Toshiba laptop turns off?

[Tconnors810]

I'm working on a Toshiba laptop that will turnoff immediately if you tap it too hard, whether typing or just bumping it. Before I spend hours pulling this thing apart, I was wondering if anyone has run ito this before and can point me in the right direction?

Thanks
TC

 

[iisjman07]

Sounds to me like it's probably gonna be a short circuit

 

[loaner]

I'm working on a Toshiba laptop that will turnoff immediately if you tap it too hard, whether typing or just bumping it. Before I spend hours pulling this thing apart, I was wondering if anyone has run ito this before and can point me in the right direction?

Thanks
TC

how can you be "working" on it?...what else have you done besides: turn it on, bump it, then post here?

...goss

 

[OnSiteSolutions]

Umm, is this when its running on battery, or plugged in? Maybe you need to shim the battery or check the dc jack.

 

[Tconnors810]

Umm, is this when its running on battery, or plugged in? Maybe you need to shim the battery or check the dc jack.

Happens on both. If I carefully pull out the power and leave the battery in or vice versa it will stay on, as soon as you tap it too hard it will turns off. Moving the the jack seems tight and moving the power plug when plugged in does not cause it to shut off.

Thanks

 

[jscx93]

I had one of these a few weeks ago with the same issues.

I tore it completely apart and found that one of the squishy metallic looking things that are glued to the bottom base was causing it to short out and not boot. I just removed it and it worked just fine.

Very weird issue, but it works great now!

Also the dc jack is most likely a dongle, so wiggling it will just break your Toshiba bottom case and warrant more repairs.

 

[Tconnors810]

how can you be "working" on it?...what else have you done besides: turn it on, bump it, then post here?

...goss

Actually, when a customer tells me their computer "turns off by it's self" my immediate assumption are, power settings, battery issues or heat in that order. Most issues are pretty simple

So turn it on and let it run for a while and see what the issues are. As part of my service I also run a couple of quick scans to see how there virus protection is working (usually not very well). In that time frame the computer will usually shut down. The computer never shut down, it was just a fluke that I noticed that if you bump it it turned off.

Before I spend a lot of my customers money, on a old laptop, taking it apart and searching for the problem I wanted to see if someone else had a similar issue so I could resolve it quickly. I have had issues with keyboards on a laptop, but this is not limited to the keyboard.

But thank you for your comment it was very helpful.

 

[Tconnors810]

I had one of these a few weeks ago with the same issues.

I tore it completely apart and found that one of the squishy metallic looking things that are glued to the bottom base was causing it to short out and not boot. I just removed it and it worked just fine.

Very weird issue, but it works great now!

Also the dc jack is most likely a dongle, so wiggling it will just break your Toshiba bottom case and warrant more repairs.

Thanks, I'll check that out when i get into it

 

[loaner]

you're welcome

...goss

 

[Pc Fixed Right]

It should not take you more than twenty minutes to tear that laptop apart. Its probably overheating but thats just a guess.

 

[BigJohnJ]

I had an Acer 3100 in a month ago that was doing the same thing. It turned out to be a design flaw with the mounting of the hard drive. The HDD just plugs in with nothing to really hold it into place. The fix, I cut some heavy duty foam used for insulating the cabs of John Deere tractors and kinda forced it in behind the HDD to keep presure on it to hold it into place. Not a real professional fix but it worked. Might just check and make sure the HDD is plugged in properly. BTW, I explained this to the customer and they were very happy with the fix.

John

 

[Tconnors810]

Just to finish this off.

I agree, it's takes me a little more than 20 min it take apart a laptop that I'm not familiar with, not much, but a little. But, I charge a min of $199 if I have to crack open any laptop, so I was trying to keep her cost down.

BigJohn, you were close, it was the CD drive not seating properly. Cleaned up the contacts, reseated it, no more shutdown

Thanks everyone
TC