Toshiba Tecra 8100 no bootup

[wca21]

Hi there
I have a Toshiba Tecra 8100. At the moment the machine will not boot up.
Can you help.
The battery is fully charged. the power lights come on Battery, Power, screen,
CD rom drive. all green.
I can not get into the bios, or to the A DRIVE . The screen does not light.
The fan does not run.
when shutting down I get a 1 long beep- 3 short beeps.
Can you please advise me.
Thank you for your help
wca21 United Kingdom

[JANINE]

Hi there
I have a Toshiba Tecra 8100. At the moment the machine will not boot up.
Can you help.
The battery is fully charged. the power lights come on Battery, Power, screen,
CD rom drive. all green.
I can not get into the bios, or to the A DRIVE . The screen does not light.
The fan does not run.
when shutting down I get a 1 long beep- 3 short beeps.
Can you please advise me.
Thank you for your help
wca21 United Kingdom

ok. you're not being terribly descriptive here but i will try to help you as best as i can.
i need to ask you a few questions however first..
1. have you recently installed any new new hardware?
2 has it been accidently dropped or heavily knocked recently
3. have you had any miscellaneous downloads recently? sometimes viruses can download and cause hardware failiure
4. who makes your BIOS? this is the first thing you should see when you boot up?
these are only a coupl of bios manufacturer sites

www.phoenix.com
www.intel.com
let us know if this matches your bios

it sounds like you might have a one of a number of things.

1. complete mobo failiure
2. CPU failiure
3. dodgy power supply and connections
4. memory failiure
5. video/graphics chip failiure.

please note these are only possibilities.:-|

[wca21]

Thank you for your reply
Here are the answers you requested
1 No new Hardware installed
2 When lightly tapping on the back of machine it did work.
3 No virus down loads protected with NORTON SYMANTICS
4 BIOS DOWN LOADED FROM Toshiba web site for this model Intel Pentium 111
5 can not get to the CMOS after pressing F1 F2 or Escape keys.
Nothing on the screen.
Thanks wca

[JANINE]

Thank you for your reply
Here are the answers you requested
1 No new Hardware installed
2 When lightly tapping on the back of machine it did work.
3 No virus down loads protected with NORTON SYMANTICS
4 BIOS DOWN LOADED FROM Toshiba web site for this model Intel Pentium 111
5 can not get to the CMOS after pressing F1 F2 or Escape keys.
Nothing on the screen.
Thanks wca

k, it sounds like there may be a loose connection on the motherboard somewhere, like maybe between the power supply and one of the other components. If its not a faulty connection then it could be as i said before a faulty motherboard.

i know this might seem like a silly question but i dont know if you have tried it or not. have you attempted to hook up an external screen to your laptop and seeing if you can access anything via that? Usually there is a button that has an image of what looks like a TV screen on it. Most of the time its blue and located near the top of the keyboard. if this method works let me know.
if not take down to your nearest computer repair store. If you were living in Essex, Uk i'd have a look for you as i have the time at the moment.:)

let me know...
j:)

[Catweazle]

JANINE, you're off the track here.

wca21, 1 long, 3 short beeps from a boot failure generally indicates a hardware problem with either RAM or display adaptor, depending on the BIOS version. I'd suggest you need to get that laptop checked out by a technician.

[JANINE]

i found a website or 2 for u. seems like you're not the only 1
http://notebookforums.com/archive/index.php/f-68.html
http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/jive3/thread.jspa?threadID=4013

also try googleing the error like me

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=toshiba+tecra+8100+won%27t+boot++up&hl=en&lr=&start=50&sa=N:twisted:

[JANINE]

JANINE, you're off the track here.

wca21, 1 long, 3 short beeps from a boot failure generally indicates a hardware problem with either RAM or display adaptor, depending on the BIOS version. I'd suggest you need to get that laptop checked out by a technician.

i said that before anyway.:) i said it could be a hardware fault but its my dear darling pc technician brother (trainee) who said may be more likely a mobo fault or loose connections. so much for him working in a pc clinic eh.:lol:

thats why i asked what BIOS version and whether any display could be got from hooking up externally. as you know cat, its very hard to tell these things when you cannot see the machine.

[JANINE]

1. memory failiure
2. video/graphics chip failiure.
   please note these are only possibilities.:-|

from an earlier post

[Catweazle]

That 1 long, 3 short beep code is enough to make an experienced person's eyes light up and go "Ding, Ding, Ding!"

In a older laptop, it's enough to make him go "Oh s**t!"

[JANINE]

That 1 long, 3 short beep code is enough to make an experienced person's eyes light up and go "Ding, Ding, Ding!"

In a older laptop, it's enough to make him go "Oh s**t!"

hehe:) or maybe the case for not so experienced. i say 'uh oh' with old machines quite frequently. i take it the ding, ding, ding with currency signs lighting up the eyes :lol:

[Thatsmyboy]

Hi , I have one these too. Try reseating the memory. You may also need to place a thin piece of card between ram and cover. The memory slots on alot a laptops are cr-p, but then again if they made them right they would need to go in for repair so often.

Hope this helps Russ

[dwh8012]

I also have this problem with my tecra 8100, sans beeping. how can I make mine beep so I have the exact symptom:?

