Caps lock flashing on toshiba

Hi All

My sister in-laws Toshiba Laptop will not power up. I was in the process of repairing windows (Wouldn't boot) and noticed the power supply had a 'dodgy' wire. I then bought a replacement power lead, but when I power up now, only the caps and scroll lock leds flash, there is no life in the laptop and I have to press the power button to power off.

Any ideas?

My first guess is either that the new wire is not properly connected or it is not the same guage or type as the one you replaced (or the new wire is bad or there is some type of short or something else came loose when you did it). When you say "no life" you mean what exactly? Do you get the scrolling green bar screen? Can you get into BIOS or Safe Mode or does it not get even that far? What happens if you try to boot to a bootable DVD (assuming you have BIOS set to boot first to the DVD - otherwise that won't help unless you can get to BIOS to make that change)? I assume you know the laptop is on because you see the power light on - but do you also see any activity on the hard drive light or is it dark (if you have such lights on your laptop)? Are there any noises - sounds of hard drive activity or beeps or anything else?

It sounds to me like a hardware problem - quite possibly the power supply but perhaps something else. Answers to the above questions may help (and if it is the wrong wire and you replace it with the right one or it isn't connected right or you fix something else that came loose, may solve the problem), but I suspect the answer is going to be suggesting you take it into a reputable computer repair shop (or send it back to the manufacturer) for service.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

Hi Lorien

Many thanks for your response and apologies for the late response. It would seem I have given you some 'duff' information. In actual fact when I plug in the power supply (With & without the battery inserted) the Caps Lock light and 2 leds beneath the 8 & 9 keys come on constantly, NOT flashing. There is no illumination on the power button. As soon as I press the power button the leds all go off and there is nothing. I stripped down the laptop prior to using the new power supply and when I put it all back together and used the new power lead for the first time I did get the pc to power on. It was only after trying to boot from cd it has decided to give up on me. Maybed I should strip it back down again and put it all back together again?!?!

Sorry it has been so long since I posted.

I'm at a loss as to what to suggest here. Even I don't think I'd get as deep into the hardware as you've already done though I have the training. You can, of course, try again and make sure in your efforts you didn't loosen any connections you can get to (so check them all - don't just snug them but remove and replace them to be sure).

If that doesn't work, I'd suggest you take it to a reputable computer repair shop (NOT Geek Squad or any of those big store centers) or return it to the manufacturer for sevice. If you can, backup your data first as it is likely they will wipe the hard drive clean during the troubleshooting process. If you need some ideas on how to do that, post back and I'll see if I can provide some.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!