Toshiba Satellite X205 SLi1 won't start. Kindly ask for your help or advice.

[mmario72]

Good Day to all.

Please find below my unfortunate story.
I bought my laptop a few months ago. Everything was just fine until one day.
Turned off the laptop, unplugged it and left my cabin (currently working on a cruiseship therefore I have limited to none, acces to landbase service support).
Came back and try to turn it on. No image on screen, all the leds on, fans starting and 3 consecutive bleeps (about one second or one sec and a half, each one). After that nothing happened.
I have no idea what it might be the problem, why it doesn't start.
The IT Officer onboard told me that it might be a problem with the memory controller (North bridge).
Can somebody be so kind to explain me what should I do as I have tried to find answers over the Internet with no succes.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

[Kraai]

3 beeps are in many cases either motherboard or memory. Board manufacturers use different brands of bios chips so the beep codes are different.
You would need to give us more info as to what OS you are using, motherboard and so on. Also see if you can boot in safe mode.

[mmario72]

Hello again,

Many Thanks Kraai for your fast reply and I apologize for the lack of information.
Please find below specs:

Model Name: X205-SLi1 Part Number: PSPBUU-00D00J UPC: 032017980730
Operating System C1 2
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (32-bit version)
Processor and Chipset3
Intel® Centrino® Duo processor technology featuring:
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250
o 2.0GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB
• Mobile Intel® PM965 Express Chipset
• Integrated Wi-Fi® compliant wireless LAN
o Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n)4
Memory5
• Configured with 2048MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM (both memory slots
may be occupied). Maximum capacity 4096MB
Hard Disk Drive6
• 240GB using two Serial ATA hard disk drives;
o Primary + Secondary drive: 120GB + 120GB
Display8
• 17.0” diagonal widescreen TruBrite®TFT LCD display at 1440x900
native resolution (WXGA+)
o Native support for 720p content
Graphics9
• PCI-Express™ x16 graphics subsystem, featuring:
o NVIDIA® SLI Dual GeForce® 8600M GT, 512MB GDDR3
discrete graphics memory, plus up to 255MB dynamically
allocated shared graphics memory using NVIDIA®
TurboCache™ technology.
• Total Available Graphics memory 767MB
Sound
• 4 Built-in harman/kardon® stereo speakers with 1 subwoofer
• Sound Volume Control Dial
• Built-in microphone
• Video
o RGB (monitor) output port
o S-Video output port
o HDMI output port
• Audio
o S/P DIF output port (shared with headphone port)
o Microphone input port
o Headphone output port
• Data
o i.LINK(tm) IEEE-1394
o USB v2.0 – 6 ports
o RJ-45 LAN port
o RJ-11 modem port
• Security
o Fingerprint reader

I included all the specifications to make sure that I didn't miss anything important.
Hopefully this will help a bit.
In addition I tried to boot in Safe Mode however no response was received.

Thank you in advance and have a good day.

[Kraai]

Lets try to eliminate. See if you can remove one memory stick, and then try to boot up with one. If it boots up, it means the removed memory stick was faulty, if not, remove the other one and replace with previous removed one. If none of the memory sticks could boot, try to borrow one from someone else on the ship. If borrowed one works, then you know it is your memory sticks.

Please let us know how it went.

[beyondcr]

Ok i have a freind that just gave me a x205-sli1 to work on and it to has the same problem 3 long beeps and blank screen..... I took the memory out did the swap test and also tried two more known good sticks still nothing I removed the keyboard checked connections all is good but still nothing.... I swap the battery and also plugged into a external monitor still nothing so now I am thinking but hoping its not the mobo.... if any one has any ideas before I have to swap the mobo it would be much appreciated....

[A1 data nz]

Ok i have a freind that just gave me a x205-sli1 to work on and it to has the same problem 3 long beeps and blank screen..... I took the memory out did the swap test and also tried two more known good sticks still nothing I removed the keyboard checked connections all is good but still nothing.... I swap the battery and also plugged into a external monitor still nothing so now I am thinking but hoping its not the mobo.... if any one has any ideas before I have to swap the mobo it would be much appreciated....

