hardware malfunction, memory parity error, the system has halted. the computer then would not even start windows. So on the recommendation of a toshiba representative, over the phone I was told to do a system restore. My laptop will turn on now, but it will freeze up still, but not as often. Also, the windows clock is not keeping up the time.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I had the same problem as the author of the question – horizontal lines, screen turning black and working external monitor. All that happened after the laptop was on for 10-15 minutes. When I turned it off and after awhile on again, it would work fine for 15 minutes and then the issue would start to happen again.
I tried to replace the whole LCD panel, but it didn’t help. I was going to buy a new laptop, so I just wanted to mess around with the old one. First thing I did – I upgraded BIOS to most current version. I did it just to see how BIOS upgrade works, and it fixed the problem!
I don’t know what was wrong, maybe some voltage settings for video chipset. I have been using my laptop for 7 months since then, and the problem never happened again. I’m still using it.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Sorry, forgot to mention, I have Toshiba Satellite A105-S2712.
March 15th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Andy,
Thank you for your comment.
I’m pretty sure I tried upgrading the BIOS before and it didn’t help. It’s possible that Toshiba released another BIOS version witch fixes this problem. Apparently this version wasn’t available at the time I was fixing my laptops.
If I see the same problem again I’ll try updating the BIOS first.
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
I had the same issue: screen flickering then failing with grey horizontal lines on a black backlit screen. Eliminating AC power input resulted in a rainbow effect on screen. The issues started when I had some electrical issues in my house that rendered the laptop, A/C, and dishwasher unusable.
The utility company’s repairman wanted to re-format my harddrive (huh?). I decided to flash the BIOS myself as recommended above before agreeing to this unnecessary re-format. (Fortunately, I refused to let the repairman take my HDD.)
Flashing the BIOS was new to me, but was fairly straightforward. I downloaded the update from Toshiba and followed the included instructions to burn a bootable CD on another laptop. The only surprise was that the BIOS update started immediately after booting from the CD and kept re-booting without any opportunity to exit the process. I had to decide when to shut off power between flashing and rebooting. I shut it off when the screen said it was booting from the CD.
I did the BIOS install yesterday and everything is working fine. Thanks so much for the info. And I hope the details above are useful to anyone attempting a DIY repair.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Hi my laptop is showing a blue screen with saying
Stop: c0000221 {Bad Image Checksum}
The image gdi32.dll is possibly corrupt. The header checksum does not match the computed checksum. Please help.
Thank you
April 10th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Simma,
From this description it’s hard to tell what is wrong. First of all, test memory and hard drive. You can use Memtest86+ utility for testing memory and Hitachi’s drive fitness test for testing the hard drive. I linked to both utilities in Useful Links.
If both parts pass test without any errors, your problem can be software related. Try reinstalling the operating system.
May 19th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I’ve got 2 toshiba a105′s and one of them did the same thing, after formatting the hard drive and reinstall the base install it has never done it since.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:16 am
For the past 2 weeks have had what I call the “Toshiba Grey Screen Syndrome” on my Satellite A105-S361 notebook, tried everything and Toshiba only offered me 3 options, pay $35.00 for phone tech support which ‘might’ fix the problem, return the notebook to Toshiba with $400.00 and they would fix it, or take it to an affiliated Toshiba repair facility for “mucho dinero”! None of the options were viable for a $200.00 notebook. I read on this thread about others who tried a bios update and downloaded V2.00 from Toshiba and installed it straight from Windows after hooking up an auxiliary monitor so I could see what to instal. VIOLA!!! It now works better than the day it came out of the factory box, with a far brighter screen and no more flickers. Toshiba must be taking lessons from Microsoft in selling a faulted product and then wanting you to pay more to make it run like it should.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Please email answer to mademoisellebelle33@hotmail.com. I have had a toshiba satellite since Feb 08. Bought brand new and has a protection plan from best buy, who is working on it now. I am just a worrier and am afraid they are gonna not be able to fix it or something. Just trying to see if anyone has had this problem or knows what it is. I went to turn it on and the toshiba screen came on, then the screen that opens windows, but it just stayed on that screen forever. then it went to a screen that said windows failed to launch either due to an external storage device failure, dvd/cd rom drive failure,or hard drive failure. I tried the recovery disc, followed all instructions on case. It seemed to be working at first because a “loading files” screen came on, the bar filled then it changed to a black screen with a white mouse. It stayed frozen like that for hours. I did not know what to do, so I tried the second disk and it did not do anything(stayed on black screen w/ mouse). I then turned it into best buy. they said they usually take ten days to return, but did not tell me what was wrong or if it was fixable. I don’t know if they will have to give me a new one if they can’t fix it, just trying to figure out what happened! (I do not have an external storage device) also, never had problem like this….
