Toshiba M45 - 335 Issues

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by invierno, Mar 17, 2009.

  1. invierno

    invierno Nibble Poster

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    Hey everybody!

    I'm trying to help out a friend who has an issue with his laptop. Here are the specs:


    Toshiba Laptop Computer
    SATELLITE M45-S335
    PM750-1.86GHz
    1024MB
    100GB
    15.4IN
    DVD+/- XPH - PSM40U-073001
    Year: 2005

    And here's the issue:

    The machine suddenly started having trouble turning on, and, when it did, it would freeze after any sort of processor intensive process including loading IE. The light around the power button would be blue; the fans would turn on; the hard drive would begin spinning; and then it would shut off after three seconds.

    My initial thought was that it was overheating or had a short, so I dissembled it, cleaned out the small amount of dust, and reconnected everything. I noticed that one of the clips that holds the RAM modules in place appeared to be bent and not allowing the RAM to seat completely. I removed the RAM chip and left the other in, leaving 512MB.

    Initially it would not turn on, but about 2 tries later it did. I then pulled all of his data off the hard drive and saved it onto my external hard drive (had to use Knoppix to pull one particular folder because it wouldn't copy in XP but that's another issue altogether), so there's no danger he's going to lose any valuable files. I ran chkdsk /r about 5 times (it came back with errors and corrected them), and it successfully rebooted every time (rebooted successfully 6-7 times). I then left it off for over 8 hours, and when I tried again it turned on with no problem.

    I took it back to him and he was able to log onto the internet with me there. We then tested a few other processor intensive things like playing a DVD; it loaded the DVD but then froze at the menu. We turned it off and rebooted without incident, and later that night he was able to log onto the internet and have several applications open simultaneously. However, then he loaded several web pages at the same time along with MSN Messenger and it froze again. He turned it off, and now it will not turn on again (same symptoms from the first paragraph).

    My thought then was that the machine is low on resources (his hard drive is almost completely full (99%), he is missing the second RAM chip still, and I uninstalled a program that was using 99% of his CPU resources when I got it to turn on) and that caused the DVD freeze and the MSM freeze (we talked about freeing resources up before this last freeze), but what troubles me is why it will not turn on again. Any thoughts on what would cause this and what we could do about it? He does not have much in the way of financial resources so we're trying to do this as economically as possible.
     
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  2. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Love it - this was like an exam question! Fifty lines of extraneous information with one useful nugget buried in there!

    T says:
    [​IMG]
    I PITY THE FOOL... WHO DON'T HAVE NO SPARE SPACE ON HIS HARD DISK
    GIT SOME FILES OFF THERE - LET THAT SUCKA BREEEEEATHE!


    :D

    Seriously - I reckon a drive that full is going to be the root cause of nearly (if not all) of your problems. There are several reasons for this - including the need for space for temporary files, a page file, fragmentation (not usually an issue nowadays, but definitely a problem ona drive that's 99% full) etc etc
     
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  3. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    lol Mr-T still rules :)

    I have never had a full hard drive for years, but I remember when I had my 486DX-2 with a 250MB hard drive :) if you got below 50MB you would start having issues with windows actually you could notice performance issues below 100MB.
     
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  4. Metalstar

    Metalstar Kilobyte Poster

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    I agree with Mr T - A cousin of mine filled their hard drive and were having a whole host of problems. Cleared some old junk off and all was well.
     
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  5. del_port

    del_port Byte Poster

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    It's bizarre they can fill a 100gb harddrive and not want to remove any of the content,and keep it running like that with no space.

    It sounds like a lazy person,or someone with little knowledge in how computers work.

    Even my 14 year old nephew is aware that you don't fill hard drives to the brim and refuse to delete anything.
     
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  6. dales

    dales Terabyte Poster

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    As the others have said most of it can probably be explained by the rather full hard drive (wafer thin mint, Sir).

    However if the machine is actually physically failing to switch on some at times then there is also a hardware problem there too. depending on age of machine it may be an idea to write it off, get one better spec'd but inform them again do not fill it so full of pron and downloaded movies that it teeters on the edge of a cliff.
     
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    WIP: Nothing
  7. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I couldn't eat another thing. I'm absolutely stuffed.

    Better get a bucket.
     
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  8. invierno

    invierno Nibble Poster

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    Hahahaha dude I was cracking up so hard about Mr. T. Thanks for the extra effort on that one :biggrin

    I got the PC back recently and I checked for myself: 7.45GB free out of a 100GB HD. That's more than enough for temporary files (etc.), so I am thinking that he has an issue with the power supply or a short circuit somewhere. It does turn on and stay on occasionally; what does that sound like to everybody?

    Thanks for all of your responses!
     
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  9. Pheonicks56

    Pheonicks56 Kilobyte Poster

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    1) How big is the page file?
    2) What was he doing before this happened, did he install any new software?
    3) Did you run AVG and check for viruses?
     
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  10. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    I think I'm gonna throw up :D
     
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  11. dales

    dales Terabyte Poster

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    [​IMG]

    More than likely a motherboard issue I would have thought, I would say if its in warranty send it back, if its still worth a bit of money then get a local laptop repair specialist to have a look, or my personal favourite is buy a bigger better hard faster one!
     
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  12. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Overheating, PSU, or mobo failure... if you can find a way to keep it cooler, you can run tests to see if that helps keep the system up during heavy processor usage... if so, one of the fans blowing hot air outside the case is probably slowing down.
     
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  13. invierno

    invierno Nibble Poster

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    1524MB

    He said it randomly stopped turning on one day; he recently had installed Picasa from Google. I have observed the issue whenever the system does anything processor intensive.


    I tried to use a Live CD of Dr. Cureit! but it froze up during the process. I am still trying to run it and I'll report anything it finds.

    Observation: the machine has started twice using only battery power after I have left it unplugged for day.

    @BosonMichael: this has all of the symptoms of an overheating Toshiba but I can feel plenty of heat coming from the vent on the side of the machine when it is operating.
     
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  14. invierno

    invierno Nibble Poster

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  15. Pheonicks56

    Pheonicks56 Kilobyte Poster

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    Okay I have found the solution!

    1) Go to the roof with the laptop.
    2) Throw laptop as far from the roof as possible while screaming look out below!
    3) Visit the local computer store or a good cheap online computer store.
    4) Purchase netbook with comparable specs as the old laptop for ~£200.
    5) Visit local pub.
    6) Purchase a pint for you and your friend.
    7) Toast Pheonicks56 for saving you from this awful headache.
     
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  16. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    If CHKDSK found errors, that is a good indication the hard drive is failing :rolleyes:
     
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