The beep codes would depend on which bios the machine is using.
ram is normally one short and two long with toshiba but in saying that three beeps is almost always ram.
There does seem to be a bit of info out there that points to the graphics card having the same error code as the ram on your particular machine.

It wouldn't surprise me because gaming cards need a lot of cooling and laptop fans glog up real easy, you maybe lucky and its just a fan failure and the bios is getting an irregular checksum error!, try and see if you can get the card out and have a good old cleanup and wotnot!

do you know what bios your machine is running? find out and google the beep codes for it!'

That will give you a pretty good idea where to start.

[beyondcr]

That is a good idea to check the graphics card and fans and so I will later tonight.. as far as the type of bios im not sure i couldn't find it any where in the specs on Toshiba website i think it maybe be a phoenix but i could not find any error codes with 1-1-1.....

[A1 data nz]

That is a good idea to check the graphics card and fans and so I will later tonight.. as far as the type of bios im not sure i couldn't find it any where in the specs on Toshiba website i think it maybe be a phoenix but i could not find any error codes with 1-1-1.....

Try finding and downloading the user manual, That useally has the basic bios info in it. The good ones will evn ave the beep codes! :-)

[beyondcr]

Ok I looked all over for the phenoix bios beep code 1-1-1 and nothing exists (one soft beep then two louder beeps) Some one said its a VGA error but then why wouldn't this be documented some where with Toshiba or phoenix..... The laptop is giving me a error that dose not exist... and Toshiba tech is no help at all.... all i need is to be sure of what to replace...... i mean come on if you make a tool for trouble shooting please have some kind of documentation some where.... any knowledge on this issue will be appreciated...

[A1 data nz]

Ok I looked all over for the phenoix bios beep code 1-1-1 and nothing exists (one soft beep then two louder beeps) Some one said its a VGA error but then why wouldn't this be documented some where with Toshiba or phoenix..... The laptop is giving me a error that dose not exist... and Toshiba tech is no help at all.... all i need is to be sure of what to replace...... i mean come on if you make a tool for trouble shooting please have some kind of documentation some where.... any knowledge on this issue will be appreciated...

It's possible that the soft beep is the post message, then something goes wrong and the actual error message is two beeps. Have you found an error code for two beeps?

[beyondcr]

Could it be possiable that this problem could be caused by the cmos battery being dead.... i dont know how long they last on this model but this going to be the next thing i check seeing how the system wont boot if the cmos battery is dead i will let everyone know how it goes... i had it apart once and never thought to check the voltage... wish me luck ;-)

[Jabrawler33]

Could it be possiable that this problem could be caused by the cmos battery being dead.... i dont know how long they last on this model but this going to be the next thing i check seeing how the system wont boot if the cmos battery is dead i will let everyone know how it goes... i had it apart once and never thought to check the voltage... wish me luck ;-)

So what happened!? You left me in suspense. I too am having this same problem and would love to hear how you fixed it. Its been a months since you last posted so Im guessing you figured it out, so please please share what you did to the rest of us with this annoying problem. I even sent mine to a laptop repair shop and they told me what I already knew after a weeks worth of working on it and 70 bucks >< anyways, im off to search the web for another couple hours to try and troubleshoot the same problem.

[goldenlamp]

Ok I looked all over for the phenoix bios beep code 1-1-1 and nothing exists (one soft beep then two louder beeps) Some one said its a VGA error but then why wouldn't this be documented some where with Toshiba or phoenix..... The laptop is giving me a error that dose not exist... and Toshiba tech is no help at all.... all i need is to be sure of what to replace...... i mean come on if you make a tool for trouble shooting please have some kind of documentation some where.... any knowledge on this issue will be appreciated...