July 25th, 2008 at 8:33 am
I have a Satellit A105 2716. I was listenting to music outside in the shade on a very hot day and the computer shut off. Now the screen flickers, sometimes gray horizontal lines appear, and often it goes to black (it usually comes back after I hit he enter
key.) The hotter the computer is, the more the flickering increases. Last night I tried to watch a DVD, but after about 15 mins, had to shut the machine off. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Laura,
I would try updating the BIOS first. You can download the latest version from the Toshiba website. Make sure to read instructions before you run the BIOS update utility.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105 S2717 and the screen is black. There is no faint image just the light giving the appearance of a dark-grey screen as you get closer to the screen. My external monitor works.
I purchases a new screen to see if that was the problem, and the screen was a sea-green-blue color with horizontal lines and there was a cloudy haze from the top right corner to just about the bottom left corner.
I then connected a working screen from my M115 model toshiba and there was the original black-greyish screen again.
I checked the video cable (wiggled them a bit) and inverter connections to no avail.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I own a satellite a105-s4134. I few month ago I started noticing the the gray fuzzy lines. They would disappear if i tilted the screen. I did this for a while but would come back a few days later, then a hours, then eventually I would not be able to see anything on screen unless I tilting the screen. Eventually the screen just turned a dark gray and i could do anything no matter how I tilted. I took it a computer guy and he said its probably just the inverter board. My inverter board came in today and of course no luck. I opened up my machine and tried missing with the video cable on both ends. It did something because now my screen when i turn it on is a bright white screen. I messed with contrast that wasn’t it. I plugged it into an external monitor and everything works fine. I updated with the latest bios while i was there and still nothing. Is there anything else you guys can recommend. I’m a poor college student and can’t afford a new laptop or expensive repairs. Thanks for all the help before hand.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Hi I’m having similar problems to most of these posts. I’m getting a grey screen with lines on it but if I torque the screen the picture comes up fine. I have checked the cable at the back of the screen and that’s in OK and I have also hooked it up to a Monitor and that also works OK. The only thing I haven’t tried is the connection on the mobo because I cant get to it. Am i right in thinking its the LCD that’s broke anyway seeing as works when I torque the screen?
Thanks
September 11th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Boppy,
If the image comes back to normal when you torque the screen, it’s likely you have a problem with the screen. I wouldn’t think it’s related to the connection issue between the video cable and motherboard.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:31 am
OK thanks for the reply
I guess ill just chuck it away then
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I cant even find the bios update to install it…link anyone please?
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Go here.
1. Select laptop family. In your case Satellite.
2. Select laptop model and click “Show Results”.
3. Click on Downloads.
4. In the top drop down menu select OS (1st menu) and BIOS (2nd menu). Click “Show Results”.
5. Download and install the latest BIOS.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
i have a toshiba satellite a105-s4164 and it used to work fine but now i get this message about a minute after i start it:
the application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). click ok to terminate.
then it just shuts down. well, more like blacks out but remains on. i dont have the recovery cd since the previous owner didnt give me one. and i have no clue how to manually reboot the system.
if anyone can help explain what the message means or can offer advice, i’d greatly appreciate it. :]
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
it also says:
“the instruction at ’0x6bfa9e6e’ referenced memory at ’0x6bfa9e6e.’ the memory could not be read.”
help?
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Rizzi,
I guess that could be memory related problem. Maybe the memory module is bad.
Do you have two memory modules installed into your laptop? Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each memory module separately. This way you can find the faulty module.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:24 am
I Have a Toshiba loptop dynabook 1850 sa120c/4 my problem is when i turn on the power, nothing was appeared and the fan is not working and cd drive too.There is no boot also just the power light and caps lock.What should i do
November 9th, 2008 at 12:46 am
I have been dealing with screen flickering & horizontal lines. Was told it was the LCD inverter, so I bought one off of ebay, installed it, and still had the same problem. I found this website, read comment number 44 and did the BIOS update, and it works perfectly again!!! I am soo happy to have it working back to normal! So for anyone out there with screen flicker, try a BIOS update! Very easy!
