Satellite A30-514 looks very dead

Friend's Satellite A30-514 is sitting here in front of me:
1. the power button does nothing; pushing or holding down.
2. Every six seconds a motor runs for one second
3. In the six second gaps the disk and CD lights flash briefly and there is a faint click
4. Then the disk and CD lights blink just before the motor runs
5. The screen shows nothing
6. I've tried to get to the BIOS (Esc, F1, F2, Del, F12) - nothing.
7. A bootable CD in the drive does nothing.
Any thoughts?
Thanks, Tom

Hello Tom
According to your first posting there is serious hardware problem and I agree with Andrej. I really do not believe there is anything you can do. We can just speculate what can be defective but just check by Authorized service partner can give you all answers.
Reading this forum I have founded several threads with the same problem description. Similar problems are result if something goes wrong with BIOS update, defective mainboard or the CPU is after few seconds very hot and notebook switches off.
Either try to get some help by technicians or sold this oldie and buy newer machine.

Similar Messages

Satellite A30-514 is very slow, and how to service the cooling fan

My notebook has become very slow now. Power on need to use F1 to boot and this too is absolutely slow process. My machine has 512 MB RAM but shows only 480 MB on control panel. Does anyone think it is a RAM failure that has made the machine slow or something else. I have tried maintenance but did not help.
Also has any one got the details how you could open the unit up to service the cooling fan since the machine heats up a lot and need to service it.
thanks
Janak

Hi Janak,
Ok, lets break this answer down to two parts which hopefully will help:
1. The reason that Control Panel shows only 480MB when you have 512MB installed is because your laptop uses what is called "shared graphics", which means that the RAM used for the graphics card (which is actually built into the mainboard) is taken from the overall RAM. A quick calculation shows that you have a 32MB grpahics card: 480MB + 32MB = 512MB, so I wouldn't go out and replace the memory just yet!
2.There are several tools which can be found under Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools. These include Defrag and Disk Cleanup. Running through these (I would recommend Disk Cleanup before Defrag) may help clear some clutter from your hard drive and tidy things up a little. This is turn may give you back a little performance.
If none of this seems to make any difference, it may be that your hard drive is nearng the end of its life, or it may be that there is not much free space on it, both of which can cause a system to run slower than normal.
I hope this helps, let us know how you get on.
Weezle

DVD drive does not recognize some media on Satellite A30-514

I own a Satellite A30-514 laptop with Microsoft xp OS. Just lately, some DVD's (not games) will not play from the drive. some do some don't. It is not a region problem - they are all region 2. Windows does not read the disc when it is inserted and does not register a disc in the drive when I show 'my computer'. CD's all play normally. Could this be a driver (internal) issue or is my DVD CD combo just too old now?
Thanks Marie.

Hi
To give you some precise answer it will be interesting to know which DVDs are not readable. Meaning of word 'some media' is to general and not helpful to understand the problem.
Satellite A30 is pretty old notebook model and it is possible that ODD functionality is not good anymore. You can try to clean the lens.

I need to upgrade DDR RAM on my Satellite A30

Hi!
i need to upgrade my ddr upto 1GB or 2GB, how can i identify which ram i can buy.
blow is detail of my laptop.
Satellite A30-514 P4 2.8GHz/WX...
Key Features
- Intel® Pentium® 4 2.8GHz Processor
- Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
- 512MB DDR RAM- 30GB Hard Disk Drive
- 15" TFT Display
- CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive

How about looking into the Toshiba user manual which was preinstalled on the notebook??
Or how about using of the Advanced search option? Im sure this was asked many times here in this community!
Ok, Ok Im patient with you ;)
These modules are compatible and you can update the ram up to 2GB (2 x 1024MB)
PC2700 512MB (PA3312U-1M51)
PC2700 1024MB (PA3313U-1M1G)

Whats the largest hard drive the Satellite A30 supports

Satellite A30-514 P4 2.8GHz/WXP HE/512MB/30GB/15TFT/DVD-CDRW . I have the latest and only bios update i can see under downloads for this machine.I have a 30gb disk.I am looking at either a 80gb or 100gb model.Does this model support these sizes.Also some of these new hitachi drives have one ata cable that supplys both data and power.Does anybody know if this laptop supports this connection or is it two cables.As i have not had a look yet.Any advice on what type of drive to use will be much appreciated.

