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.
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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 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?
February 15th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Add’l note: When I “torque” the LCD a few times, the distortions go away.
Thanks!
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 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.
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!
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 13th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Sorry I have replace the inverter see coment above.
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 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 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
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.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am
OK any recommendations for sourcing the inverter board?
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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!
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
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.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
it also says:
“the instruction at ‘0×6bfa9e6e’ referenced memory at ‘0×6bfa9e6e.’ the memory could not be read.”
help?
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. :]
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.