December 6th, 2008 at 7:13 am
I would visit the toshiba support website it could be a bios problem or you video drivers are bad the support website has all the drivers and updates.
December 19th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I’ve had a strange problem lately. My Satellite Toshiba laptop will run fine for about fifteen minutes or so. Then, the screen starts to display a series of vertical rows of horizontal static bars, about an inch or so wide and spread evenly apart. Then the laptop locks up. If you force a shutdown, it refuses to start up again until you pop some of the parts out and reset them. This has happened twice now, with less working time each time. Any idea of what this could be?
December 20th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Cori,
Test your laptop with an external monitor. If the same problem happens with the external video output, it’s either bad RAM or there is something wrong with the video card.
You can run Memtest86+ utility to test memory. If it passes test, apparently you have bad video card.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
toshiba satellite a105-s4064 Screen does not work. When you first cut on the laptop you get a greyish looking screen with some lines going horizontal lines/bars across bottom, then it fades to black(within a min).
Had a problem with it for a while(months). Started off you could move the screen to certain spots and it would work. then lately(past month or two) it was just barely open and it would work. This week the screen wont come on at all.
It does work on a external monitor.
I have tried another LCD, backlight, and updated bios to 2.0, there was bios up to v6 but no one here had talked about that so I did not upgrade that far.
would that leave the inverter and the video chipset?
Please help!
December 28th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Brian S,
Sounds like a problem with the LCD cable, isn’t it?
I think it’s safe to upgrade to the version 6. If you read the change history, it says:
BIOS version 5.10 (and higher) can be used with Windows XP & Vista
So, the latest BIOS should work with both operating systems.
It’s not the inverter problem. The LCD still lights up, so it’s not inverter.
Chipset? Possible, but try upgrading the BIOS first.
December 28th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Ok, I tried v6 of the BIOS update, same thing.
heres a little more info.
When i try the internal LCD, before it fades out(within a min). The screen will go out to a dark blank screen w/ no lines. If I look at it from a top angle it still looks grey.
in other words the lines go away as soon as i touch the cable and it gets blank.
Does this sound like your chipset problems you had on other laptops?
thanks!
December 29th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Brian S,
In the previous comments you said:
It has to be either bad LCD cable or motherboard. If the LCD always works on startup for a short period of time and only after goes off, most likely it’s related to the motherboard.
December 30th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I just dismantled my A105-S4384 in trying to troubleshoot my screen problems. After using my system with a dual monitor set up for a few months my internal LCD started to cut out.
Typically, the screen would work for 15-60 minutes before it turned off. Overheating was a suggested problem but when I dismantled the laptp, the internals were quite clean and now fully blown out with canned air.
I hadn’t noticed at first that what was happening was that the back light seems to turn off. I was able to read the screen with an external light near the screen. I am wondering if it could have been a bad cable all along.
I received the same nonsensical advice other have and Toshiba was no help. The biggest technical problem I have now is getting my keyboard cable re-installed!!!!
Is there a special tool for this?
December 30th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
prfcptatrn,
No, you don’t need a special tool for that. I just replaced the keyboard on a Satellite A105-S1013 one minute ago .
1. Lift up the locking tab about 2-3 millimeters up. WARNING! Do not disconnect the tab from the connector. Simply lift it up so there is a gap between the tab and the connector. Take a look at this picture, it’s kinda similar.
2. Insert the flat ribbon cable into the connector.
3. Push the tab down until the keyboard cable is locked inside the connector.
December 31st, 2008 at 9:39 am
Thanks! Of course I DID pull it up too far before I saw this post
I have my system up and working without a functional internal LCD. My keyboard cable will have to be revisited when I have another half day to screw with it.
I had run full system and video diagnostics on my laptop in the middle of all this and the video subsystem came up fine.
Since the image on the internal display seems fine except for the backlight, I suspect I just have a bad screen. Is it possible that it could be something else, before I go and drop 100-300 on a replacement?
December 31st, 2008 at 9:51 am
prfctpatrn,
1. Bad inverter board – most likely.
2. Bad backlight lamp (inside the LCD screen) – less likely.
3. Bad video cable – rare.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am
OK any recommendations for sourcing the inverter board?