My 8100 will not boot, I have had it entirely apart several times, and it will not boot with just motherboard, processor, and external video (no HDD, ram, modem, CD, Floppy, etc)

How can I tell if the processor or the motherboard is my problem without buying each and testing?

[Luke2511]

Erm........
This might sound like a bit of a stupid question.
But how do you boot it up normally anyway?

:lol:

-----------

Thanks,
Luke

[PCooper]

Dear WCA21

I too have this Tecra problem. I booted up my machine a couple days ago, and it froze on the desktop screen so I shut it off and rebooted... then, nothing. Black screen, no whirring. I waited a minute then pushed the power button to turn it off, got the beeps you described above and then it powered off.
(So I guess we can join the same club.)

I would love to hear if/how you fix it. I have never opened my Tecra 8100 and don't even know how. I guess it is time for a screw driver and patience. BTW I always did have video problems on this machine. When the screen was closed while powered up, often when I re-opened it I saw a series of grey patchy screens that would be shown with scrolling effects. It was crashed.

The video card on these may always have been dodgy. Otherwise this is an old 500 MHz machine (5+ years old) that still worked GREAT!

Anyway, you be the guinea pig and please post the results of your fix!

Thanks,
Phil

[asianpinoy25]

hope this help....

beeping sound is indeed a hardware problem... i have experienced it and was able to solve it... :)

heres what u can do.... unplug ur power source and battery....
next, clean ur memory contacts, use a pencil eraser to clean the contacts, remove hard disk, try cleaning the contacts....

once ur done cleaning put them back and make sure the pins are in contact with the memory.... make sure the battery is the last thing u do..... or better yet, dont put the battery yet, use ur adopter to power on ur tecra 8100.....

if theres no display, and if it seems the laptop is running, press shut down switch, once it shut down, use external monitor, power it on again, if theres a display, probably u have a problem with ur gound wire in the lcd..... u have to open ur lcd screen and fix the grounding of ur lcd..... i'll check my other computer if i still have the diagram of tecra 8100 so that u have an idea how to open ur laptop......

and if u still cant run ur tecra, try removing the internal battery to reset ur bios...... if still doesnt work, try to find a way to test ur hard drive or memory......

and most of all, dont run or switch on ur laptop without installing ur hard drive or memory, this could damage ur hardware....

hope this would help u guys......

my laptop specs:

tecra 8100 pIII 700mhz
sdram pc100 384mb(slot1 256mb, slot2 128mb)
80gig seagate 5400rpm
dual OS(Win98se and WinXP pro sp2)
updated to bios 2.50
i also removed the termal pad from the cpu and used artic silver 5

[JANINE]

hope this help....

beeping sound is indeed a hardware problem... i have experienced it and was able to solve it... :)

heres what u can do.... unplug ur power source and battery....
next, clean ur memory contacts, use a pencil eraser to clean the contacts, remove hard disk, try cleaning the contacts....

once ur done cleaning put them back and make sure the pins are in contact with the memory.... make sure the battery is the last thing u do..... or better yet, dont put the battery yet, use ur adopter to power on ur tecra 8100.....

if theres no display, and if it seems the laptop is running, press shut down switch, once it shut down, use external monitor, power it on again, if theres a display, probably u have a problem with ur gound wire in the lcd..... u have to open ur lcd screen and fix the grounding of ur lcd..... i'll check my other computer if i still have the diagram of tecra 8100 so that u have an idea how to open ur laptop......

and if u still cant run ur tecra, try removing the internal battery to reset ur bios...... if still doesnt work, try to find a way to test ur hard drive or memory......

and most of all, dont run or switch on ur laptop without installing ur hard drive or memory, this could damage ur hardware....

hope this would help u guys......

my laptop specs:

tecra 8100 pIII 700mhz
sdram pc100 384mb(slot1 256mb, slot2 128mb)
80gig seagate 5400rpm
dual OS(Win98se and WinXP pro sp2)
updated to bios 2.50
i also removed the termal pad from the cpu and used artic silver 5

well stated there as this is cetainly worth a go.;) however please be careful to ground yourself properly to prevent against static

[asianpinoy25]

i also forgot to mention ur battery, is it in good condition?.... if ur battery have reached its life span, the battery probably be shorted, and can also be a cause of ur problem..... u may see the light indicating that its charging but its possible that its already worn out, battery life span is 1 yr or 1000 cycles, which ever comes first...... worn out battery are not to be used anymore, coz this will damage ur hardware......

when i use my laptop at home for long usage, i take the battery out to prevent it from over charging..... and i've repacked my battery and got a higher Amh battey cell for longer usage out door...... :)

and lastly, check ur internal battery, if it still have power, in some laptops, problem also occur when internal battery is already worn out or dead, the laptop wont boot or start, will give u the beep! beep! beep!.......

hope this would help u guys...... :)

[nofear]

Hi,
I have a problem with my Tecra, its doesnt come on! And there always come out this sign below:

" STOP: c0000218 {Registry file Failure} The Registry cannot load the hive (file): \ systemroot\System32\config\software or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.
Beginning dump of physical memory
physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical assistance"