Hi Mike,
I have an 80Gb hard drive in my A30 at the moment. You will need a drive with similar physical dimensions as your existing drive. Cables are not an issue since the hard drive on the A30 is connected directly to a connector underneath the optical drive (this must be removed first to access the hard drive.
A suitable drive would be the MK8025GAS but you could also take the option of using a drive with a higher rotation speed. The original drive is 4200rpm and I am currently using a 5400rpm version in my A30. There is a little bit of extra heat produced but this is only really noticeable during heavy disk activity (virus scan, defragment, backup, etc.).
regards,

Compatible Dvd Rewriter for Satellite A30 P4 2.8 ghz

Can anyone tell me if there is a compatible dvd rewriter internal unit for my Satellite A30-514 P4 2.8GHz/WXP HE/512MB/30GB/15TFT/DVD-CDRW .And where i can get one.

Hi Michael,
I changed the original CDRW in my A30-141 (a TEAC DW224E) for a Mat****a UJ825S with no problems at all. I just needed to swap the plastics from the old drive.
I don't think the UJ825 is still available now but the later versions should do just as well.
I have burned many a DVD on the Mat****a with no problems so I am very happy with it.
Try Googling for a suitable device, I found quite a range of prices when I searched for mine.
regards,

Sound gone and now touchpad is gone too! A30-514

HI Im new here, have a satellite laptop A30-514   (model psa30e)
the sound "dissapeared" about two months back,   tried drivers from here "realtek" they show in the
device manager as all ok and working, volume up both hardware and software no mute on but no sound
in either onboard speakers or via the sound jack.
Yesterday the touchpad stopped working, the mouse curser is froze on bootup, cant move it but boot up in
safe mode and device manager says alps pointer is fine?
Any ideas folks, Im hoping someone here can show me a way out of this jam, Im stumped!
Gordon.

Satellite A30-514
tried drivers from here..
This is the US Toshiba site, Gordon, while your machine is from Europe.
All your drivers are here.
And you probably will get better information by posting in the corresponding forums.
   Toshiba Support Forums in Europe
Good luck!
-Jerry

Question about CPU upgrade for Satellite A30-104?

Hello,
My Satellite A30-104 has recently come to the end of its warranty, and having had to open up the heatsink for cleaning and seeing that the CPU was accessible, I wonder if there is any (likely) scope for upgrading it.
The processor is a Celeron (Northwood) 2.6GHz. I'm not looking for more grunt, I'd prefer a lower-power chip, though the much larger L2 cache of a Pentium 4 is also desirable. I'd be very grateful if anyone could advise whether any upgrades are likely available, and if so which chips would be appropriate? If I can give any more useful spec information, please ask.
Thanks in advance.

Hi, thanks for the reply -- and sorry it went ignored so long, it turns out I hadn't configured my email watches correctly :(
I appreciate that it's really a job for a technician, and I don't want to brick a perfectly good computer, but I think its EOL is not far off anyway so I'm prepared to be a little more invasive than before.
I know that I can get at the CPU, and I know the basic precautions for physically tampering with PC internals.
What I'm first of all concerned about is this: if I replace the CPU, and it doesn't function with the laptop, can this damage other parts of the system such that it'd no longer work by replacing the original?
The Celeron puts out a great deal of heat (all the time) but isn't it fair to assume that a P4-M will be less hot?

Satellite 3000-514: Need FL inverter part number

Hi,
I am looking for an inverter for my toshiba satellite 3000-514, because my display is almost dark. Does anybody know where I can buy/order it or what the product number is?
Thx
arne

Hi
Well, a friend of mine has ordered some parts from the Toshiba service partner.
I assume you can also order the FL inverter from the ASP in you country.
As far as I can remember the FL inverter is not very expensive. But do you know how to change it?? Do you have enough experience to replace it??
I think its a very risky procedure because the whole screen must be removed. And you know; the screen is a one of the most expensive parts on the notebook.
I think if you dont be any technician so ask someone who has more experience in such reparation procedures. The best way is to ask the service guys.

Driver downloads for Satellite A30

Hi
I have a Satellite A30 using windows XP in device manager I have 4 question marks under other devices, they are
Multimedia Audio Controller
PCI Modem
Video Controller
Video Controller (VGA Compatable)
Where are the drivers for these so that I can install them and remove the question marks, I have looked all over the Toshiba site but must be looking in wrong place or Toshiba site not very good?

Hi There,
I'm new to the forum so please be patient with me. I have a very similar problem with a Satellite A30-141. The laptop belongs to my nephew who tried to upgrade to windows XP and now has lost the following items: Multimedia Audio controller, PCI modem, SM bus controller and Video controller. These 4 devices are marked with yellow ? in the device manager. I have tried downloading the drivers from the toshiba website but I can not get windows to see them as drivers and If i install the applications nothing seems to happen.
My questions are 1. Which drivers do i need to cure these 4 issues? 2.How do I use the downloaded files? 3. Where can I get a copy of the installation disc's as my nephew has lost the originals? 4. Is there a simple solution to cure this problem as there seem to be a lot of posts about this issue? Any help much appreciated.

