Toshiba black screen won't start

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M Cee - Mar 3, 2011 at 04:09 PM
jayland - Aug 4, 2019 at 05:43 PM

Heyy, please help!!

Okay, so here's the thing, my Toshiba Satellite A305 has been giving me a really hard time lately. First of all, it's been shutting down unexpectedly before (and I'm pretty it's because it overheats), but now, it won't even start!

When I power it up, it only shows the TOSHIBA screen with the F2 and F12 options, but after that, nothing else happens. There's only a black screen, not even a cursor or anything. Nothing else happens until it shuts down.

Please help!

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4 replies

Answer 1 / 4

Ambucias

Posts: 47363
Registration date: Monday February 1, 2010
Status: Moderator
Last seen: September 1, 2021

11,279
Mar 4, 2011 at 05:20 PM

@djsmurf

If M Cee does not have any data to save, he can restore:

Toshiba laptops from mid 2007 onwards dont have a recovery disc supplied with a purchase of a laptop. Instead, Toshiba has added a hidden partition on the hard drive which contains the same files on a recovery cd / dvd.

To reinstall your laptop to the factory settings / "out of the box" settings, please follow these steps.

ALL DATA WILL BE ERASED ON YOUR HARD DRIVE IF YOU PROCEED. YOU WILL NEED TO ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE THE POWER ADAPTER PLUGGED IN. DO NOT SWITCH OFF OR RESTART YOUR COMPUTER DURING THIS PROCESS.

1) Hold down the power button for 10 (ten) seconds to switch off your machine.

Please note: Holding down the power button on the machine forces it to switch off. Any unsaved data will be lost.

2) Press and hold the 0 (zero) key and at the same time, tap the power button once to switch on your notebook.

3) When the machine Starts beeping; release the 0 key.

4) When prompted by the warning screen; select Yes to continue with the system recovery.

5) Select Recovery of Factory Default Software; click Next.

6) Select Recover to out-of-box state. Click Next again.

7) Click Next to Start recovery.

M Cee
Mar 4, 2011 at 06:37 PM

Okay, I'm all for trying this, but two questions.
Would I need a CD/DVD for this though?
If, and because my Toshiba is notorious for shutting down unexpectedly, it shuts down during the process...what'll happen then?

djsmurf

Posts: 98
Registration date: Friday January 9, 2009
Status: Member
Last seen: April 30, 2011

19
Mar 4, 2011 at 08:39 PM

No CD or DVD needed.

(Because you think heat was causing your shutdowns) I would keep it in a place where the fan is getting a decent amount of air.

It will be drawing the recovery files from a hidden partition on the hard drive, if it would shutdown before the install finished you would just need to restart the process.

Ambucias

Posts: 47363
Registration date: Monday February 1, 2010
Status: Moderator
Last seen: September 1, 2021

11,279
Mar 5, 2011 at 04:25 AM

M Cee
djsmurf is entirely correct, please follow his advice.

M Cee
Mar 6, 2011 at 06:51 PM

I'm sorry if I'm doubting this a little, but a reason why I didn't really look for ways to restore my Toshiba to out-of-the-box conditions is because I have a friend who tried to restore his Acer (he just wanted to restore it; mainly because he's just sick of how slow it is), and it turned off, and after that, he couldn't turn it on anymore. Totally wasted.

So I just want to ask how confident are you with this? I'm willing to try, but I really am pretty scared.

jess
Nov 26, 2011 at 05:08 AM

i did the thing you said about the holding 0 it beeped came up to the black screen with the arrow and it was loading for 2 seconds the prompt screen isnt coming up its just sitting there on the black screen ive only had this computer for 2 weeks I have a toshiba c655d-s5200 I honestly dont know what to do everyone keeps saying its the hard drive but the fan is running still and my grandma got me this she only had a 15 day warranty on it and it didnt come with a disk so im stuck on what to do at this point please help me

Answer 2 / 4

djsmurf

Posts: 98
Registration date: Friday January 9, 2009
Status: Member
Last seen: April 30, 2011

19
Mar 3, 2011 at 04:52 PM

Because you think it has been shutting down due to overheat, there may be damage to the hardware.

Have you attempted to reset it;

unplug the unit, remove the battery, hold down the power button for 1 - 2 min. replace batter and plug and attempt to restart.