December 31st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I managed to locate a used inverter on eBay with warranty. I will let you know how it works out.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Just wanted to leave a update for everyone.
A new cable going to the LCD from the motherboard fixed the problem.
everything works like it should now!
thanks for the tips
January 9th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Good for you Brian.. I wasn’t so lucky. I finally received my new inverter and the problem remains. After installing the new inverter and booting my system, I Fn-F5 from an external only to a dual display and the internal LCD back light went orange momentarily and then went off.
So now I am down to a video cable LCD or motherboard
January 13th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I have a toshiba satelitte, I was dropped maybe a foot and the screen broke. I have replaced the screen and it always lights up grey when the computer is on the external monitor works fine. Sometimes the screen will flicker and show a poor quality image for a while with the f5 moniotr select feature. I have replaced the lcd balast with no change. Any ideas
January 13th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Sorry I have replace the inverter see coment above.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Matt,
Could be loose connection between the LCD cable and motherboard. The connector is located close to the left speaker, right under the keyboard bezel. Push on the LCD cable connector, maybe it was dislocated and will not make good connection with the motherboard.
If you decide to reconnect the cable, please read the following.
Be careful when you plug the cable back into the connector on the motherboard because there is no easy access to the connector. There are many thin pins inside the connector and if you are not careful enough, you can damage them while connecting the cable. Make sure the cable plug is positioned correctly before you push it into the connector.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I finally received my new aftermarket Samsung LCD I acquired for $80 with shipping and replaced my A105 LCD. I am back in business. I spent $50 too much replacing the inverter, but overall I saved at least $350 over the “street” repair price.
Thanks for all your help!
February 6th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
About 18 months ago my Satellite A105 screen went black, but worked fine on an external monitor. Took it to 2 different shops who said I needed a new LCD screen for over $300. I decided to buy new laptop instead, and put the Toshiba in a drawer. Today I decided to see if it would be self fixable when my son started using MY new laptop all the time. Found this website and tried Fn key first, then new BIOS, finally thought “what do I lose?” and took the screen off and checked the plug in the back. After pulling off the black tape, and replacing the plug, the screen now works fine. Just did some updating, and my son is now using it. Thanks for all the advice, very helpful to a total computer imbecile.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Hey Laptop Tech and all,
I have the A105-S4074 and have the same symptoms as many listed before me. Just updated my bios and it seemed to help. However, there is still some flickering and distortion, but it’s fine after I move the lcd up and down a few times. Is this signs of a faulty LCD?
Once again, connecting the laptop to an external monitor works fine and the video cable is fine too(I replaced it).
That leaves the LCD panel and the video chip in the motherboard, right?
Any ideas as to how I can figure out that it’s the LCD panel?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
February 15th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Add’l note: When I “torque” the LCD a few times, the distortions go away.
Thanks!
March 4th, 2009 at 1:02 am
I am having a related issue. I have a HP Pavillion DV9000 and it does not boot up. when the power button is pressed the lights turn on and itll humm however when the screen comes on it is lit but black with a bright gray strip at the top that fades to black after about 2 mins. no bios screen or nothing after that. im thinking video card or chip?
March 4th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
chris,
Will the laptop work with an external monitor? Can you get anything on the external monitor?
By the way, you should read this post:
Free repair for some out-of-warranty HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario laptops
March 4th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Amy,
Sorry for a late response, I missed your question somehow.
If the video cable has been replaced but you still experience the same problem, most likely it’s related to the LCD screen.
You said the external monitor works fine, so most likely it’s not the video chip.
Again, sounds like a bad screen to me.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Here is my problem I have the A105-S2716
The screen flickers and then eventually goes black. As long as I put a fan underneath the lapton the screen is fine. Also my power cord only works sometimes, I have to move it around to get a good connection. For the screen problem
I assume its a overheating problem can I fix itis this right?
With the av outlet should I buy a new cord or do you think its the computer input not the cord.
Thanks in advance
April 12th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Don,
The screen flickers and then eventually goes black. As long as I put a fan underneath the lapton the screen is fine. Also my power cord only works sometimes, I have to move it around to get a good connection. I assume its a overheating problem can I fix itis this right?Not sure about that. You can try cleaning the heat sink and fan, but your problem could be related to the motherboard.
