A photo of the display on an old Toshiba 205CDS is here.
http://carnot.yi.org/Satellite205CDS.jpg

An external monitor connected to the machine is illustrated here.
http://carnot.yi.org/SatelliteExternalMonitor.jpg

From that I conclude the problem is in the video
adapter rather than the laptop screen or monitor.

This is approximately how the display should appear.
http://carnot.yi.org/SatelliteModel.jpg

Testing the video adapter isn't as easy as swapping
a card in a desktop machine. Any ideas for a repair?

Thanks, ... Peter E.

Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:00:49 -0500, Jeff wrote,
Can you bring up the BIOS screen? That's usually a
simple low res text only screen. If that comes up
clearly, it may be a corrupted video driver instead.

There is no response to ESC or to F1 and I am
unable to open the BIOS. With a boot diskette in the
drive, it still boots from the hdd. Disconnecting
the hdd might force booting from a diskette. Have
yet to try that.

In any case, the display is scrambled from the earliest
visible state.

Thanks for the ideas, ... Peter E.

You shouldn't even need a boot disk, just pull the HD and see what it does. It is going to say there is no OS of course and how that reads it the key to things. If it's running ME which is probably the stock OS, that is so fu cking unstable it ain't funny. Upgrade to 98SE and get the ME drivers. Other than that put XP on it nad put up with the slowness.

It is also entirely possible it is a hardware fault, and the screwed up picture on the external monitor would seem to indicate that, but it does not prove it. Really, the acid test will be with the HD removed.

If it is still ****ed up, try pulling the battery, I mean both. Pull the main battery, unplug the thing and take out the CMOS battery. Leave the thing sit for a wwhile. When you see it read "CMOS CHECKSUM ERROR, DEFAULTS LOADED?" you may smile because usually at that point it is fixed. Stick the drive back in and give it a spin.

On Sunday, April 28, 2013 12:24:30 AM UTC-7, wrote:
You shouldn't even need a boot disk, just pull the HD and see what it does.

Removing the hdd yields no improvement on the screen. Startup is still mostly a black screen with scattered white characters.

If it's running ME ...

Running Native Oberon. Most reliable system I've ever found.

If it is still f*, try pulling the battery, I mean both.

Removing the main battery is easy. With the plastic strip between the keyboard and palm rest removed, a pair of wires and connector are visible. Possibly connecting a small battery. Can anyone confirm this or tell where the small battery or batteries are?

How is the keyboard removed from this machine? Appears that it is held down by a screw or screws in the bottom side. Must the bottom housing of the machine be removed?

Incidentally an older Toshiba T2100 has three battery packs, the main black one, a set of cells in plastic shrink-wrap with lead attached and a coin cell about 2 cm across with lead attached. The coin cell is for the clock? The shrink-wrapped battery is to keep the RAM in hibernation while the main battery is removed?

The responses are helpful. Thanks, ... Peter E.