Student-Contributed Wiki
An awesome team of students from our education program made this wiki.
When turned on, your computer will not load the operating system.
If your computer will not boot up when you press the power button, you may have either defective RAM or not enough RAM. You will need to install RAM onto your computer.
If your computer fails to boot after you have run the DVD, or if your computer will not boot after insertion of the DVD, then you may need to replace your hard drive.
It may be that your computer is booting fine, but you are unable to see anything on the screen because it will not display. To determine if something is wrong with your display, take your computer to a dark room and see if your computer screen shows a very faint image. If your computer does display a dim image, your inverter may be faulty. It is possible to replace your inverter, but you must make sure to buy the correct part. Consult Toshiba Tech Support or remove your current inverter (found by removing the screen) and take a look at the product number to determine which part you need to purchase.
If your screen does not display an image, you may need to replace your screen.
Your computer retains significantly less charge or retains no charge at all when unplugged.
Make sure that your adaptor cord is plugged all the way into both the power socket in the wall and into your computer when charging.
To determine whether the issue lies with your computer’s battery or with its mother board, remove your computer’s battery and just use the adaptor to turn it on. If the computer boots, you are likely dealing with a battery problem. If it will not boot, there is an issue with your mother board, and you will need to replace it.
If your computer boots when plugged in, your battery is most likely faulty, and you will need to replace it.
Your laptop becomes very hot during use.
The air intake or outtake of your computer is blocked, and not enough air is getting into your laptop to cool it off. Move the laptop to a rigid, flat surface to promote proper airflow.
The air intake on the side or the bottom of your computer has accumulated too much dust to intake air properly and needs to be cleaned. Use compressed air to unclog the intake.
During start-up, strange characters appear on your screen, dots show up, or you hear beeps.
If your computer is displaying strange characters, dots, or a blue screen, your RAM may not be correctly placed into the computer’s ports. Remove the RAM, make sure that the notch in your RAM chp is lined up with the break in your computer’s RAM slot, and then insert the chip into its slot at a 45 degree angle. Once the RAM chip is inserted, press down on it until you hear the computer’s clamps lock into place. Your RAM should be installed.
Download Memtest 86+ from this website, and burn it onto a CD or put it on a flash drive. Run Memtest 86+ on your computer after restarting the computer. The test will tell you if the on-board memory is defective. If that is the case, the motherboard needs to be replaced.
The display on your computer is black (not on), and the computer is clearly on.
If your computer is on and the display is black (not on), then you could have turned the display off by mistake. To turn the display back on hold the “Fn” key, and then press the “F5” key. Once you press both keys simultaneously, the display should turn back on.
If the process above does not fix the problem then the computer could be in “Projector Mode.” To convert it back to “Computer Only” mode, simply hold the “Fn” key then press the “F5” key. Then you will see the possible display modes, please select the “Computer Only” mode and your display should go back to normal.
The individual keys are not responding, defective, or missing.
If the keys are stuck in place or the keys are not compressing cleanly, pop off the key and use computer duster to clean underneath the key surface. Once all the debris is removed from the key surface, proceed to press the key back into place.
If any of the keys on your keyboard are missing, you can purchase replacement keys and replace them.
