Toshiba Satellite laptop won't boot into Windows - black screen

[jnstr]

I am attempting to fix a friend's Toshiba laptop- specifications are:

Toshiba Satellite L305-S5921
Model No. PSLB8U-079025
Windows Vista Home Premium

The computer essentially starts up, runs the "Toshiba" screen then goes directly into a black screen whereas a prompter is seen at the top left then the screen goes completely black.

The owner purchased the laptop from Best Buy (I believe) and it did not come with a recovery disc; apparently the owner attempted to create one but cannot find it. He took the laptop back to the store and they were of no assistance.

I have researched online before posting here and have tried to see if it might be a power issue- whereas I removed the battery, plugged the unit into a power source and tried to boot normally, no luck. I am in the process of downloading a recovery disc although I am uncertain as to whether it will work with this model.

I have researched online and cannot find a solution. I have fixed an older Satellite model in the past but have not come across this type of problem. I have no error message to deal with; I do think there is some sort of boot file missing or corrupted file, etc.

Any suggestions are appreciated

[Madcatz]

first thing I would do is run a hard drive diagnostic test on it.

or the other option would be to take it to a toshiba ASP in the area if its still under warranty.

[jnstr]

The owner says the warranty is expired. As far as a hard drive diagnostic test, I do not have any software to work with; is there steps to do this during boot?

[Madcatz]

there are steps to do the test during boot, but you need the software first. you can click the link in my signature for hard drive diags, choose the brand of the hard drive and download thier hard drive test, burn it to a cd and then boot the computer to the cd and run the tests.

[Flizesh]

I have the same exact problem. Bought this laptop in July of this year (Satellite L305) and it was working fine until I tried to start it up today and get the same problem. Toshiba screen comes up then right to a black screen with a non-blinking cursor in the top left. I don't think you can even run any diagnostics on it because I can't get into anything.

Anyone have any support for this?

[Flizesh]

Gonna reply to myself here, just managed to fix it!


Follow the steps here:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f108...en-350292.html

Can try a power drain !!

take the battery out n disconnect from the external power .

Hold on to the power button for 30 sec .

Try connect to external power source(AC adapter) without battery.

Later u can put the battery back and use as usual.

hmm .. Its just a try to drain the static charge from RAM slots ..which can potential cause a blank display.

Give a try n let me know !!

[jnstr]

Sorry I did not get back to this thread sooner to reply to conclude my issue- I actually attempted to run the DFT test which failed to work; would not scan beyond a analyzation of the system run then stay at a prompt with no results. I then attempted to reformat the hard drive by pressing the key zero while booting up and after going through the steps to set the laptop back to it's factory settings, it continued to delete the partition but stopped with an error code that there were some corrupted files. I returned the Toshiba back to it's owner and told him I believed the hard drive is bad and he should really try to speak to the distributor and get a new one; the laptop is apparently less than a year old - he then said they would actually replace it with a new one as they have been having issues with the hard drives of this model.

Thanks again for the assistance

[patrickobrien]

I am currently having the same issue with no avail. removed the ram, removed the battery and still nothing....

[JKat]

I followed Flizesh instructions and took out the battery and held the power button for 30 Seconds. It worked!!! Thanks Flizesh!!! Hope everyone else works out there problem.

[ArtyBird]

TYTYTY Flizesh
Did exactly as quoted below and hey prestoooo I now have laptop back on! Phew! thought it may have been the hard drive and a call to Toshiba as still under warranty or trip 2 doors away; to my friendly computer man who does. Thank you again for this valuable piece of knowledge xx

Originally Posted by Flizesh

Gonna reply to myself here, just managed to fix it!


Follow the steps here:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f108...en-350292.html

[pinkpig08]

I just registered so I could tell you I've just tried the advice above about taking the battery out and it worked for me :)

I was getting worried as I thought I'd have to take it to the repairers and end up with a big bill! Phew! Thanks to who posted it :)

[precio6]

Thanks a lot!! I was having a hard time trying to figure it out, but now the laptop its working fine.
Thanksssssssssssssssss!!!!