Toshiba Laptop - Boots to white screen

[Deontologist]

I am repairing a Toshiba laptop that was dropped. The drop seriously screwed up the hinge. I opened it all up starting from the bottom and now I just have a bare mobo sitting on my desk connected to the LCD which is lying flat on my desk. Basically, I got the computer guts spilled everywhere and the cheap plastic hinge elements which shattered from the drop are in the trash. BTW: Toshibas are pieces of garbage. This Toshiba was more expensive than an Lenovo I had purchased around the same time and the Toshiba's build quality is way, way inferior. Inside there was corrosion everywhere; the Lenovo (which I also tore apart) had the far superior build quality both inside and outside. (Rant over)

I can start the Toshiba laptop up just fine.

But I don't see any video; no POST, no Windows logo, whatever. After starting the laptop and waiting about a minute I get a white screen. So I know the monitor is completely fine - it lights up and just gives me a white screen. I tried connecting keyboards to it and hitting F2, F8, F12, esc, tab etc. to get it to go to the BIOS, but nothing.

What can I do? I read online about many other Toshibas experiencing this "white screen of death" but no one has come up with a definite solution. Any ideas?

 

[AMDMaddness]

Are you using the laptops screen or an external monitor? usually a white screen is a bad cable if its on the laptop screen. Try an external if you haven't already.

 

[redzo]

+1

First, your're being a little hypocritical here. No product is meant to be dropped on the floor. No mater the price, no matter the brand. If the owner drops it on the floor, he has no excuse. Warranty is lost: product not designed to face a drop on the floor, period.

If you get action, it means that the display is screwed. If you get the same output, it may mean that that there is something fishy with the motherboard. CPU's usually are the last things that brake. If ram is not the issue: then there you have it: bad mobo.

Don't get that mad! All laptop manufacturers sell pieces of crap that do not last. Right now
I've basically dissected a 3 year old acer with the shitiest hinge system ever. The left hinge cracked not because the user abused it, but because the plastic sticking it to the bottom is so crap that it literary broke after a certain amount of use. The right hinge is about to fail the same way.
Fixing it means changing the hole bottom enclosure and it is too expensive.

I do not remember if I've already said this on this forum before but: when you buy something always go for products with the highest stock warranty(I'am talking about stock warranty, not about that warranty for which you pay extra).

Even if you've got the cash, nowadays I think that is better to change products often and pay as little as possible initially other than pay an arm and a leg and expect reliability in the long run.

 

[Deontologist]

+1

First, your're being a little hypocritical here. No product is meant to be dropped on the floor. No mater the price, no matter the brand. If the owner drops it on the floor, he has no excuse. Warranty is lost: product not designed to face a drop on the floor, period.

Wait, what? I know that the warranty was lost, and I haven't even bothered to contact Toshiba. I'm just saying that the Toshiba is a POS no matter how you slice it or dice it. Using the touchpad felt like sliding my finger over asphalt. Great choice of materials right there. Inside, the WiFi module only had one antenna, unlike my Lenovo (which had 2). The hard drive and its case were corroded, which has nothing to do with the drop. Lenovo - no corrosion. And the Toshiba had half the cores of the Lenovo and a 600 MHz deficit in processor frequency and didn't have a finger print reader like the Lenovo and managed to cost 20 dollars more than the Lenovo. POS. But that's besides the point.

I dropped the Toshiba and I'm happy to see that at least it appears to be mostly working. Hopefully this white screen thing can be fixed.

 

[Deontologist]

Are you using the laptops screen or an external monitor? usually a white screen is a bad cable if its on the laptop screen. Try an external if you haven't already.

I'm using the laptop's screen. I tried plugging in a monitor via DVI but there's no output on that screen. The laptop just keeps displaying a white screen on its LCD.

 

[Ketchup]

I'm using the laptop's screen. I tried plugging in a monitor via DVI but there's no output on that screen. The laptop just keeps displaying a white screen on its LCD.

You would, of course, need to tell it to switch with whatever the Toshiba hotkey is.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Clear CMOS?
The toshiba parts are a dime a dozen on flee bay, try a different HHD? Do a CMOS over night clear.

 

[Puffnstuff]

IMHO "the dropping of the laptop" is the key element in this entire scenario. I personally have a dell alienware M17xr3 and it is of a higher quality and my hinges are tight. If I dropped it I would expect damage because it was never built to be dropped. Laptops that are militarized, aka ruggedized, are expensive and are designed for use in rough environments. I bought my youngest son a Toshiba laptop several years ago and it is still running great today because it was not dropped. So the op should blame the person who abused the laptop by dropping it rather than the manufacturer.

 

[Deontologist]

You would, of course, need to tell it to switch with whatever the Toshiba hotkey is.

Before when it was working fine the second monitor would automatically display a picture when plugged in.

 

[Deontologist]

Clear CMOS?
The toshiba parts are a dime a dozen on flee bay, try a different HHD? Do a CMOS over night clear.

I tried it. I pulled out the CMOS battery, the laptop battery, and disconnected the wall charger for a night (actually once all these are out that should do, shouldn't it?) Nothing changed unfortunately. I also tried with and without an HDD and nothing changed. Thanks for the advice guys though, keep it coming. Maybe I'll be able to resuscitate this laptop.