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 28th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I will try all of those things, thank you SO much for your help!
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 2:49 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 2:36 pm
The screen does nothing at all, there are no lines, no lights, no gray-ness, nothing.
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 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 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 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 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 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.