Toshiba Satellite Pro 410CDT

[~Vulpine~]

I've just bought one of these second-hand, and I can't get it to start up. It counts the memory, then I have to wait ages until anything else comes up - it recognises the Win98SE startup disk in the drive, but the keyboard will not respond. I've tried attaching another keyboard but although the NumLock and ScrollLock lights are on it doesn't do anything either.

Also, the light-up icons below the monitor, one's lighting up that's like a square box with arrows in it. That's the best way to describe it, I'm not so hot on laptops :P

Hope someone can help...

xXx

[ACtheTROLL]

doesn't sound good
no "insert bootable disc" messages?

i think it's a case of if it looks like the keyboard ... it probably is.

the sattelite is a bit of a pig to get into (built like a tank!)
I suppose the question is ... has it ever worked since you took it out of the box?

first thing to check is if the keyboard will stop the POST ....
just hold a key down and switch on .... the machine should complain that a key is stuck.

Then ... go into the bios (can't remember which keys ... does it say at startup).
do the keys work?

if not ... it's possibly the ribbon connector on the mobo....
If there's a waranty ... send it back

[~Vulpine~]

If the startup disk isn't in, it does say 'Insert system disk and hit any key when ready' - trouble is, I can't hit a key even when it is in. It doesn't complain when I hold any of the keys down, either. I'll try the motherboard thing.

Bought it for a fiver this morning - no box, no manual, no nothing.

Looks like I'm very, very gullible... :)

xXx

[ACtheTROLL]

the good news is �5.00 !!!!!
being charitable ... you could have dislodged something carrying it home
or maybe they (the hounds?) saw you coming?

for a fiver ... if all else fails ... it will make a stylish doorstop.

it's sad that an external keyboard won't work.
if you use the bootdisc ... after 30 seconds the default option "boot with cd support" should kick in and start the machine to C:\> ???

you've nothing to loose ... open it up ... have a prod round push all the connectors firmly home.

[~Vulpine~]

Eureka!! The external keyboard decided to work. But it looks like the whole system's been wiped or something... it's looking for a CD ROM drive that's not there, and when I try and reformat C it says I can't do it. Off to Google again for me.

Suppose I could stick a screenshot from this PC onto the screen, carry it about on the bus and type away, looking important ;)

Thanks for all your help! :D

xXxXxXx

[ACtheTROLL]

sounds like a loose connection

looking at the spec .... you need 95 not 98