Laptop Repair Forums

exmusso

Hi all,

Switched on my Toshiba Laptop yesterday and the display flickered, disappeared, appeared and intermittently flashed off and on but not long enough to select anything useful.

I thought the problem lay with the video display adapter and had a quick trawl on the net for info. Seems they can work a bit loose and may need to be re-seated.

I've had a bit of experience with desktop PCs but steered clear of laptops as they seem a bit delicate for my big fingers but needs must as they say.

Found this very good website below which shows how to strip it down step by step, with illustrations at every stage (26)

Gave it a go, stripped it down and removed VGA adaptor, re-seated it securely and stuck it back together. It seems to be OK now and no longer have the excuse to buy a new, all singing, all dancing one with built in Wi-fi, USB 2 etc.

geraldandannie · Moderator

Hi, Alan

Well done for fixing it. I agree - they're all very fiddly and plasticky and pingy and screw-hidey Evil or Very Mad

I generally start off with delicate instruments arranged around, carefully unscrewing tiny Phillips screws, removing bits that can come off easily. Then I get a bit more desperate, as nothing else seems to come apart. I carefully insert a teeny tiny screwdriver into one corner .... and before you know it, I've got big screwdrivers inserted at several points around the join, just wondering how hard I can lever before something gives - be that in a good way, or a very bad way.

I've recently replaced a dead hard disk in a Compaq, and I have one more to do, so I'm feeling pretty good. Anything newish, and I cry off, and send to the repairers, claiming I'm too busy.

Nice link, and I've bookmarked it, thank you.

Gerald

janebobscott

Nice info and link, we gave ours a drink of beer (a full bottle) recently, doesn't seem to be suffering too bad after 3 days drying out in the sun. Maybe a strip down and clean up might rehabilitate it completely.
Thanks

exmusso

Thanks Gerald, Jane and Bob for the positive comments.

Prior to repair, I had a word with a bod in a computer shop who confirmed it would cost megabucks for them to just have look which spurred me to have a go.

One thing of interest he showed me, was a laptop hard drive USB caddy for about £20. If the laptop hard drive is OK, you can plug it into this and download to a desktop or other laptop so you have a backup if something serious happens to the rest of the laptop.

I tried the drink of beer, stripped down and went to sit in the sun for 3 days but got hypothermia. Shocked

Cheers,
Alan