Satellite A30 - Are there any Vista drivers?

Hello.
I have a Toshiba Satellite A30-504 laptop for 5 years now, which came with WinXp preinstalled on it.
I want now to change it for Windows Vista, which I have checked and can run on my system.
The only thing I now need are drivers. I've checked the site and I can't find any... But I've read that people +did+ install Vista on their A30 Satellites... Do you know where I could possibly find the drivers?
Thank you.

I understand you but in the whole story you must be a little bit realistic. You probably know that Microsoft has for Vista usage defined some rules (hardware specification) and notebook manufacturers must offer hardware that will work with new hardware components.
In the whole story sound chip was very interesting.
Anyway support for one specific notebook model is not so easy because all drivers, tools and utilities must be created. So you must understand that Toshiba has offered so many models after your A30 and it is logic that Toshiba has made a kind of dead line and older notebooks as model xy will not be Vista supported.
The same is with other notebook manufacturers.

Satellite A30: while AC adapter is connected the battery stops charging

Using a Satellite A30 about three years old. Recent problem is that while the power adapter is connected the battery stops charging, the orange battery indicator goes off.
If you look at the Power Management Utility the battery poweer meter reads On Line, Discharging %
To get it to charge I either have to turn the machine off (completely or to hibernate) then remove the power cable and reinsert, then the battery light comes back on. When restarting the battery will start to charge up for a while and then for no apparent reason start to discharge.
If left the battery reaches 0% - the machine continues to operate while the power cable is inserted so its getting power ok, but of course starts to bleep when it gets below 10%. To get it going again I have to shut down and restart etc.
I have checked the bios and have the latest version.
I have cleaned around the heat exchanger the power socket and removed all fluff.
I am using a generic adapter as the original failed, but as far as I can tell its working normally.
Any thoughts
Richard

Hi Richard,
Your problem is being caused by a loose connection where the AC adapter is connected to the socket on the back of your notebook. Any slight movement of the cable causes a momentary loss of contact and the power management electronics in the notebook are fooled into beleiving that the battery is no longer available, whereupon the battery light will extinguish and the notebook will revert to battery power even though the AC adapter is connected. As you have already discovered, powering off the notebook will return everything to normal.
I have experienced the very same situation with my A30-141 and have yet to find a solution other than to resort to powering off the notebook, but I have managed to prevent the problem from occurring by clamping the AC cable to the back of the notebook so that there is no risk of the power plug flexing so as to trigger the problem in the first place. This has been remarkably successful to date and I have not experienced the problem for several months now.
Obviously this is not a 'cure' for the problem but it does ease the frustration that it causes.
regards,

Questions about different issues on a Satellite A30

Ok, to start, I don't know much about computers let alone laptops but my husband is "usually" good with them but right now we are having major problems.
I have a Satellite A30 (not sure if it's a pro as it doesn't mention it in the manual and Stephen is about to have a heart attack right now and isn't on the laptop so can't check the BIOS).
Anyway. Problems started quite some time ago, in fact not long after the warranty ran out. I bought it second hand and I loved it when I got it.
Ok
Problem 1. - Overheating, we finally solved that by hoovering it out every now and then, problem solved.
Problem 2. - USB 2.0. Some things work some don't. My Nikon camera won't work via USB but my Lumix does. My mobile struggles. Just bought a card reader, worked on Stephen's laptop but not the A30. Bluetooth dongle doesn't work. All these items used to work.
Problem 3. - I can set my processor speed to either 1.6GHz or 3.06GHz. Overheats really easily on 3.06 and tends to slow down and seems to be faster on 1.6GHz and doesn't overheat on 1.6 so end up keeping it on that. Pain though. Even with extra under laptop fan cooler base.
Problem 4. - Not that I'm an expert but I think my power supply is gone. I always have my laptop plugged in about 90% of the time. I can put the laptop on and it will use the AC Adaptor for a while then goes on to Battery Power. If the AC Adaptor was in that was what it used, not the battery. Then when the battery gets to the end of it's power it just goes and I have to wait until it charges again before I can turn it back on. I find that really annoying.
Problem 5. - As from 2 days ago it has went totally and utterly kaput. Won't even log on. It goes as far as Windows XP booting up then an error message saying something about a missing .DLL file. Stephen said he sorted that but hasn't resolved the problem. We decided it was a hard drive problem so bought an external case for it and Stephen after 2 whole days managed to upload everything from the HDD to his laptop. It was a 40gig HDD. Some of the files were warped and had to be deleted so thought that was the problem so went out to buy a new one but went for a 120gig. Stephen formatted that on his laptop then went to transfer it to my A30 but same problems. Now I am wondering if 120Gig is too much. At the mo Stephen is taking out his HDD to put in mine and vice versa. His laptop is recognising it as a 120GHz but according to him my BIOS is not very clear and doesn't tell you anything. As I said I know nothing about computers. I'm really clutching at straws here. Stephen has been brought up on computers but is more used to desktops and we decided to sell our laptops and buy a high spec up to date desktop but I doubt I'd get much money now for my A30 if it doesn't work.
Any ideas would be sooooo helpful to get it rolling again.
Sorry for this thread to be so long but although Stephen won't admit to it, he really needs help and I can try and give any info you need to help us out.
BTW I read in my manual that it can take up to 80Gig HDD but larger ones in the future so we thought it would be fine with 120 by now since they are available if that is any help to you.
[Edited by: admin on 08-Jul-2007 08:29]

