Toshiba Satellite laptop fan powers off after 2 secs, no display

Metalhead Fred

I have a Toshiba Satellite L550 and it is 11 years old. Over the years I have upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and replaced the battery a few times. The newest replacement was about 3 months ago. I have been using my laptop quite a lot over the past 3 months, several hours on a daily basis. I've noticed that it would get VERY VERY hot underneath, and when this happened I would plug in a usb powered fan which sits underneath the laptop. This seemed to cool it down. I should point out that I never got an overheat error message, nor did the laptop ever shut down from being over heated. The laptop would be at its hottest when both the powersupply was charging the battery and when I had a usb bluetooth dongle connected.




It was working fine yesterday morning, I put the screen down for a while, but when I returned it wouldn't display anything. I switched it off, turned it back on again and now the fan powers on for about 2 seconds and then stops, the motherboard stays on but I have no display. Here's what I've tried so far:




- Connecting the laptop to an external display. The external display won't even register that anything is connected. I've tried holding the fn key and pressing F5 twice, but I can't even get that far into startup.



- Removed the hdd, battery and RAM and tried a hard reset, pressed the power button a bunch of times and then held it down for 30 seconds, connected the power supply but that didn't solve it.



- Removed the fan and there was A LOT of dirt in there, an entire blanket between the fan and heatsink. So that explains why it was running very hot.



- I've tried to isolate the problem by removing physical connections one by one, but nothing makes a difference. The power comes on, the fan starts instantly, stops after 2 seconds and then nothing, but the power remains turned on, so I don't think it's a power issue.



- I don't believe that this has anything to do with this, but I would occassionaly get a PXE error on startup, test media cable or something. I think this is just from the boot sequence when I was installing windows 10 via usb. Just thought I'd mention it anyway.




My guess is that the overheating may have caused the thermal paste under the CPU to loosen/crack, so I'm going to clean them now and apply new paste.

If that doesn't work, then maybe the graphics chip is done for, and I've heard that you cannot replace them in Toshiba Satellites, so this could be the end of the road for this laptop....




I would appreciate any info advice on this. I've just began the second semester of college from home, so this is a bit of a nightmare.

RobertFoster

Have you tried these methods (specifically 1 & 3)? https://appuals.com/toshiba-laptops-black-screen/

It's possible the motherboard could be gone. Have you access to another computer to backup the HDD?

smuggler.ie

Once already pulled apart, re-paste CPU and GPU.
If it was running v hot it could have "backed" thermal and machine not being cooled just preserving itself.
There seam to be some thermal pads in use - either get new or be careful removing unit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cd_RkFz-l8 ~7:20

Metalhead Fred

RobertFoster wrote: »

Have you tried these methods (specifically 1 & 3)? https://appuals.com/toshiba-laptops-black-screen/

It's possible the motherboard could be gone. Have you access to another computer to backup the HDD?

Thanks for the reply. Yes I have tried those methods and method 4 also. I was able to remove the hdd and I have it running fine in this PC now.

Metalhead Fred

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Once already pulled apart, re-paste CPU and GPU.
If it was running v hot it could have "backed" thermal and machine not being cooled just preserving itself.
There seam to be some thermal pads in use - either get new or be careful removing unit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cd_RkFz-l8 ~7:20

Thanks for the reply. I have re-pasted the two components circled in this pic, I'm pretty sure they're the CPU and GPU:





Do you have any idea what component is just beside the left circle? I had a pad on it and it looked fairly dried out and cracked. Could that be the problem and should I re-paste it?

And by any chance could the fan be the problem?

smuggler.ie

Metalhead Fred wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I have re-pasted the two components circled in this pic, I'm pretty sure they're the CPU and GPU:





Do you have any idea what component is just beside the left circle? I had a pad on it and it looked fairly dried out and cracked. Could that be the problem and should I re-paste it?

And by any chance could the fan be the problem?

TBH not sure, Toshiba does not like to share service manuals - "copy right" crap. But i would guess its North bridge
For lack of better you could see https://www.manualslib.com/manual/798404/Toshiba-Satellite-Series.html?page=169#manual , but verify its exact model - internal components/layout might vary by CPU (AMD vs Intel) , etc. Not marked here but i guess in image on page 169 - VGA board > N bridge > CPU.
As for paste - be careful there.
Components that been on paste will be ok to re-paste, but ones that on thermal pads could not work - observe gap. Pads come in different thickness and gap might be way to big for paste - need pad.

