Toshiba Satellite A205 won't power up. Lights on the front show power but laptop will not post up.
Optional Information: OS: Windows XP; Browser: IE Already Tried: I have replaced the CPU. The power supply is delivering power because the lights. There is just no response when the power button is pushed. I took the panel over the power button off and pushed the acutual power button and still no response.
Hello, Thank you for posting your question. Can you please give us somemore information on your problem. Did you change anything or make changes before this happened?
No. It was doing this when I took it in. Like I said, I tried replacing the CPU but I am still getting the same thing.
Hi there, First of all, just because the power light is shown does not mean there is stable power. Sometimes a power brick will provide power but when the motherboard tries to power up, the voltage drops under load. This can also be a problem with the motherboard not providing stable power on all rails from the power supply (in laptops motherboards also act like a power supply). This is very common due to overheats, surges, brownouts or just age. It may be difficult to determine which of those it is without the proper diagnostic equipment. A few questions that may narrow it down though: 1. Was anything other then the cpu replaced? 2. Does the computer flash any lights, make any beeps, or does the cpu fan spin when the power button is pushed? 3. Where any bios updates done prior to the failure?
Nothing other than the CPU was replaced.
No flashing lights.
I am not aware of any bios updates. The customer stated that the unit was working, started flaking out. He powered it down and it would not power back up.
My thoughts were along the line of a clogged cooling system and a burnt CPU. When I got into the unit it was actually very clean. So no sign of or smell related to cold solder joints or circuit damage. I went ahead and replaced the CPU just in case.
Most of the time the cpu will throw a thermal fault and the pc shuts down so its pretty rare that a cpu overheats and dies (at least modern cpus)-more likely is repeated early shutdowns and slow performance. Watch the power light on the adapter when pressing the power button - does it flicker or dim? If not then most likely the motherboard is the culprit.
Experience: Software Engineer
Thanks, I was really hoping that was not the case. I appreciate your help.