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Solve : Laptop won't turn on..? |
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Answer» This happened a long time ago and I'm just now getting around to it. Can't remember if I was able to troubleshoot anything back then but I doubt I could have done much since it wont even turn on. I remember that it was on and working fine with ample battery power when it went black. The power cord might have been plugged in as well since I think I had it hooked up to my TV. After that nothing. Won't charge and obviously won't turn on. At first I thought it might be the power cord but the blue light on the battery pack is on so I assume it's working fine. Other than that I haven't done much since I can't get it to turn on. The power outlet on the laptop is intact but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not the problem. I read online that some Toshiba LAPTOPS have had problems with them but the posts I saw was that they were breaking off inside the laptop and you couldn't plug anything in them. Obviously the other option would be the battery. At the time of it going dead it had only been about a year old. So assuming the light on the power cord means it's working is the battery where I should start? Is there a way of testing it first? Actually the tip I have on it now is after market. The original one that came with the computer broke off but it was interchangeable so I bought a variety pack of them at best buy or wherever and used the appropriate one. I'd verify with multimeter. I have a feeling you have a power supply that is good, but there is an open circuit either in the cord or jack to the power supply, or the laptop itself. Hopefully its just in the cord of the power supply which is a cheaper fix. To test with multimeter, set the meter on DC Voltage and with meter on and power supply plugged into wall also on, measure by placing 1 lead on the side metal of plug and the other lead goes into the hollow center where the pin in the jack of the laptop normally goes. *Make sure you dont short the leads together or your have a spark and could damage the power supply. The voltage is safe at the end of the power supply that goes normally to the laptop as long as you dont have an open cut and power doesnt go into your bloodstream. Dry fingers are best to avoid problems. Just so I don't confuse myself when you say "side metal" you mean the metal outer casing of the tip that plugs into the laptop? So I would put one meter clipped on that and the other essentially plugs into the hole that would normally go into the laptop? I've never used a multimeter obviously so making sure I cover all the angles.Yes, and make sure its set to DC to measure, which is usually a symbol that shows a large V and a smaller symbol of a solid line with a dashed ( broken ) line under it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqx30L6YPPcok so finally got a multimeter. just checked the part that plugs into the laptop. it read 19.66. i watched that video and he also checked the lead that plugs into the wall. i assume that he was doing that if you tried the plug and didn't get a reading. so now that we know the AC adapter is fine what's the next move?Also ive been searching forums all day and i tried the static disharge thing in all its combinations. Is there a way to test the DC power jack on the actual laptop without having to take everything apart for replacement?Looks like the jack internal to the laptop is damaged (or) the charging circuit is dead. The laptop will need to go in to be serviced unless you feel comfortable opening up the laptop and digging further. The next step is to verify that the power makes its way to the main board with the multimeter.lets put it like this. i've watched a video on youtube that's pretty detailed on disassembling everything to get to the internal jack for replacement and that being said can't say i'm 100% comfortable. here's my thinking on this and tell me if i'm wrong. it's not working and from what it looks like it's an internal issue. if i take it in for service they are going to have to take it apart anyways. i'm fairly confident i can take it apart without damaging anything else. it's the putting back together that seems a little daunting(which screws to put where, snapping things into place without breaking them, etc). so even if i take it apart and can't figure it out then shouldn't it cost a little less at the service place since i did that part for them? so if i take it apart then what's the steps to seeing if the power makes it to the MB? how will i know if the jack is the problem or not? i assume since you didn't address it i can't test it before i take everything apart. Most computer shops like to see a computer come in whole, otherwise they can actually charge you the same or more to work on them than less. Most people think that computer shops charge "actual" labor time. 99.9% of the shops out there charge a flat labor rate for specific upgrades and repairs. They may claim 1 hour to perform a RAM upgrade, when it only takes 10 minutes. They might charge 3 hours labor for a hard drive installation which involves moving your OS and data to the new larger hard drive and the fact of the matter is that they use a tool to migrate the data from one drive to the other and it takes a TOTAL of just 30 minutes time to remove the drive (15 minutes) and place it into the data migration tool, and then (15 minutes) to install the drive back into the laptop and take a quick look to make sure everything is healthy. During the time that the data is copying from one drive to the other, they are working on other COMPUTERS or doing other things with the 2.5 hours of labor that you paid for, and they could be working on someone elses computer during this same period of time which multiplies their labor rate earnings per hour. Its not just computer shops that do this, pretty much 99.9% of all services performed in which you have something dropped off to be serviced is charged in this manner. On site services though which charge labor rates are less sneaky though because if they were there for 2 hours to fix a furnace in a home, they were there for 2 hours and cant say they were there for 4 hours unless they have some sort of statement which you the customer agreed to in which a service call is billed a minimum of say 1 hour when a fix is a 5 minute fix to replace a AA battery in the thermostat which enables the relay for the oil furnace etc and they can charge you for 1 hour and not just 5 minutes. My suggestion is that if you feel you will run into troubles reassembling the computer in which something else could be broken beyond the already existing problem, its best to not tamper with it and deliver it whole to a computer shop. Laptops can be quite costly to fix, and some of the smallest broken pieces can be sold at hefty premiums. I would call around to computer repair locations and get quotes to diagnose the problem. Most shops charge 1 hour flat rate to diagnose the problem. Bad shops will state that the