Member Avatar for alexzimah

I have a weird problem with my Toshiba Satellite 2100 CDT. It sometime work good, but sometime it freeze (hang) when I work with it and can't do anything except I just reboot with slide the power.

After I reboot, the leds indicator (the power, monitor and the battery indicator) turn on to green light, but there is no picture on the screen at all. the hard disk indicator and CD-Rom indicator are no light at all.

It seem stop/stuck after the monitor indicator turn on to the green light. If I unplug the power, the monitor indicator still turn on, but still there is nothing on the screen.
On the normal situation, after the monitor indicator on then the hard disk and the CD-Rom indicator turn on to green light.

I have tried unplug the power, the battery, and the hard drive, but I still have this problem.

If I leave it and don't touch it for 1 day/2 days, and I boot it, it work good. But after a few hours it freeze again and can't reboot.

I dont know what problem, I hope you understand with my explaination and can help me solve this problem.

Thank you very much,

-alexz

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Dani AI

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described an intermittent hang that later leaves power/monitor LEDs lit but no POST activity; correctly suggested dust as one possible cause. The pattern — boots fine after sitting, no POST beeps, no HDD/CD activity — points to an early hardware/POST failure (not the OS). Important: copy any irreplaceable files while the machine still boots, because failure may become permanent.

A practical isolation sequence that narrows the fault:

  • Fully discharge the system: remove AC and main battery, hold the power button ~30 seconds, then plug AC only and try a cold boot.
  • Boot with the minimum hardware fitted: one RAM module, CPU, and display; remove HDD, optical drive, PCMCIA/PC Card and any removable modules. Swap RAM sticks if there are two.
  • Try an external monitor (VGA) to confirm whether the internal video is initializing.
  • Reset CMOS by removing the coin cell for several minutes (or using the clear jumper).
  • Check the AC adapter output with a multimeter if available, and inspect the DC jack for looseness.

If those checks fail, inspect the logic board for aging symptoms: swollen or leaky electrolytic capacitors, brown/black scorch marks, or loose connector solder joints. A board that works after cooling but fails when warm often implicates failing capacitors or power-regulation parts. Cleaning dust and replacing thermal paste can help if overheating is part of the issue, but intermittent no-POST faults usually need component-level repair.

Safety and outcome notes: use ESD precautions, avoid forcing connectors, and weigh repair cost against machine value. If data recovery is the priority, remove the HDD and connect it to another PC (IDE-to-USB adapter/enclosure) for immediate backup. If the fault is on the motherboard, professional board-level repair or replacement is likely required.

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Member Avatar for lasher511

Hey Alex,

Are you getting any warning beeps?

It sounds as if your laptop may be overheating however due to the age of these laptops i do not think there is any way to check/change bios settings on this machine. So i would say that your comuter may be starting to get clogged up with age. I would suggest buying a Can on compressed air, taking the bottom off your laptop so that you can see the logic board and giving it a good dust with the compressed air and seeing if that makes any difference.

Otherwise i might say that your laptop might be about ready to pass on to silicon heaven.

Member Avatar for alexzimah

There is no beep, but the fan run more often. I think it cause too old and must be changed to the new one :). Anyway, thank you for your reply.

-alex

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