M Cee
Mar 3, 2011 at 07:09 PM

I have tried that several times. I can't really get to the screen where I could choose to start in Safe Mode. Also, there are keys that I could press without making any beeps: CTRL, FN, ALT, SHIFT and CAPSLOCK. I don't know if that helps...but jsyk.

djsmurf

Posts: 98
Registration date: Friday January 9, 2009
Status: Member
Last seen: April 30, 2011

19
Mar 3, 2011 at 07:35 PM

have you attempted to enter the system bios with the F2 key?

On some Toshibas you may need to;

1. Turn on computer by Holding down power button while pressing the ESC key.
The machine will beep, then display:
Check System, then press [F1] key. or "key error press del to setup"
2. Release ESC key
3. Press F1 key

This could be an issue with the RAM as well.

confused
Mar 4, 2011 at 01:28 AM

it looks like there is a virus out there. this is the third question just on this page with the exact same proble....ouch

M Cee
Mar 4, 2011 at 04:04 PM

Pressing ESC doesn't work, it just results in constant beeping after pressing it for so often. Same goes for F2. And if it has the TOSHIBA on the screen, I could go use the F2 button and it takes me to this blue screen - which I'm guessing is BIOS. But I can't really access the screen where it says Start in Safe Mode.

...I really want this Toshiba fixed. So I hope if it's a virus that it's one I could repair. Money's really tough nowadays.

Answer 3 / 4

jack4rall

Posts: 6428
Registration date: Sunday June 6, 2010
Status: Moderator
Last seen: July 16, 2020

Mar 8, 2011 at 07:18 AM

Hello,

First thanks to "Ambucias"

Try this 1

The blue screen that you have indicated is the CMOS setup utility. Go to that

screen and check if your hard dive is detected or not and set the first boot device

as "Hard disk".

After turning ON your laptop check your hard drive LED activity.

If the problem still exists then most the laptop contains the option to perform

hard drive test from CMOS Setup. Once again go to CMOS setup and look for the

option "Hard drive test".

If the problem still exists then remove the hard drive from the laptop and check

if it looks for the boot device.

Good Luck

M Cee
Mar 9, 2011 at 03:36 PM

The LED turns on and blinks a couple of times just like how it does when it used to boot up fully. Or at least, as far as I remember. But then, after the Toshiba screen and during the black screen, it stops showing altogether.

I do have my HDD as the first on my boot-up list. The same thing happens with the LED; it stops lighting up after the black screen.

On the CMOS setup, though, I can't really find the Hard Drive Test.
F12 - boot manager - only shows me the order of stuff that boots up and nothing else.
My current order is: 1) HDD 2) CD/DVD 3) FDD 4) LAN 5) USB Memory
And at the bottom it shows <Enter Setup>

Also, I've never really opened up a laptop before so I'm not very confident with this. What should I be careful of so I don't potentially damage my hard drive?

Thank you so much for taking the time to try to help me, too.

Answer 4 / 4

StazzyBoo
Updated on Nov 30, 2018 at 10:05 AM

This WORKED FOR ME :

I turned off my computer than unplugged cable and took out battery, held down power button for 1-2mins and than put everything back in (battery and charger) and tried to start it...the screen was still black.

I then turned it off again, then pressed ESC, while holding down ESC I pressed and held power button until it briefly turned on and back off.

Then I let go of both the buttons and pressed power back on and VOILA the screen came back on.

Make sure your charger isn't loose, and than you're aren't surging too much power through the outlets-sometimes these can make the screen black too.

Hope this helps others out there, I have an old Toshiba Satellite running on Windows Vista

Ar'd
Apr 18, 2012 at 06:49 AM

thank you, this worked for me.

blove
Jan 5, 2013 at 09:02 PM

Worked for me too. Thanks!

Oilfarmer
Mar 13, 2017 at 08:19 AM

Thank you VERY much...

I have a Satellite T110 - 121....
Took it abroad last week. It hasn't been working properly since.

I thought it had been damaged by the airport scanner!!...

Same problem - switched on and got black screen!!

I had already tried your stage 1 fix (battery out / charger unplugged)....

So I tried your stage II fix - holding down ESC key and press/hold power button.....

Live Screen came straight back on and computer powered up!!!

No sign of Black screen...

Brilliant!!...

Saved me an expensive trip to my local computer engineer (if I had one!)...

So it wasn't the airport scanner after all!!

Many thanks....

oilfarmer

mjmtopeka
Apr 28, 2017 at 02:29 PM

I turned off the power. Then I went straight to the step where you hold down both the ESC and power buttons. There was a load screaming noise and the screen came back on. Thanks very much!

Jason
May 29, 2017 at 11:24 AM

Thank for this...worked like a charm!

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