[Phlegmbot]

I closed my computer to put it into hibernation, but it wouldn't turn off. had to hold the power button for it to shut off (I figured, ah well, I'll lose some info and it'll just reboot). Now, when I try to turn it on again, I have to hit the power button again (opening it doesn't work), and it won't "un-hibernate." I'm stuck on the Toshiba welcome screen.

It's a Toshiba Satellite A105 S2001.

I should clarfiy: it's not in a loop. It's STARTING to boot, then pauses. And nothing happens. So I can't get into any DOS screens, and I tried removing the HD but it's not even checking FOR a HD, so it's not breaking out of this odd pause.


I tried removing the harddrive, hoping that would kick in an error message, but whereever in boot-up it's stuck, it's NOT checking the HDD.


I also thought to removed the CMOS battery, but it's SOLDERED in.

I don't seem to be able to get the DVD player open (would like to try a boot disc), anyone know how I can do that? (There doesn't seem to be a pin hole to force it open.)

Any ideas?

Edited by Phlegmbot, 19 November 2009 - 10:06 AM.

[Advertisements]

UPDATE:

I've tried reseating the RAM. It seems to be in correctly but the computer will not start up AT ALL.

It begins to power on (green light comes on) and before it does anything it shuts down.

It then does this in a loop until I disconnect the power.

The 2 RAM chips wouldn't go back in correctly, so I switched them around but now they're definitely in right and still nothing.

Thoughts?

[Phlegmbot]

UPDATE:

I've tried reseating the RAM. It seems to be in correctly but the computer will not start up AT ALL.

It begins to power on (green light comes on) and before it does anything it shuts down.

It then does this in a loop until I disconnect the power.

The 2 RAM chips wouldn't go back in correctly, so I switched them around but now they're definitely in right and still nothing.

Thoughts?

[othersteve]

Hmm... this is interesting.

Can you get into the system BIOS setup?

~os

[Phlegmbot]

Can't get into BIOS setup if the thing's not turning on properly.

Couldn't get into it when the problem first began.

sigh.

[othersteve]

Hmm, that's certainly not good. If you can't get into BIOS and you cannot remove the CMOS, I'm not sure what the next step might be for repair...

~os

[Phlegmbot]

Another forum has said that my restart issue sounds like a RAM reseating problem.

As for the other issue, what I keep hearing is "there MUST be a way to reset the CMOS"...but no one has yet determined what that might be on a Toshiba A105 S2001

Edited by Phlegmbot, 19 November 2009 - 12:37 PM.

[Phlegmbot]

OK,

problem solved: it was the DVD player.

Another tech help forum gave me this old link (from yet a 3rd tech help board), which is my EXACT issue:
http://techrepublic....content;leftCol

However, as stated above, the computer wouldn't power on correctly once I reseated the RAM.

I took the laptop into the repair shop I use and, in half a second, the guy told me the RAM was NOT in fact in correctly. He nudged it to the left about 1/16 of an inch and the laptop booted up in that 3/4 boot manner it had been doing.

I had brought a printout of the above Web page, telling him I didn't ahve a screwdriver small enough to unscrew the DVD. he went and got one, we removed the DVD player, and the thing booted up w/out issue.

[othersteve]

Positively bizarre. Thank you for your solution.

~os

[Phlegmbot]

Agreed!