Disassembled laptop, now it doesn't start

Hopscotch88

Honorable
Jul 10, 2013
4
0
10,510
Hi there.

I have an old laptop (2008 Toshiba Satellite) that was overheating a lot, so yesterday I opened it up and cleaned the fan. I put it back together and it worked fine.

Today I can't start it because it's not getting power from the charger -- the power leds light up for a second but they won't stay on. I opened it up again. When I connect the charger, an orange light starts blinking in the motherboard, making a soft clicking sound as it blinks; sometimes it blinks for a couple times and then the power led comes on, but when I disconnect the charger and try again it's back to the blinking orange light. Can someone help me fix it?

Thank you very much!

EDIT: I just realized something: if the battery's in when I plug the charger, the power and battery leds light up for a second and then turn off. Without the battery, the power led lights up and stays on but if I press the power button it shuts down immediately.
 

Hopscotch88

Honorable
Jul 10, 2013
4
0
10,510
Hi jarotech, thanks for replying. I did that, that's how I know that when I plug the charger a blinking orange light lights up in the motherboard, making a quiet clicking sound. Sometimes it stays like this, other times it stops and the power led lights up but when I try to start the computer it shuts right off.

I'm guessing it's a power issue, I just don't know if it's the charger, the power jack or the motherboard...
 

Hopscotch88

Honorable
Jul 10, 2013
4
0
10,510
Hi jarotech, thanks for all your help.

This laptop is driving me crazy. Every time I check on it, it does a different thing. The only thing I did was take the top off to show you what happened in the mobo, and now that orange light doesn't blink anymore. It lights up for a second and then the power led comes on -- every time. But when I press the power button the pc shuts off immediately. Hope the video is clear: http://sendvid.com/3lrp6l46

And this is what happens when I plug it in WITH the battery in: http://sendvid.com/rdkv47zp (the noise is coming from the battery). If I turn it on like this it boots regularly, until the power eventually fails after a few seconds.

I'm sorry to be such a bother, but I really have no clue what's going on with it, and hours of google searches haven't helped me either.