Saved a old Toshiba laptop

[ThinkPad560X]

I saved a old Toshiba Satellite 320CDS from going to the scrap. It is complete, no missing doors or even broken. It doesn't have a charger, and I looked for it but couldn't find it. It was getting scraped with a abandon building being torn down. There was also a DELL laptop I found, looks to be a Windows Vista area machine.

I bought a universal AC Adapter and plugged in the Toshiba. It blinks for battery charging but doesn't charge. I tried to power it on and the light switches to battery light icon but doesn't power on and light goes off. DELL doesn't even power on.

I might leave the Toshiba on charge overnight and see if anything will happen. I'd like to see it power on and see if the OS will boot. The HDD is inside as well.

[kfzhu1229]

Nice! I hope your Toshiba is more alive than the Toshiba I found for free, which was a Tecra 8000. Unfortunately after jumping through all the hoops trying to get the hinges glued back in, the motherboard is toast. Turns out on the 8000 the motherboard loves to develop cold solder joints all over the motherboard so I've given up fixing it and sold it for parts to someone who's fixing his own 8000. So all's not lost.
Interestingly though, that Tecra 8000 is the Chinese version and was sold through Lenovo (known as legend back then) when they didn't have their own line of laptops. Being the first batch of laptops you can directly buy in China, all labels on the laptop are in Chinese, and the whole thing is filled with warranty stickers from Lenovo. And with it being used in Beijing (with its air pollution) for most of its lifespan, it's far dirtier inside than any Pentium II era laptops I've taken apart.
I believe your problem though might have to do with the charger. Make sure you have the right charger for this thing. It uses a 15V charger and I think I got similar issues as you when I first tried a smoke test by plugging leads through the 16V ThinkPad charger.
As for the Dell laptops, I believe I know them far more than most other forum members here. It would help if you tell me what the model of that laptop is so you know if it's even worth it to restore that too.
My latest trash picks (just today) was a trio of ThinkPad Dell HP: ThinkPad T61 (14" widescreen, unsafe NVS140M that hasn't blown up yet), Latitude C610, Compaq Presario cq56 missing parts.
The ThinkPad T61 is in the worst condition I've seen from a ThinkPad... LCD bezel barely held on, missing chunk of palmrest, multiple hairline cracks on the lid along the stress points, and totally sticky rubbery texture

[RealBlackStuff]

You should also try to boot without battery.
Dead ones are known to hinder booting.

[ThinkPad560X]

I picked this up for cheap. My 2nd favorite brand was Compaq. So I guess this will be the oddball out of all my ThinkPads. I use to have a Presario 900 as well but sold it. It was a sold machine. https://www.ebay.com/itm/203301528682?s ... 1438.l2649
This will probably be the only Compaq laptop i'll get as I have too many laptops as it is and just getting what I want for my collection. I liked this style Compaq before they got bought by HP, and isn't too old and to new. So I'll try Windows 10 on it as it has a Intel Pentium M, If not then i'll just keep XP Home on it. This laptop was probably out during the T40/R50 years of ThinkPad.

For the Toshiba, I powered it on without battery and still nothing. I'll probably take it apart whenever I get time too and check inside it. I also saved a Original PlayStation witch I cleaned up and it works, 2 NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and they work. There was some towers to but someone else got them. Looked 97-99ish

[TH2002]

Out of curiosity how many laptops do you have? I have 3 Toshiba's, two ThinkPads, an Epson, a Compudyne, a Dell (which isn't really vintage per say but I still consider it a part of my collection) and a Compaq that I have yet to get working. Those are just my vintage laptops, that's not including my other systems.

Sometimes a dead CMOS battery will prevent these old Toshiba laptops from booting. When you take it apart, remove the CMOS battery (presumably dead) and see if that works.

[ThinkPad560X]

After I get what I want for my collection, 54-55 ThinkPads. plus that 1 compaq. There not laying around scattered everywhere, They are organized on a book shelf. So it looks nice and not in the way. If I want to use one, just pull it out like a book and use it.

I actually sold about 10 ThinkPads a few years ago, witch was a 700T, 700C, 701C x3, 240, 380ED, 360CS, 760C, 755CD, s30, Transnote, WorkPad Z50 and more I can't think of. I wasn't using these ones as much so I sold them to other collectors. But at least I owned these models at one point. Collectors can buy, use them and pass them onto new other collectors.

I think i'll be done getting laptops / collecting them as my highest model is a T520 and should last me for years. I'll just keep what I got and continue using them I also got about a dozen IBM desktops too.

[karotlopj]

Seeing the title reminded me of my first laptop a Toshiba T1000 - anyone remember them?




My how things have changed.

I wonder if it's startable...

[ThinkPad560X]

I remember The GRID laptops

This one looks nice, It even looks like they modified it and has windows 8 or 10 on it. https://imgur.com/gallery/M7AkAN1

[TH2002]

I do have a T3100e/40 with a gas plasma screen that is really good to use for distraction free-writing. The keyboard uses individual mechanical switches and much like the Bondwell laptops from around the same time are probably the best keyboards ever put in laptops.

[ThinkPad560X]

If anyone is interested in buying that Toshiba, let me know. It is in very good condition. I think it is missing the green trackpoint but will have to check again and look in my old stock of blue and red trackpoints for a green one.