Power on problem with Satellite U305

I recently bought a Satellite U305-S5087, which has an odd problem with powering up. If it's plugged into the mains, it won't come on when I press the power button. It will if I then unplug and also remove the battery. It will switch on if it was using battery only when it was switched off, though- so it works OK if just on battery. It won't switch on, however, if I switch off just on battery but plug in the mains when it's off, even if I unplug the mains before switching on.

I bought this machine in Tokyo two weeks ago, an export module with everything in English, and it did the same when I used it there, so that doesn't seem to be a factor. Rang Toshiba support and they were useless. I've heard that power problems aren't unusual with Toshiba laptops, so wondered if anyone could help. I've tried changing various power/sleep/hibernation settings, which doesn't make any difference, so don't think the problem is there. Otherwise it seems to be working fine, but this is a real annoyance. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

I bought a U305 in July and had no problems. I recently had the hard drive crash.

As it was under warranty, Toshiba sent me to a local repair shop. They replaced the drive because mine was fried; and now I am having the same problem with power as you. As well as the following problems: ie running slow and locking up, outlook express opening to completely black window, 3+ hours to charge the battery, and no speaker sound. All programs running slower and when ie works it is slow. I know it is not my network, because my 6 year old laptop runs great and super fast with 3X the programs and almost full hard drive.

I also had Norton on the original hard drive and now it still has the McAfee it came with as I have not had a chance to remove McAfee and add Norton. I am not sure it has any effect on it.

I am at my wits end and it looks like another trip to the repair tech. Suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks and good luck to you to!

 

I've come to the conclusion that the problem with mine is related to the battery-charging circuit. I've tried a replacement battery, and the problem is the same as before, so it's not the battery itself. When I switch off with AC connected, the amber battery-charging light remains on, as it should; but it stays on when the AC is disconnected - which I'm sure doesn't seem right. And that light then goes out when I disconnected the battery, the thing that sorts out the problem. So that light seems to be related to the problem, which I'm guessing is that it's getting locked into some mode it shouldn't be in. I'm now going to take it to a dealer to get it looked at.

But I've had no other problems at all, which is why I haven't got around to sorting it out yet (it requires a couple of round-trips that will take up a couple of days for me to take it to the authorized service dealer). Will update on what they say.
geoff

 

This has now been sorted. I eventually got around to taking the machine to the authorised repair centre in London. It needed a whole new system board. It took Toshiba about 8 weeks to provide one, which seemed pretty hopeless even if it was a US model that I'd taken to a centre in Europe. I got it back eventually, though, and it's now fine.