toshiba A75 laptop, winxp. okay, so i got this toshiba laptop thats been shutting down randomly. ive sucessfully been able to scan with memtest, boot into hiren mini xp(piddle around for an hour), and scan with avira rescue, AND NO SHUTDOWNS. The only time its shutting down now is when i try to install windows xp, it loads all the predrivers into memory, then it shuts down at the same point everytime, right before the selection of (s)setup, (r)recovery and format options. the main hdd looks like someones tried to reinstall windows and didnt finish copying all system files all the way, like it mustve shutdown midway. So i reformatted the C: drive and checked for errors just in case. Everythings fine. ive updated the bios from 1.10 to 1.60. a number of things ive done and plan to do. any suggestions would be great. ive read about a static electricity problem with this laptop, is this possible? - inspected ram slots for burnt memory, looks like 512MB onboard ram, only one expansion ram slot open. Did these laptops come with 512MB onboard memory soldered onto the mainboard? Ive never seen that before. - memtest86 for an hour, passed on 1-1/2 passes. (plan to go for longer later on) - formatted, error checked hdd, plan to run hdd diagnostics later - updated bios - removed laptop battery/wifi card and just powered on with ac adapter, still shutting down. i plan to open it up and inspect the hsf's, apply arctic silver, and inspect the ac plug port, resolder if necessary. The fans are kicking on properly and from the outside it doesnt look like the hsfs are clogged. anything else i need to try? i find it weird it shuts down at the same point everytime, like it could be ram issue. but since the ram looks to be built in, the laptop would be useless.
It could have soldered ram (I've never run into that before but doesn't mean it doesn't exist) but the memtest should be run longer. In my experiences it usually takes 24 hours for a good test...Having said that, I've also seen errors occur in the first 30 seconds of failed memory. My suggestion would be to get the HDD diags from the vendor and run that or try a spare drive if you have one. It sounds like a bad motherboard (a short maybe?), a bad/loose cable or CD (figured you have tried different OS's since you're booting to other CDs). I doubt it's shutting down because of overheating or any of the other items you've pulled. Each time I've run into a scenario like this it's been a bad drive/ram/cd.
Does Toshiba have a diagnostic disc you can run? Dell/HP does, anytime I run into weird shit I run the vendor specific diag and problem resolved.
My vote goes to disassembling it, cleaning/dusting the HSF, and applying AS. That laptop is around 6 years old, though. It may be time to throw it out of the window of a really tall building. Oh, and... http://www.google.com/search?&q=toshiba a75 problems
EDIT: dammit, still shutting down. had windows fully installed, then it shutdown on the network setup page. the psu brick looks to be some chinese knockoff bought off ebay. i wouldnt be surprised if thats the culprit. its hella hot. okay. it was clogged pretty bad. reapplied arctic silver, oiled the fans, etc etc. it has shut down once already, but on this second time its installing windows finally without a shutdown.. maybe the hsf/cpu/thermal needed to bond or something.. dunno. but IF i can get this windows installed, i'll be able to run the diagnostics a bit easier. i'll also run that memtest longer.. and yes there is 512MB directly soldered onto the board.. which makes you wonder.. why? if a chip burns out or goes bad, the mobo is dead. STUPID engineers.
Is that a pic of your current laptop? I never would've guessed it could overheat that quickly but daaamn. Looks like birds made a home in there.
its pretty much shot. temp sensors or ram must be toast i could waste time and money swapping the cpu or adding a stick ram, or exchanging the chinese knockoff for toshiba ac adapter, but i seriously doubt thats gonna do anything
Yeah, just replace it with a netbook and call it a day. $180-220, and probably faster than that old Toshiba too. I'm using one right now and it does 90% of what I use a computer for.
Feels good to be right. Especially for us arrogant, self-absorbed types. MSP is right on the money, too. If an optical drive is needed, there are capable Internet machines for ~$300. Example.
lol, its not my laptop, just a customers and wth are you talking about ivan. lol opening up laptops is usually the first thing i do when i suspect it being hardware issue.
I'm talking about being absolutely, positively, unmistakably right, and how incredibly awesome it feels inside. I'M THE FUCKING MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE!! (This is how mistawiskas sees me, so why not have some fun playing along?) Your customer is SOL. Point them towards a netbook, like MSP suggested, a refurb laptop (less than $300), or a new, low-end laptop (which will still be blazingly fast compared to that dinosaur). How are those plans for opening up a computer repair shop coming along?