entire main board has to be replaced, and good shops will repair the problem on the main board. *Due to LACK of technically TRAINED staff more and more shops are hiring people who can only repair computers down to board level (process of elimination that most people can do leads to main board issue yet they cant fix that issue or exactly pinpoint it ) and they are not able to troubleshoot it down to component level of say a 35 cent leaky/dried up capacitor, so finding a good shop might be hard. Even better is if you can find one that does not charge for a diagnosis until labor is performed. This however has been becoming exceedingly rare as time=money and most shop owners have done away with being the nice guy to take a look for free and want to get paid to take a look, and with computers now cheaper than in the past, fewer are worth a $150 to $400 repair so fewer are actually repaired unless they are higher end laptops or laptops that are owned by companies that can afford to have entire fleets of computers sent in for service when something goes wrong vs always buying new when something breaks because it makes more sense to buy a new laptop for $400 instead of spending $250 on the 5 year old laptop that is showing its age and may be tired or worn out or lacking features that a new computer would have and have a warranty. All computer repair centers in my area charge a $90 minimum on diagnosing computer problems. I work on the side servicing them and do not charge to diagnose them, and I make the money in the servicing of the computers in which if tricks to perform a job faster are used I charge 3 hours labor when say only 2 hrs was actually used of my time, so the faster you work without making mistakes and without lesser quality work increases your income, and with competetive labor rates cheaper than the competition you still come out cheaper and people are happy to pay the bills and come back for more work to be done. * BUT sometimes on the rare occasion something eats up more time than quoted such as trying to hunt down a driver for an eMachine laptop for a wireless adapter and so you may run over on time put into a computer and yet you stick to charging the same that was agreed upon without jabbing the customer with extra surprise labor charges. **All private garages for autos also operate this way as for I use to help operate a garage that repaired autos and learned how the system worked. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With all that being said... here is how to test for voltage if you decided to open the laptop. First remove the battery from the laptop. Next .. One suggestion is to make a map on paper of a drawing of your laptop and write down where screws came from and even tape them with scotch tape to there location on the sheet of paper so that there is no guess work as to which screw goes where. I have even used a sheet of cardboard before such as a pizza box bottom to draw out the layout of the bottom of the laptop and which screws go into which screw holes by poking the screws into the cardboard to hold them in place to their location that they came from. You also may want to find online information that shows the proper disassembly and a blown up diagram of how its all assmbled and the way to properly open it without breaking tabs etc. ( I got a laptop once from someone wanting to replace their USB daughter board that was damaged and they removed all screws from bottom, and it still didnt come appart. They decided to pry the computer appart and destroyed the main board. *There was more than just the screws at the bottom on his laptop. You had to remove also a plastic strip above the keyboard before the display that also had the power button as part of the assembly that applied pressure to micro button, and once that was removed 2 screws had to be removed at both corners of the keyboard, and then remove the keyboard and remove a long screw that was center to the computer to properly get it appart. Failure to remove this screw snapped the main board around the screw hole and destroyed the computer!) *** So if its not coming appart easily...dont force it!!! Once you have it open and main board exposed you want to locate the portion of the main board where the power jack is located. You want to find the 2 pins that are the + and - of the power to the laptop and its safest not to apply power to test this, but to instead set the muntimeter on ohms with a tone if a tone is available. To test the meter when touching both leads together with a tone you will get a tone. If no tone is part of this meter you want it set to Ohms and see a value of less than 3 ohms when touching the leads together. Once you confirmed that your meter is set correct for testing. Place one lead on the center pin and take the other and locate where it goes into the PCB ( main board and confirm that you get a tone or less than 10 ohms. You may have to hunt around to find it if its not plainly obvious but it should be very near to the power jack. Next once you confirmed you have connectivity by a tone and/or less than 10 ohms you measure the inside outter connection of the power jack to another leg that goes into the PCB of the main board. Be sure not to touch the center pin at the same time or you can chase your tail. If any of these comes up with no connection then the power jack is damaged and will need to be replaced which requires soldering skill. If you have connectivity then you will have to send this computer in for servicing because it is involving chasing electronic circuits. * You can check for a fuse nearby which may be open but some computers do not come with fuses on the PCB. They generally have a F1 or other number after F to indicate fuse and are green in color and look like a thru hole resistor. To test these you touch each lead to opposite sides of the fuse and you should have a tone or see less than 10 ohms. If no connectivity is found at the fuse then you need to replace the fuse, and first off you need to know how many amps it is rated for to replace it with the correct fuse. This also requires careful soldering skill not to burn the PCB or damage any neighboring components And this is pretty much the furthest you can take this troubleshooting without adequate schematics and either extensive knowledge of electronics or a guide to point out what to check next. Further testing would likely involve adding the power to the jack and taking measurements from the voltage regulators etc and charging circuit, but as I said its way more involved and best for a service tech than yourself if you dont know electronics. I know it's been awhile but got busy and didn't have time to mess with it. I've decided it's too technical for me. One thing I noticed was the battery isn't locking fully into its slot. It looks flush but there's no clicking sound and I can pull it out with my fingernail. It doesn't fall out if I turn it over or anything and doesn't seem loose or anything but not sure if it's getting connected all the way |
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