Could be bad power cord or there is something wrong with the DC-IN jack inside the laptop. You cannot tell which one is failing until you test the power adapter with a voltmeter. You’ll have to connect voltmeter to the power plug and touch/move the cable. If the output voltage goes to 0 when you move the cable, apparently there is a short inside the cable and the whole adapter has to be replaced. If the voltage output is stable, most likely your problem is related to the DC-IN jack inside your laptop. Sorry, there is no simple answer for your question.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:15 am
The BIOS update did the trick for me. Thanks!!
April 30th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Please Help!
I have had a toshiba satellite A105-4084 for quite a while and have begun to experience monitor problems. I have experienced the horizontal grey lines, multi-colored vertical lines, ect. After dismantling the LCD covering and ensuring that the LCD cable connection was fine I discovered that applying torque to the upper left corner of the screen fixed all of the problems. Unfortunately, as soon as I remove pressure from the corner the screen again fades and lines begin to form. At this point I was pretty confident that the problem had to do with the LCD circuit board connections very similar to Jonny’s problems (post 40,41) . Reading about all the success with updating the BIOS convinced me to try this step. After installing the new BIOS and having the computer reboot itself the screen has gone dark while the desktop is faintly visible with external light. It seems as if the backlight is no longer functioning. Could it be possible that updating the BIOS caused the backlight to be less active or completely shut down? And if so is there a way to go back to the default BIOS that had not given me any problems until then? Also I am convinced that the problem all along has been with the connections along the top of the screen (unless the backlight just died on me) any suggestions before I visit the repair shop?
Thanks
May 5th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Dave,
That description sound like a problem with the LCD controller board. You’ll have to replace the screen.
To be honest, I’m not sure why the backlight failed after updating the BIOS. Something like that never happened to me before.
The laptop still works with an external monitor and you can see what you are doing, right?
I guess you can download the previous version of the BIOS and try reflashing it again. I’m not sure if it helps, but you can try.
They cannot fix the LCD controller board. They will quote you a new LCD screen. You can try replacing the screen yourself.
May 9th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Thanks for the help!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105-S2141 that I recently replaced the power adapter since it had a short or splice in the cable.
After it was replaced, it has started to shut off periodically without warning while I am working on it. Have not located any issues in the error log (problem report).
Any suggestions? Anyone?
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Thanks for this wonderful post! I’m working on a toshiba satellite a215-s5837 for a friend. When I turn it on I only get a gray screen…no lines, just a straight gray screen. If I hook up an external monitor the external monitor works fine, so I’m guessing that its not a motherboard problem. I have also tried an ubuntu live dvd to see if it would show up on the laptop, but no go. When I did the f5 + fn trick and set both the laptop and the external monitor as the outputs the external monitor worked, while the laptop kept the same gray screen. Should I try to reseat the laptops video cable? It seems since there is at least a gray screen that the cable is not the problem.
Thanks
Antonio
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Also, after a few minutes the gray screen will turn black, and when I touch a key or touch the mouse pad the monitor comes back onto the gray screen. Not sure if this can give you any insights into what might possibly be going on.
thanks
Antonio
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Antonio Perez,
Check connection between the video cable and motherboard. Make sure the video cable is plugged all the way in.
I just fixed a laptop with exactly the same problem, it was a Satellite L305. For some reason the video cable wasn’t plugged all the way into the connector. After I reconnected the cable the video appeared on the screen.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Well took the laptop apart while I was awaiting (your fast) reponse. The cable is plugged in, and it appears to be plugged in on the back of the lcd screen. I’m going to slap this back together and try to see what happens.
Thanks…
July 26th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
My screen is doing the same thing and I was wanting to know how to update the BIOS,
Thank you
September 8th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Hello, i am working on a A104-S4034. The LCD screen displays black and blue lines, it seems like the owner has already tried to update the bios. The monitor output still works fine, I am thinking it might be the LCD controller board.
The following address will take you to a photograph of the screen
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c359/danielosborn/DSC05379.jpg
September 8th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Dan,
I think it’s bad LCD screen. You’ll have to replace the screen.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Hey,
i have a Toshiba Satellite A100-773, my screen refuses to work, its just black. i connected it with the external cable, it shows green horizontal lines n then after a while red n then back to green again.My laptop is not in warranty period anymore, please help me fix my problem at home only.
Thank You
October 20th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Tanushree,
Sounds like a problem with the video card. I think you’ll have to replace the video card if it’s a discrete module in your laptop or replace the motherboard if the video card is integrated.
