Dead Computer Mysteriously Comes to Life

[mr__ed]

A while back I started a thread concerning my Toshiba laptop. One day it worked fine. Next day it wouldn’t even turn on, using either AC or battery. Even the light on the front, showing connection to AC, remained unlit. Yep, she was completely dead. So, I went and bought a new HP laptop but kept the Toshiba in order to salvage the hard drive.

I asked a friend to assist me since he had the small tools necessary for the operation. We met at a local library to perform the job. On a whim, I plugged the Toshiba into a socket and voila, First thing I noticed was the AC light was lit, whereas it was dead before. I proceeded to turn the machine on and it fired up like it normally used to. My PC wasn’t subject to any jarring while en route to the library, so that couldn’t have been the fix. Besides, I had tapped on it several times to see if that would do anything. It remained completely dead.

Anyhow, I’m happy to have it back in working condition, although now I have 2 laptops but will never know the mystery behind the sudden resurrection of my Toshiba.

[mr__ed]

I just now learned this from another forum: evidently, some laptops with an internal battery have a battery reset button that will fix the "dead computer" problem. The button is accessed using a sharp object, such as a paper clip. Wish I knew that before. I wouldn't have needed to buy a new laptop. Oh well, maybe having 2 laptops isn't such a bad idea.

[mr__ed]

RSD559 wrote:
My guess is the brick, the power transformer, on the cord. It wasn't charging the laptop so the battery was way down, and it wouldn't start the PC if the connection to it was loose or bad.

Thanks, but the "brick" is OK. Computer is running perfectly fine right now. Some sort of internal glitch caused the problem, but fixed itself. Or maybe it was divine intervention. :B

[RSD559]

My guess is the brick, the power transformer, on the cord. It wasn't charging the laptop so the battery was way down, and it wouldn't start the PC if the connection to it was loose or bad.

[mr__ed]

Chris Bryant wrote:
The laptop should work with no battery, so I doubt a bad connection to the battery was the problem.

I agree. And, as I stated, there was no jarring of unit during transport, nor before nor after. Granted, though, it was strange that the battery started charging 100%. Some sort of internal glitch, I reckon. This is the 2nd full day it's working normally. Maybe, given time, something will show up. That remains to be seen. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my "resurrected" machine. I even had a wild thought to go down memory lane and install XP on it, although it's no longer supported and I would need to pay for W10 in order to reinstall it:C

[Chris_Bryant]

The laptop should work with no battery, so I doubt a bad connection to the battery was the problem.

[naturist]

The battery charge thing pretty well points to a bad connection at the battery. Evidently the ride to the library provided just enough of the right motions to reconnect things. One of life’s Great Mysteries.

[mr__ed]

bdpreece wrote:
Some of these laptops if the battery does not make a good connection they will not operate even under power. first thing to try on a dead laptop is remove and replace the battery .

Point well taken. If the problem surfaces again, I'll give it a try. Getting at the battery isn't that easy. the entire bottom of the laptop needs to be removed. It isn't like my earlier Toshibas, which had a dedicated compartment for easy battery access. Anyhow, per your suggestion, It'll be worth a try. Thanks.

BTW, I found this interesting, which may be related: Before the PC died, I noticed the battery never charged past 85%. Now it charges fully to 100%. Go figure.

[bgum]

Hard drives-Things at rest like to stay at rest. Things in motion like to stay in motion. That is why I never wanted to turn a server off and when I did I tried to get it back on line before it cooled off.

[mr__ed]

The Toshiba was pretty well backed up, fortunately. And yes, time will tell if it keeps working. As I mentioned, there was no jarring during travel that may have "fixed" it. And I did quite a bit of tapping on the unit after it died. At first I thought the mother board had failed. To come back to life suddenly with no input from me is the mystery. In fact, I'm typing on it right now.

I may decide to use it as an experimental computer. Even so, it's good to have a spare since I use a computer virtually every day.

[bdpreece]

Some of these laptops if the battery does not make a good connection they will not operate even under power. first thing to try on a dead laptop is remove and replace the battery .

[BB_TX]

Could well be a flaky electrical connection and the shaking from travel caused it to reconnect. I would not trust it to continue to work.

[BobKrogstie]

Sounds like it's time to transfer everything you value from the Toshiba to the HP before it dies again...for good. Intermittent failure is never a good sign.