Help! Toshiba Satellite 1900 (have lots of pics inside) >>>>>

Hemogoblin

I had my first post just not long ago, and got a bit ahead of myself. I thought I'd be able to easily open it up and clean it out but it hasn't been that easy What used to happen was the laptop would crash in the middle of doing something and would not turn back on. I eventually got it on and reformatted it, and it will now blue screen after running for a bit. This thing generates HUGE heat and I can only imagine how much dust is inside. So, before I start buying upgrades, I was hoping that it was just a heat issue causing it to crash. Anyway, removing the HDD, DVD drive, floppy, and access to the RAM was simple. A screw here and there, and off they came. So I should be able to upgrade all of that with no worries. BTW, this is a Toshiba Satellite 1900 (PS192C-00UWN). How exactly do I access this:


As you can see, I need to get underneath that fan and have tried to access it from under the keyboard and from underneath the laptop. Any idea which way, is the right way? There is a little panel just right to the fan (you can just see the outline in the pic) and it's the ONLY part that has Torx screws which I don't have a screwdriver for, of course. I can be quite sure I need to remove it, but once that is done, what's next to access that fan?


This is the plug for the keyboard and what I think is the touch pad? Any idea how to unplug them? I didn't want to try as I was afraid I might break it or something...


Here's another one where the RAM was located. Any idea what those wires are for?? Also, what is that slot area underneath the piece of plastic tab? I was under the impression that this laptop has 256 onboard, that I couldn't remove, and another 256 removable. I assume that the one lower in the pic, is the removable but what is that other empty slot above it? Looks like another slot for RAM but looks a little different? Here's another pic of that up close:



Here are some other pics for those interested. This is the 40 GB hard drive that has it's own casing and just pops out with 2 screws:




This is the DVD/CR-RW drive that I want to replace with a proper DVD burner. I think they should all be the same size (generic fit????) but the front fascia will likely be different and not match the rest of the comp once removed. No big deal I guess, as long as it fits. This just slides out after removing one screw:




Anyone have any ideas on how I can access that fan area (after I remove the Torx screw panel), please share. It's been so long that I've had this computer working and I really need it for school. I'm going to have a look around for those Torx screw drivers. I hope they aren't too hard to find...
Thanks for listening, and all your help.

Cheers,
Steve

Instrument-Mechanic

Torx should not be hard to find, try any Hardware store, and look for a screw driver bit set (like a cordless drill bit set) torx should be part of a multi bit set, or loof for the bit drivers, like a screw driver, only Torx on the end. If you know some one who works on GM cars, they should have all kinds of Torx

Hemogoblin

I don't get it? I just popped off the keyboard to have another look around and saw that under a piece of metal foil, just in the center of the area under the keyboard, was another stick of RAM??? This one comes out (because I took it out) and it's also 256? So if I replace the 2 sticks I have with 512 each, wouldn't that give me the 1GB? Or is this computer maxed out to 768 regardless? I'm so confused....

Cheers,
Steve

Hemogoblin

Ya, I have a bunch of Torx back home in my chest but I'm quite sure I don't have one this small. These screws are tiny. I'm in Australia now so I'll have a look around here and see what I can come up with. I don't think it'll be a problem.

Cheers,
Steve

Hemogoblin

Been a while since I've been back on here but the update is as follows:

Got back home to Canada and cleaned out the heatsink. Pretty dirty, and plut it all back together with no change in performance. I also took it into a service place (not Toshiba certified) and they "thought" the motherboard was fried. I don;'t think they actually did anything as it didn't seem like they knew what was going on. Anyway, from what I was told, the soundcard on that laptop is integrated with the mobo. Now, I can't start the computer up (the screen is just black, and in the odd 1 in 100 tries that it DOES start, it blue screens or does the thing outlined below) but I CAN listen to CD's through the panel of buttons on the front of the laptop. I don't have to open the screen, I just push and hold the CD button and the drive pops open. Pop in a CD and voila! Music. So, I suspect it isn't the mobo. Is that a fair assumption? I also remember reading somewhere with someone having a similar problem, that it was the RAM that fried? Any ideas??? Well, here's a summary of the screen last time I got it started:

CauseWay Error 09 : Unrecoverable internal exception, program terminated

Exception : 0D, Error code : 016C

EAX=000018 3 EBX=00003021 ECX=00000000 EDX=00000000 ESI=0000448D
EDI=00000A2D EBP=00000A9D ESP=000006 4 EIP=00001932 EFL=00013044

CS=00A3 DS=0083 ES=00D3 FS=0073 GS=0063 SS=008B

CR0=00000011 CR2=00000000 CR3=00715000 TR=0023

SystemFlags=00000000

And then it repeats...

Any ideas???? Thanks

Cheers,
Steve

godzilla525

Those connectors appear to be the ZIF type, the two tabs on the side edges of the connector slide in the direction of the cable to release it, and click back in to lock it. You may need to work from one side to the other and back on the connector lock to get it to click in and seat properly. Whatever you do, don't yank or force the ribbon cable.

Those two wires covered in orange Kapton tape are coax for a pair of internal wireless 802.11x antennae, and they are most likely positioned over a mini-PCI slot for an absent wireless card.

It doesn't look like you'll be able to get to the fan without taking the entire thing apart, and that's never fun. You might be able to get a lot of dust out of the fan area with a crevice tool on a vacuum.

Exception 0D is the code for a General Protection Fault, which more or less points at problems with the memory or possibly an overheating CPU. The latter isn't likely to occur on P4 machines IIRC due to automatic thermal throttling, so I'd start by trying it without anything except the onboard RAM installed and see if it still crashes. If not, try each stick of RAM individually in the first socket. The bad stick will cause it to crash if that's what the problem is.

It may end up being something else entirely since code 0D is also a catch-all for exceptions where there is no specific exception code.

Oh, if that Travelstar gets too hot, bad things will happen. My Dell laptop would get it hot enough to exceed the temperature spec occasionally and I never had one go longer than a year before it would cause ATAPI-related bluescreens weekly. They seem to have issues with the spindle motor's lubrication migrating out of where it needs to be if run continuously for long periods of time.

Hemogoblin

Thanks for your help :-) The hard drive is OK as I'm using it now as an external for my desktop. At least something seems to be working fine. As soon as I get home and have a closer look at this thing, I'll try what you suggested with the memory. I hope that corrects things... Thanks again.

Cheers,
Steve