December 7th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
My toshiba A105 is having problems with the screen. Similar to others there are horizontal lines that distort the image and will get progressively worse until there are vertical lines and you can see no image. Vertical lines are like #1 here http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/08/17/bad-video-on-lcd-screen/
Only thing is that its only on the lower 2-3 inches of the screen. I have put a external monitor on and there is no problems with that image. If I am lucky moving the screen will produce a image and sometimes it will stay and others it will start with the horizontal lines.
I have checked the back of the LCD and everything seems connected there, tonight we are going to open it up to the motherboard and check there.
My questions are could the LCD be bad only in that section and are the connections to the motherboard soldered in place or plugged in that could be loose.
December 7th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Oops my bad, I see that the connections are soldered in place on the motherboard from the first post. Then what connections are needed to be check to make sure they are connected at the motherboard.
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Ok, Satellite A105-2101 Powers on fine but screen is completely black. I connected to a external monitor and the external showed up fine. Read all the post and began working.. Turned it off then rebooted and held down FN+F5 and nothing, then removed battery and bezel to check connector on the back of the monitor. I unplugged it then plugged it back in and still nothing. Updated to the latest BIOS and nothing. So I pulled the battery again then the keyboard strip so I could get to the monitor plug on the motherboard. Pulled it out then put it back in then put everything back together and powered it on. The screen came on with no problems on boot up….. Thanks everyone……
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Jay,
I fixed many laptops with no image on the LCD screen simply by reconnecting the video cable. I’m glad you fixed your problem. Very good troubleshooting steps!
June 8th, 2010 at 2:27 am
hi this is Andrew,
my toshiba satellite A100 has a problem, when i turn it on, the light flashes (orange in colour) and disapears. But there is an image on the background. please help
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 am
Hi, i have recently changed the LCD wire bundle. After putting it back together, there were vertical lines on the monitor, i’ve turned it off and took the battery out and after 30 minutes put the power back on and this time faded picture came on. Now when i push the top right while pulling on the left lower corner or, torque it counter clockwise, it comes on good. could it be due to the either MB connection or LCD connection?
Thank you all,
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:11 am
Mir,
Sounds more like LCD screen failure to me. I think you’ll have to replace the screen.
November 1st, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I have a Toshiba L305 S8583, the screen does not come on but the computer works, the external monitor does not work either, if I remove one memory module, at least I can see the screen blinks and the whole computer stops. If I install only the other memory module the computer works but no screen , Help!
December 7th, 2010 at 2:14 am
I have a toshiba notebook and it gets a white screen most of the time. How do I update BIOS or any other suggestions. Its only 2 years old and of course out of warranty.
December 8th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
roxanne,
It’s possible that connection between the video cable and LCD screen is bad.
I would try reconnecting the cable first ans see if it fixes the problem.
December 24th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I have a Toshiba A105-s4211 satellite. Have had issues with a screen in past months with flicker and freezing, but I always manadged to find and angle under witch image woudl work well or after refreshing it through display output preferences… as of few weeks it is only black with gray horizontal line in the midle and operational first row of pixels that in time tend to expand into bright vertical lines. As I put external monitor out (working great) I can also notice that vertical lines end up being of same colors as the screen image should be.
Many people report similar hardware issues. I upgraded my BIOS to version 6 from within Windows XP but that did not help. Also I tried to detach and reattach the screen connector next to left speaker and it did not make any difference.
Any other ideas?
I am not in USA so any hardware parts would take long to get and would be costly for this mature laptop
February 11th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
i have a tecra a8. lcd comes on, then goes black in a few minutes.
external monitor works fine…
TIA!
July 18th, 2011 at 5:03 am
I have a problem on my HP Pavilion dv4. It fades some rainbow colors when it is fully charge, and gray line/lines appear. Could anybody can fix this problem? (I’m just a kid, well, I need your help guys!)
August 24th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
My lcd screens have not working properly.one is black until i press the up left corner of the lcd screen.the other has a yellow vertical line and not responding the laptop . i have to press the up left (maybe up right as well) corner of the screen to make it work,but the yellow vertical line stays.
any ideas, thank in advance.
i believe there is long wired rubber attached to the top of the panel, i think that could be the problem.
