Final07

Hello Tech Guys,

I know for a fact this will be a great one for the older tech guys. I got myself, from an older gentlemen, a Toshiba Portege 660CDT laptop. Come complete with Windows 95!!!!

Specs: Pentium 150 MHZ, RAM 16MB (unsure of what mine actually has), HDD 1.5 GB (yes 1.5GB)

Have no clue what good it will do me to get it working but I love computer work and I try my best to get everything working. Now onto the problem.....

It won't turn on. The adapter plugs in, the two lights shine for battery charge and AC power. The battery(s) are good and I still dont know why it wont turn on. I have the User's Guide and know about the power locking mechanism. I have done everything short of taking it apart, which I intend to do next. Supposedly it used to work just fine, then one day it stopped and it's been a paper weight since. I will be taking it apart to further diagnois this problem but as for now I was just wondering if I could get a little insight to what I may be dealing with.

Thanks,
Final07

TriggerFinger

What happens when you power it ON? Do you hear the fan spin? Any audible activity from the hard drive or the CD drive (if it has one)? Do you hear any beeps? Do you see any LEDs come on aside from the two you already mentioned?

Final07

I have taken it apart and it's fine aside from taking off the motherboard. From what I saw it should be working perfectly fine. The manual says to put the lock in the down position, I did, and press and hold the power button, which I do, and wait. I wait until my fingers hurt and so far I've had only one successful attempt. I'm letting both batteries charge, the LED lights signify it's charging anyway. To answer those questions.

What happens when you power it ON? Well the one time it finally turned on, the ON LED light lit up and it began to boot normally.

Do you hear the fan spin? Not unless you stick your ear to it.

Any audible activity from the hard drive or the CD drive (if it has one)? The CD drive actually comes off, in place of where it goes I have a second battery bay attached. The harddrive isn't loud but you can tell it's definitely be read.

Do you hear any beeps? Only during the boot up when it checks memory and it's one.

Do you see any LEDs come on aside from the two you already mentioned? I believe the LED light that signals when the harddrive is being read. Besides that theres nothing else.

TriggerFinger

Just another set of questions to clarify...

1. You said it turned on and was booting normally; so you mean you see it run POST on the LCD?
2. Were you able to enter into Windows without any problems?
3. In the other times that it did not boot normally, you mean you see nothing on the screen (but signs of a normal startup are present ex. LEDs lit, hard drive indicator ON/blinking, etc)?
4. Can you boot into BIOS setup without any problems?
5. You said you have taken it apart, have you tried starting up with the HDD removed (it would not boot into Windows but I am expecting you see something on the screen during the boot up process)?

Final07

I have gotten it to work. It turns out the battery gets a problem where the ac jack LED will blink yellow/orange and it wont turn on. All i do is take out the battery and put it back in and it works. Havent had a problem in days with the booting.

I wanted to put windows 98 SE on it to start fresh however the cd drive wont read burnt disks. Any solution? I don't own an original 98 SE copy anymore.

TriggerFinger

Thanks for the update. I will mark this SOLVED and CLOSED>

As for the W98, please see forum rules on software 'copies'.