Toshiba Satellite A505-6033 Disaster

[Armaggedon22]

Hi,

I have a Satellite A505-6033 and it has had problems from the start, they tried to fixed it at BestBuy and then other places but the fix is never permanent. The computer screen goes blank sometimes and then it will not work for various reboots, sometimes it wont work after a few hours or the next day so that "kind" of rules out overheating issues, although it can still be ONE of the reasons it stops working.

Its been an issue with the original windows 7 as well as the upgrade I did with Windows 8 (clean install). Sometimes the computer works well for a few days and then it will take some luck to get it to run.

Whenever the toshiba initial screen shows up I can always boot it with a USB Ubuntu Linux operating system and it works for as long as needed, it wont quit. I dont know if I have stressed the computer enough since I dont have any heavy applications on it.

Ive checked processor, RAM and GPU temperatures and they work within range except core #2 always runs at a slightly higher temperature than the others, I guess thats the main one being used on idle, although it stays higher when the others are topping temps as well. I wonder if that is a sign of it needing the heat sink re-pasted, that the paste is failing on that "side" of the processor.

Either way it tops at 73-78 centigrades which is well within working range (100c). I still wonder if the BIOS itself has a lower working range, but I dont have a way to change it in the BIOS, I wonder if there is a way to know at which temperature the computer shuts off. That wouldnt be the total fix since sometimes the OS doesnt load even if the computer is cool.

The graphics card temperature works at in the 50s centigrades as well as the RAM memories.

So I wonder if the motherboard is the culprit and how could I find out.

Any ideas what kind of tests or work i could do on the computer to find out whats really wrong with it?

 

[Grinder911]

I'm sensing a display issue on this one.

Have you tried connecting it to a TV/monitor via HDMI or VGA?
Does it stay on when you have the black screen or does it shut off immediately?
Can you see any display if you hold a light up to the screen?
Has any liquid ever made its way into the laptop?

It could be something as simple as disconnecting/reconnecting the display connections on the mainboard or changing out the LCD.

Let me know what you find out and I'll try to help.

 

[Armaggedon22]

Hi, Grinder, thanks for your reply.

I have succesfully connected to a TV with HDMI, it worked ok.
When the screen goes black the computer stays ON, in fact the computer never shuts off, I can hear the fan and HDD running on reboots, few times the toshiba system message will display sometimes it wont, in fewer instances the windows OS initializing screen will show up and it then ultimately fail back into black screen.
I have tried to look for image holding a light but I cant see it, it looks dead black and then i can see "dead" pixels when i hold up a light to it.
I am 99% sure liquid has not made it inside the laptop.

I should mention i have the latest drivers from the Nvidia website itself because it does look like the gpu is partly to blame here, although not sure how it would play out as a problem for booting the computer. It has a GeForce 310m card.

The computer is idling next to me just fine, at unusually low processor core temperatures though: 40s instead of the usual 60s, ill see if that changes.

Thanks

 

[Grinder911]

Hi again Armaggedon,

Since your laptop will display correctly on a TV with HDMI, it leads me to believe that your video card and motherboard are doing their jobs correctly in the display portion(I'm assuming that your laptop was in its blackout stage when you tried this). There is a slight chance that the mainboard isn't powering your display correctly, but since it is intermittent, I'm going with the LCD ribbon cable from the motherboard to the LCD or the LCD itself.

Since you can't see a darker image on the screen, it rules out the back light and in most part inverter board as well. The inverter board could still be suspect though.

Try this test when you're booting it after it blacks out on you next time. Tap the back of the lid near the top(many times from one side to the other), also tap near the F1 to the other side just above the keyboard, while watching the screen for any life. Just a good thump with your finger tips. I know you'll want to, but don't punch it. After all of that try a good smack anywhere that it won't cause physical damage. I know that this sounds very cavemanish but it can help to find a bad connection.

You can also move the screen on its hinges and watch closely as well.

In the meantime while its display is functioning go to the power options and change the option of, "What to do when the lid closes" to "Do nothing".

While you're there you should make sure that the option of pressing the power button will shut it down. This way you'll have a safe way to shut down with a quick click of the power button when it blacks out. Pulling the battery or holding the power button in order to force it turn off can cause all sorts of HDD errors, registry errors and data loss.

If you haven't tried hooking the laptop up to the TV with HDMI or VGA while it's in the blackout phase, please do. I'm sorry if I didn't clarify that as a test in my first message.

Keep in touch
Grinder

 

[Armaggedon22]

Hey, Grinder.

Its been running "ok" for the last day, and I have it on "do nothing" but im not sure if I changed it prior to the last meltdown or after it, so I am going to keep my eye on that and the lid tapping.

Yeah, I have not tried to connect it to a monitor while on blackout, I did misread the suggestion, but I dont feel too confident it would work although Id be happy to see it work through a monitor if it blackout again, because at least I would know I am getting closer.

Thanks for the help, will keep you posted.