Toshiba M645 - Dropped my 7 month old laptop :-(

Hello all,
I accidentally dropped my Satellite notebook, 2 days ago. When I tried turning it back on, the screen was completely filled with multiple colors (and diff lines and shapes) and, it continuously made a beeping sound. I have 2 external monitors connected to the laptop, so I decided to check and see if it was my screen. However, there is a blinking cursor and a minute or so later, it notifies of the laptop being unable to bootup. It sends me into the BIOS to select a different device for booting up the laptop. I still have the laptop under warranty .

However, I do see a sort of a thin hairline of cracks on the right hand side corner of the screen. It's not on the actual display itself (exterior). It seems to be on the inside ? I'm not completely sure if there's a crack, but what I'm certain of is they won't be covering it for sure under warranty if it's a crack. I have already asked for a box to be sent in for me to ship the laptop and, have it checked out by the Toshiba repair center.
What are my options? It does not seem to be LCD by itself. Would a hard drive crash show an LCD filled with multiple colors, etc? I'm certain I won't be paying the premium to have it fixed by Toshiba. I'll have to do it myself, if it's something doable.
Thanks again.

 

From your description it sounds exactly like the LCD panel is cracked. This happened to a friends laptop and he was still able to use it if connected to an external display. If it wont boot up while connected to another monitor than you have issues beyond the cracked LCD panel.

 

It definitely, sounds like an LCD issue. The BIOS does not show an option for a hard drive bootup - just the Blu-ray drive. It wasn't that big of an impact however, it seems to have done more damage than I'd first imagined :-(

 

Any spare laptop harddrives? Try to "swap" em and see if it works.

Maybe just needs a new harrdrive? I'm sure someone can chime in with a better answer.

 

Try to remember what side you dropped it on and start from there, inspect it on all sides from outside when closed. This laptop is pretty thick and almost 6 lbs. Being thick means it could take a hit easily without any problems but the downside is that it's almost 6 lbs.

If you remember what key you usually hit to enter BIOS setup please press it when it boots up, you need a screen or a confirmation of some kind.

I'd check if warranty covers this which I highly doubt, then lookup the disassembly manual for your laptop and see what you can do from there. It could be something simple as repositioning something that's out of its place.

Remove the battery and power adapter and reinstall the RAM sticks, repositioning the RAM sticks will not void your warranty. Try to run the laptop on battery only then pull out the battery and run it on AC adapter only. Don't expect too much from the screen, assume it's not working so have an external monitor hooked up at all times.

 

The laptop asking for a different boot device seems like a HDD issue, if you can try a different hard drive or try it with a gparted live CD or something similar. If it boots just fine from a linux CD, then you know the problem doesn't lie with the LCD panel.

 

Its pretty clear that the fall destroyed the two parts most susceptible to shock damage; the screen and the hard drive. Before going ahead with repairing the laptop, I'd recommend using a new 2.5" SATA drive to boot the machine, just to make sure that nothing else (like the motherboard) is damaged. Then you can be sure that the required repair is just the LCD panel.

I'd also recommend calling Toshiba's support line to get a quote on the cost of replacing the LCD panel. Then, check eBay to see whether its cheaper to do the repair yourself (that is, if you're comfortable with that sort of work).

 

Never fun to experience such an event. I'm so protective of my electronics; this would devastate me.

 

Remember to check your home insurance policy for accidental damage, I have broken my lcd three times and had it replaced at the cost of around £160 all coverd by my insurance. I droped my laptop ones and was like yay new , Just joking but its worth a look. Remember if you do get a quote first from toshiba dont ask for discount etc Then if your insurance pays thats the time you start to bargin