I have encountered the same problem with my Toshiba M100 laptop, however my beep code is long beep, two short beeps. I have only recently bought this machine, only to find it has a major memory problem, probably in the RAM. I have exhanged the RAM device (2g) with a 1gig model and it booted. However it only booted the once before I started it up again a day later only to encounter the same problem. Thus, its not the memory sticks themselves but either the RAM connecting device in the computor itself or the memory stick attached to the video unit which of course is rather more difficult to get to and fix. I am currently stuck with a computor that is random in its abiltiy to boot and there is no technician worth his or her weight that knows what to do about the problem. They obviously can't repair it or wont and will not confess the problem either or that it seems to exist in the Toshiba sattelite series. I hope they can rectify this problem soon, or at least inform the public of why they continually are selling these models that have such difficulty in booting. Car manufacturers periodically produce lemons with particular difficulties, ie: 1993 Ford Sedan had problems with the automatic drive, etc. They are forced by consumer bodies to confess the difficulty so that the public is informed about what they are actually buying.

[beyondcr]

Ok my attempt to fix the problem led to telling the owner to have it sent to Toshiba after I figured this was a graphics problem.... what i think happens is the air vents to the graphics card gets clogged with dust causing it to overheat and after awhile ruins the graphics card there are 2 graphics cards on the laptop and I could not find them under $300+ so they got hit for $1000 and a 3 month loss of the laptop on top of that they had to send it back 3 times because of the persons repairing it did not do the job right.... so if you know what you are doing and can figure out which card took a crap and know the procedure to repalce it then good luck or you can roll deice and hope for the best... the only other option is to send it to Toshiba or a very good repair man.. . this problem not being documented is making me think twice about Toshiba they should at least know something about beep beep beep instead of wanting to charge you big bucks to fix the problem I mean if you buy something I think it is only right to have knowledge of everything the machine is capable of and not say if it cant run windows we cant help..... especially if there is a code the code was made for a reason but no one knows exactly what it means....... WHAT KINDA CRAP ARE YOU MAKING! but take it as you want.... Toshiba said it is a graphics issue..... hope it helps.

[jdlm]

Ohh man, i just got the same problem, 3 beeps of dead, tried the ram switch but still nothing happened. Are you sure about the graphic card? I mean, i better start saving for another laptop? The last thing i did on the last use of my lap was changing the sli config to just 1 card. Did anybody found if it was the cmos battery? Thanks!

[jms100]

I'm currently having my sons SLI 1 looked at for the second time (he's away in the Army). It has dead video cards again! Seems like the Nvidia cards are noted for failing, probably due to heat (the tech said they are stacked in pretty tight with little cooling available). The first cards were replaced under warranty (laptop was 12 months old). The second set lasted only 10 months and it doesn't look like the unit is worth fixing (cards will cost over $600 plus labor).

[morkrazy]

i had the same thing happen to mine about a year and a half ago. i checked the ram... didn't help, replaced the video card, didnt help, replaced the motherboard... didn't help. i had it in a local computer shop and all they could tell me is they think it's the nvidia control board (about $500) i found an identical machine on ebay for $350 and swapped my hard drives into it... today... 3 beeps... damn!

[jingda]

Can tell me more about your 3 beeps. Is there one long beep and 2 short beeps or what?

[a55a55inx]

If anyone else is having this problem with their x205; blank screen + 3 beeps (1 softer beep and 2 louder ones) I have the solution. This is a graphics card failure, and this is how you fix it. (Trust me, this works, no joke!)

-Take the Laptop apart

Link: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-X205/take-apart-laptop-1.htm

-Clean out all the dust in the computer/vents with compressed air.
-Separate the graphics card from the heat sinks.
-Clean all of the thermal grease found on the graphics cards, using rubbing alcohol.
-Preheat an oven for 200c
-Put the graphics card in the oven for 12-15mins
-Let the graphics card(s) cool for 20-30 mins
-Re-apply thermal paste to correct areas.
-Put laptop back together and it should work like new! I just did this today, and I was surprised that it worked!

[Olenjmf]

Hello All,

Did anyone try this last option "hardcore - option" with success?
It looks a bit crazy, but it maybe a bit of sense... the only doubt is about the plastics, don't they burn? i mean the connectors and some other components!
I have a X205-sli 1, to repair and I am willing to try this, because the pc is lost case anyway, or atleast the 2 graphic boards.
If someone tried, can you please reply.

I will give some feedback after...

Olen_PT