what am i doing wrong?

[jones-t]

I'm trying to "fix" my Toshiba laptop (tecra 8100) bought almost every internal/external component. RTC battery screen motherboard soundboard and CPU. So why won't it start? I push the power button and
the LED lights come on but - Nada.
I've disassembled it and reassembled it to the point I dream doing it while surf skiing with a naked Kate Upton. (Inserted Joke)

 

[johnb35]

Wait a minute.... Is this laptop an older machine? From what I've searched, its at least 10 years old if not more. Why are you trying to fix such an old machine? Buy a new one.

 

[voyagerfan99]

Not worth the time and effort.

Though I must ask, did you swap out the RAM?

 

[jones-t]

@voyager. No I haven't. I have my eye on buying a 128MB sdram card from a place that sells parts on the cheap. (-$40 and under) but i want to know exactly how would that "affect" its ability to TURN ON - meaning the LED lights light up; the heat sink fan spins and the DVD drive spins. Because I don't get how a memory card has anything to do with mechanical start up. Aren't memory cards used for (stop me if you heard this before) MEMORY? but that would require a functioning computer and functioning op sys. Yes - explain it to me like
Im a two year old. (albeit a two year old who has tools a broken laptop and a smartphone)

 

[porterjw]

Aren't memory cards used for (stop me if you heard this before) MEMORY?

They are also key to progressing past (and passing, for that matter) POST. If RAM is bad, system won't boot.

Try pulling the RAM on a working desktop and turning it on - see what happens...

 

[beers]

Why are you even attempting to resurrect this creature from the paleolithic era?

 

[Geoff]

Does it work when connected to an external display?

 

[jones-t]

This is my uncle's computer he gave me - without boring anyone with certain details (surrounding the reason why he gave it to me) let's just say meant a lot to me to have it. chump change I have; I'm all to glad to buy parts so long as they can be bought. The day comes I can no longer buy parts; I'll save to buy a comp but only when I HAVE to

 

[jones-t]

@Geoff. Never bothered to connect it to any type of "external" display. Assuming your talking about a desktop monitor. As you see in the pic - I push the power button. The LED lights light up but that's it. No sounds of the machine being on. Like hard drive or DVD drive or the heat sink fan. So I don't know what connecting it to an external - would matter?

 

[beers]

What was wrong with it originally?

So I don't know what connecting it to an external - would matter?

He was probably isolating to whether you reconnected the display correctly (or if it had failed at some point such as backlight). By using an external display you basically cut out any potential issues with the integrated display.

 

[Geoff]

@Geoff. Never bothered to connect it to any type of "external" display. Assuming your talking about a desktop monitor. As you see in the pic - I push the power button. The LED lights light up but that's it. No sounds of the machine being on. Like hard drive or DVD drive or the heat sink fan. So I don't know what connecting it to an external - would matter?

What was wrong with it originally?

He was probably isolating to whether you reconnected the display correctly (or if it had failed at some point such as backlight). By using an external display you basically cut out any potential issues with the integrated display.

I misread when you said "meaning the LED lights light up; the heat sink fan spins and the DVD drive spins". I thought you were saying they do spin up.

 

[jones-t]

@beers. maybe I'm one of (if not the all time) dumbest computer tech users but I don't think I somehow missed or screwed up connecting the laptop monitor (keep in mind I bought it less than a year ago) to the point of faulty-ness. Before the end of this summer (that's how long its been broken) watching a movie (Cube) my computer"fizzled out" so to speak. Yes;
this was after I had just (twice) fixed it before. What was I doing? I was trying to open a .PDF file - Allied Electronics 5000+ page catalog. For some reason I was unable to open it the standard way - from the adobe acrobat program. At the moment of crash; I was opening it from the Firefox's own adobe acrobat add on

 

[beers]

but I don't think I somehow missed or screwed up connecting the laptop monitor

I wasn't trying to be rude A lot of people don't seat the ribbon correctly and similar when reassembling laptops.

 

[jones-t]

- the crash happens; I get what the internet calls "the blue screen of death' then I couldn't sign on anymore. My Toshiba tecra starts up with the password prompt - before the windows xp intro screen - then the BSOD.

- then I get to where at the password prompt I can't sign on. Each character I type reads dots or question marks.

I assumed that was my CPU being gone. So over the last weeks I've saved up money to buy a new CPU and soundboard - assuming once installed the comp would start up but I'm at an impasse. I figure I'm somewhere on the right track since the LED lights come on but something else either is missing faulty or something else is needed. The question is what?

 

[jones-t]

Since installing the two newest replacement parts - I continue to fiddle with it as I press the power button. The soundboard flex cable that connects the soundboard to the motherboard - as connected the way its suppose to; when I press power the lights come on but no sounds of machine life. But when I unhitch the flex cable latch on the motherboard and gently press on it; I hear and see slight machine life. LED lights flicker as you would expect; but there is also "part flicker" if that makes any sense.

 

[johnb35]

Quit wasting your time and money and get a new machine. Its not even worth keeping as old as it is. The OS isn't even supported anymore.

 

[jones-t]

@johnb35 no disrespect to you; but I'm really sick of people telling me to just buy a new (used) computer. Since my high school senior year (1992) when I bought my first comp (Tandy 1800 HD $1200 new off the shelf literally) I bought three laptops; two more were given to me by my father (1995) and my uncle's the one I "own" now. And that doesn't count the five broken desktops my boss gave me when his office transitioned to newer equipment. I never finished my computer education so I have no degree - constantly want to fix any computer is my way of "redemption". I have a smartphone I bought last spring. $80 bucks worked relatively fine the first couple months; now it seems like it "likes" to go faulty all the time every time. Just buying new might be no big deal to someone rich who likes to burn through money for fun; but I want to make things work and last

 

[voyagerfan99]

but I want to make things work and last

You're talking about a POS laptop from 2001. Not a '69 Corvette. Get over it.

 

[jones-t]

@voyagerfan99 sentimental value means different things to different people. You need me to explain that to you?

 

[Geoff]

@voyagerfan99 sentimental value means different things to different people. You need me to explain that to you?

There's a difference with computers that degrade year over year. You can't keep throwing money at it to make it work better, there's a limit to what the components support. If you were given a laptop by someone who passed away or something, just keep it to look back on, you don't need to continue to use it daily.