On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 07:16:35 -0600, Ken wrote:


I encountered the same symptoms with a Toshiba Satellite laptop my son
had. Your problem might be totally unrelated, but here is what I found:

Ok and thanks for the reply ..

Toshiba had a problem with the connector they used for the external PS
coming loose on the mother board. Soldering or repairing that connector
did NOT solve all the problems, as like your computer, it would run from
the PS but not charge the battery.

Ok.

It seems my son (knowing nothing
about electronic repair) thought it would be useful to push something
into the case in the area of the power connector, and unknowingly
damaged a surface mounted transistor.

Ah. ;-(

I measured the voltages at the
damaged SMD and determined that it needed to be an NPN and what it
needed to withstand voltage and current wise.

Nice to be old enough to remember and know how to deal with
transistors, SM or otherwise eh. ;-)

When I replaced the
transistor it worked fine.

Hmm, I don't think there has been any 'tampering' in this case however
these is a (20 pin) ship on the same daughter board that carries the
power socket (and Ethernet and a couple of USBs). I did inspect the
board for any sign of damage but there was none. However, because it
/is/ on a daughter board it would be possible to swap it to at least
see if it were that rather than the system board etc.

As I said above, your problem might be totally unrelated, but you might
look for any damaged components in the vicinity of the power connector.
Quite a coincidence that the symptoms are identical.

Indeed.

I would like to think this led flashing sequence actually indicated
'the fault' or at least if it wasn't a formal message that someone
might recognise what it may indicated and give us an idea if it a
feasible repair or something he just lives with (not sure how often it
needs battery power as such bit it would be nice to have (back) in any
case.

All the best,

T i m