I have a Toshiba laptop. It wont turn on not even when its plugged in. The little blue LED blinks once then nothing. It always had a weak battery and in these last few months the battery wouldn't last 20 minutes. The machine is just over 2 and a half years old.
Any ideas ?

Does the charge indicator light come on with it plugged in?

Just went through the same thing but have seen it happen all the time. It is more than likley 99.9% the charger is at fault! You can test the end with a multi meter and check the output! It should be stable without fluctuation! These charges take alot of abuse, get twisted, kicked, pulled on and heat takes it toll on them.

Just buy a replacement generic charger on ebay for your model of labtop! Battery is more than likley fine it just could not charge properly due to the charger dieing and voltage being off. Putting in a new battery will yield the same issue but if the battery is 3 years old you may want to purchase a spare on Ebay as it will need replacing down the road anyway.

The fact that i say its the charger is because with the battery in it should power up regardless if battery is low! It is not doing that. Again testing the round plug end will tell the tale if you are in doubt.


The light should come on and flash on the labtop. it may continue to flash or just go out after one flash. Good news is nothing is hurt if the light comes on:)

Steiner no the light doesnt come on
Chris I will test the charger end and thanks guys
I'll let you know what I find

Dont worry if light does not come on just means that battery is fully drained and power as suspected is not sufficient to power labtop or charger is truly dead! Toshibas are great labtops and failure rate is extremley rare in terms of their internals.

Sounds like it's one of two things then.

1. Hopefully the charger like Chris said. If it's a two piece one maybe the cord just wiggled out of the converter a little. Otherwise you just have to check voltage on the barrel end (if it has a barrel).

2. Motherboard. Hopefully this isn't it. Some Compaqs have a problem with a MOSFET going out on the mb which will not let the power cord charge the battery or run the laptop. I'm sure a similar problem could happen with a Toshiba.

The Mosfets usually go out because of over heating or in some cases improper voltage usually with brown outs being the major culprits!

The biggest problem is over heating! This usually happens because we sit them on our laps, on beds or comforters when we are in bed or tables with table cloths. This is a bad habbit and will cook things as the fan usually gets blocked or restricted in these situations.

Always a good idea to blow the fan on the bottom and side with compressed canned air or "LOW" pressure from your air compressor. You would be surprised how much dust these suck in and dust and heat are the two biggest factors to be aware of!

Another thing to try is to undo the power plug remove the battery wait a few seconds then reinsert the battery and power plug and give errrr another go.

Toshibas are great labtops and failure rate is extremley rare in terms of their internals.

Everything Chris says in above posts
I we havean old toshbia (I hate laptops) in the lounge, battery hardly holds a charge..its plugged in 24/7 thru the powerpack, just pick it up open and use.
If it still works, the power pack...borrow one.
If power pack doesnt work...basically laptops are not worth fixing...its usually the video chip on the motherboard that usually goes...new motherboard, generally cost near or more than a new laptop.

Batteries generaly last about 2 to 3 yrs of normal use, before seeing a noticable drop off in battery uptime..and after that drops of faily quick ..weeks.
Ex Lease laptops are good buys....generaly all they need to have (if Toshiba) is a new battery.

Another thing to try is to undo the power plug remove the battery wait a few seconds then reinsert the battery and power plug and give errrr another go.

I don't know how many times I have been brought a laptop that the battery was not seated properly causing it to not boot.

Remove the battery and then use only the wall plug, then turn it on. Give that a try. Does it give you that blue light with the wall plug ? If it doesn't then it's your battery, it needs a charge - this meaning your plug is no good. I threw out so many Toshiba laptop parts this year at work, i knew i should have kept a few. What model Toshiba is it ?

Sounds like the battery is old & weak and the charger is also bad (hopefully).

It would be nice if you can take it to a Best Buy or someplace they could plug it in and see if it will boot. If you can wait, order a charger online because they are a lot cheaper than in a store.

Update !
I checked the charger and it was putting out 19 volts so that was good.
I tried taking the battery out and plugging it in and still nothing.
Then I checked to make sure the battery was seated good like Dennis said and that was good as well.
I then jiggled the charger plug where it plugs in to the side of thr computer and all of a sudden the LEDs came on and so did the fan, and it booted up.
must be a loose connection.
It's cool how you all have been trying to help me with this , thanks TC buds.

Make sure to check the power supply connector by wiggling it. A lot of times the wires at the connector fray due to all the twisting.

alan