Help i have a Toshiba L500-202 and it beeps when you start it up

Solution
OK, that seems to be a problem with the memory, possibly the video adapter. Your biggest problem right now is the fact that this Toshiba is rather old, and any assistance is going to involve a lot Internet searching and screwdrivers.

Before things get tricky, try this:
Shut down the laptop and remove the power cable. Flip the laptop over and remove the battery. Then plug in the power cable, and start the laptop again (without the battery). This probably doesn't do anything, but try it anyway.

1. Do you have any experience with taking a laptop apart with screwdrivers? If YES, skip to 3 below. If NO, do you know some one with even basic computer skills (friend or family)? If YES, enlist the help of this person and go to 3. If NO, go to...
OK, that seems to be a problem with the memory, possibly the video adapter. Your biggest problem right now is the fact that this Toshiba is rather old, and any assistance is going to involve a lot Internet searching and screwdrivers.

Before things get tricky, try this:
Shut down the laptop and remove the power cable. Flip the laptop over and remove the battery. Then plug in the power cable, and start the laptop again (without the battery). This probably doesn't do anything, but try it anyway.

1. Do you have any experience with taking a laptop apart with screwdrivers? If YES, skip to 3 below. If NO, do you know some one with even basic computer skills (friend or family)? If YES, enlist the help of this person and go to 3. If NO, go to 2.

2. You have a very old and discontinued laptop that suffers from a very serious hardware problem. With little to no computer experience and no-one to call upon your options are limited to buying another laptop - new or used.

I'm going to use this YouTube video as a reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45DxjfJXmks

3. Check RAM: Remove the 2 RAM modules and re-insert 1 module. Using only the power cable, start the laptop. Did it help? If YES, re-insert the module, screw the lid back on, put the battery back and off you go. If NO, remove the first module and try with the other module. Try switching the modules from one socket to the other - just to check if it's a defective module or a defective socket.

4. According to the beep code, this is a RAM issue, and if this procedure doesn't solve the problem it means that 1 and maybe both RAM modules are defective. You can buy RAM modules for your Toshiba on eBay, e.g. from this UK seller:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RAM-Memory-Toshiba-Satellite-L500-202-1GB-2GB-Laptop-Memory-OFFTEK/112569959554?hash=item1a35b14482:m:m1FWga5gDZmThmo33xBAFIw

This is going to be a 'leap of faith' because I can't guarantee that the Toshiba will work even with new RAM modules. As I said earlier, it's a very old machine and there could be additional hardware problems preventing the laptop from starting. You have to decide whether you're willing to invest £20 to £40 on this old machine.

5. If the laptop still doesn't start, you can go through the YouTube video and apply some thermal paste to the CPU. This requires a small tube of thermal paste and lots of disassembly. It also requires quite a lot of computer experience or a friend with such experience.

Summing up, if removing/re-inserting the RAM modules doesn't help, my advice for your particular situation is to get a new laptop for the reasons indicated in 2 above.

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.
 
Solution