Savage_Henry

I think its the motherboard.
Maybe try baking the board in oven, Put tin foil on rack, preheat and bake it for 10 mins, then switch off oven then leave it for few hrs.

Also sometimes these boards are like 40 eur shipped from ebay.

smuggler.ie

As for fan, IF you can get it, no harm replacing i guess. But if its working should be OK.
11 year old machine - might be not worth investing too much time or money

Metalhead Fred

I've heard about people putting their boards in the oven. Sounds gnarly but no harm in trying it as a last resort.

I've seen fans on ebay for €20 so that could be worth a shot.



Yeah I don't wanna invest too much into an old machine, but it would be very handy to have as a backup. Plus it has a 19 inch screen so it was very convenient to use for watching movies and whatever. I don't have broadband or satellite or anything in my house, everything runs (ran) through my laptop. At the moment I'd rather risk a few euros instead of forking out a few hundred for a new one



Out of curiosity, when people say "the motherboard is gone" or "the motherboard is dead"... what exactly renders it as dead? What happened to it?



And thanks again for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate them.

RobertFoster

Components fail over time, especially with excessive heat. The motherboard could have died by being overheated too often. Putting it in the oven is called reflowing if you want to look it up, it's often only a temporary fix though. Given how old the computer is your €40 or whatever to replace it may be better spent elsewhere.

I don't think the fan has failed if it still spins up albeit briefly.

Metalhead Fred

I bought a replacement fan for a tenner and the problem still isn't solved. I'm gonna put in the oven for sh*ts and giggles. Any recommended temperature settings?

Savage_Henry

I dont know why anyone else didnt tell you, but the new fan wouldnt make a difference.

Metalhead Fred wrote: »

I bought a replacement fan for a tenner and the problem still isn't solved. I'm gonna put in the over for sh*ts and giggles. Any recommended temperature settings?

ED E

New paste wouldnt have made a difference either. An unpasted CPU would start from cold and get you at least some display before it hit TJMax. Probably get 2-3mins with a lower TDP. Different behavior entirely.


Thermal protection happens when the cores/IHS on the CPU/GPU go too high, you can not overheat and still be running the chassis warmer than is ideal. This could be related to the failure or have nothing to do with it. The caps/mosfets were bought with a 3-5yr lifespan in mind, no OEM is planning for a board to last this long. They can, but its not surprising if they dont.

If you want to oven it, preheat to 200*C then place the board (no plastic!) into the oven for 8 mins, after 8 mins switch off and open the door to allow it cool steadily and not thermal shock it. Leave it a good hour before trying to reassemble.


Really though any spending on this a bad idea.

Metalhead Fred

Savage_Henry wrote: »

I dont know why anyone else didnt tell you, but the new fan wouldnt make a difference.

A couple of people did suggest that it might not make a difference, but I bought one anyway because it was only a tenner, and that's pretty much all I'm willing to spend on an 11 year old machine...




For the sake of trying to figure out why the board might have failed, I should point out that I recently moved house, and all my stuff (including the laptop) was sitting in the back of a van parked up overnight. It was snowing at the time and the temperatures were below zero.



When I unpacked my stuff the next day, I didn't switch the laptop on straight away, I left it sit for most of the day to adjust to room temperature. It was working fine that night, but I did think it seemed a bit slower.


It worked fine the next morning also, and then in the afternoon it died, and it was running fairly hot.


Could there be a link between it being left out in the van overnight, or is it entirely coincidental?

Metalhead Fred

ED E wrote: »

If you want to oven it, preheat to 200*C then place the board (no plastic!) into the oven for 8 mins, after 8 mins switch off and open the door to allow it cool steadily and not thermal shock it. Leave it a good hour before trying to reassemble.


Really though any spending on this a bad idea.

I'm assuming I should remove the heatsink before putting the board in the oven?


Yeah I agree, I'm not looking to spend any more money on it.

ED E

Yep, _everything_ off.

Metalhead Fred

No joy. Time to to lay it to rest. Anybody looking for laptop parts?