October 24th, 2011 at 8:32 am
I have a Dell laptop. I dropped it and the behavious has been erratic. Works fine for sometime then mouse gets disabled and streaming horizontal lines appear in four separate columns. What should be done? Please advise.
October 24th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
@ saison,
It’s hard to tell what is causing the problem. Try reseating both memory modules. It’s possible they got loose when you dropped the laptop.
November 7th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I have a Toshiba satellite p105 that has screen or graphic problems. It won’t let me run any windows system with the nvideo drive, the screen goes black. But I can run ubuntu on it and the screen works but only one side is visable. The other side has verticle lines. No Line running in safe mode.
I also have a HP Pavillion dv9000 that has a problem with booting up. I just won’t. I think it has to do with the bios or something. I was wondering if it was possible to fix one laptop using some parts from the other. Any infor will be greatly appreciated
thank you
H
November 7th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
harmony,
Test your Toshiba Satellite P105 laptop running Ubuntu OS (normal mode) on external monitor. Does external video work normal or you see sage graphic problems? If the same problem appears on both, internal and external monitors, this is graphics card related failure.
Try removing memory modules one by one. Test the laptop with each memory module separately. If one of the modules is bad, it will stop the laptop from booting. Removing modules one by one helps to find out if memory is bad.
By the way, does your HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop turns on at all? Do you see any LED lights when you push on the power button?
No you cannot use parts, unless it’s something generic like RAM or hard drive. All laptops are different.
November 8th, 2011 at 7:43 am
Toshiba Satellite P105 laptop running Ubuntu OS (normal mode) No problems with it hooked up to an external monitor. Its strange because when I tried to install winxp, vista or win7 on this laptop, the monitor would work for a bit, until I install the nvidia driver. Maybe I should try to install the nvidia drive for ubuntu and keep the external monitor attached?
I also have a HP Pavillion dv9000 that has a problem with booting up. I just won’t. I think it has to do with the bios or something.
the HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop does not turn on at all. The only LED light is when the ac adapter is plugged in. No lights at all when power button is pushed. I believe there was some sort of recall on these but it only last for 1 year and I missed it.
November 8th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
@ Harmony,
There could be a problem with the graphics card on your Toshiba Satellite P105 laptop.
Could be motherboard failure. There was a recall related to the graphics card failure – known issue with some Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 laptops.
If you have nothing to lose you can try this method: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2011/02/23/fix-laptop-motherboard-with-failed-nvidia-graphics-chip/
November 8th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Toshiba Sattelite p105 – I think I worded my response to you wrong. There are no problems at all with an external monitor. In fact I took this laptop when my nephew was going to throw it out. I wanted something I could hook up to my tv via the svideo and watch movies. This has worked fine even though the monitor on the laptop goes blank, gets lines, etc. I can still see a perfect picture on my tv and/or external monitor.
The HP my friend was throwing out and I took that too. (I can’t resist trying to fix things). I tried to call HP re the recall but it was only a 1 year recall and I missed it.
Since both laptops have the Nvidia chip, I wonder if they both could have the same problems?
It is just a shame to have to dispose of these laptops because of chip.
In any event, I thank you for the help. It is greatly appreciated. I will see if I can try that link you sent me. I’ll keep you posted if it works.
thanks again
H
November 8th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Harmony,
Does the external monitor work fine only with Ubuntu OS or it also works fine with Windows OS?
From the description I posted in quote it sounds like a problem with one of the following:
1. bad connection between the video cable and screen.
2. faulty cable.
3. faulty screen.
November 8th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Does the external monitor work fine only with Ubuntu OS or it also works fine with Windows OS?
From the description I posted in quote it sounds like a problem with one of the following:
1. bad connection between the video cable and screen.
2. faulty cable.
3. faulty screen.
When I tried it with Vista and win7 the laptop and external monitor would work only with the generic video driver. Once I installed the Nvidia driver, I could not see anything on either screen. Ubuntu has a Nvidia driver but I never installed it. Right now its just using the Generic Video driver that Ubuntu installed.
November 8th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
@ Harmony,
I think your laptop has a problem with the graphics chip. I’ve seen it failing like that – working fine with a basic driver but not working with normal driver.
It works with Ubuntu OS because it’s using a generic drive which probably not loading the graphics chip completely.
Some Satellite P105 laptops have a discrete video card. You can check your laptop specs. Unfortunately, external video cards are not cheap.