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.
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!
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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.
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.
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