Hi there,
do you have still warranty on that machine? If yes then bring it TOMORROW to an authorized service partner.
Why? The problem is that this machine has an Pentium 4 which really gets hot and if the cooling system is clobbed with dust, then the cooling paste which transfers the heat between cpu and cooling module gets dry and cannot transfer the heat accurately to the copper cooling module.
I would suggest you to go to an technician and advise him to exchange the cooling paste, it will really raise your system stability.
Believe me. :)
The other thing with USB is: sometimes there is no enough power in the system and I assume that the problem lies on the AC-adapter. Purchase an new AC-adapter and you probably wont have problems with stability, USB and some other things anymore. I cannot tell it for sure, but I solved a problem with a Satellite 2430 which I had and which is quite the same model like yours, it has just some other colors but the model is the same.
I had that heat problem and I solved it by exchanging the cooling paste, but then the machine was not in warranty anymore and I am a little bit familiar with computers.
I had problems with my AC too, but my error was another because it mades some noise and after a while it stops working. At this time the system did not worked properly and after exchanging the AC everything was fine again.
Regarding the HDD: I cannot tell you something about since I am using just a 60GB drive. You will probably find it our on your own or a experienced user here in the forum could maybe help you.
I wish you good luck with your machine and a nice weekend
Greets
Dennis

Satellite A30 - Can I install a bigger HDD?

I thought I had been careful with bits of kit and boards. but after rebuilding my A30 (having had the DC socket replaced), it comes up with the following messages:
*SMART Failure predicted on Hard Disk 0: TOSHIBA MK4018GAS (PM)*
*WARNING: Immediately back-up your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent.*
*Press F1 to continue*
I have tried refitting board connector to HDD socket, which seems OK.
So am beginning to think I have killed this disk somehow. If so, can I install a bigger disk, say 80 or even 160 GB, and should I look for magic word MK4018GAS, or is it SATA or IDE, I am looking for.
Thanks. Robin

Hi!
If you remove the old HDD you can see ifs a IDE or SATA HDD but the Satellite A30 is equipped with a IDE HDD.
You can use a bigger HDD. This should not be a problem but as far as I know this notebook has a 28bit LBA limitation. That means the disk size limit is 128GB and so you can only use an HDD up to 120GB.
If you want to know more about this read the article on Wikipedia or here: http://www.48bitlba.com
So you can buy a 120GB HDD or a 80GB HDD as you suggested. I have good experience with Hitachi and Seagate HDDs.
Anyway, I think its a good idea to exchange the HDD. SMART error message appears only if there is something wrong with the HDD so backup your data as fast as possible. ;)
Bye

Can not find BIOS update for Satellite A30

Hi friends.
I'am not found Toshiba A30-203 a new BIOS update.
I want install the windows vista but this error sccren.
Error message:
"A computer has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
If this is first time you2ve seen this Stop error screen restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant. Please contact your system vendor for an updates BIOS."
to apologize for my bad English.

Hi
It seems the Satellite A30 series is a one of series which was delivered with the no Vista support BIOS.
I think it should be possible to install Vista after a the BIOS update.
But know you will ask for the new BIOS version. Am I right? ;)
Well, on the Toshiba BIOS page you should find different BIOS versions.
Its very important that you will check the more info option before you will start the BIOS update. There you should find information about the BIOS compatibility (not every version is compatible with every unit).
But as you know the Vista is not official on the market. As far as I can remember it should be possible to buy the OS in January 2007.
I think Toshiba will offer a new version of Vista BIOS in the next time. I hope so ;)

Satellite A30-514 looks very dead

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