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Toshiba T1200 Laptop

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Dustar

New Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
8
Location
Belgium, EU
I have an old Toshiba T1200 laptop here, which was working fine a couple of years ago.
Recently, I took the laptop back out of the basement and tried to boot the little fellow up, but alas...
The only sign of life is a blinking red light, at the left backcorner of the device.

I've searched on the internet for solutions. Most of those I've found were mentoning a low CMOS battery.
So I took my screwdriver and opened up the case of the laptop, took the CMOS battery out and tried to replace the battery with 2 rechargeable AA batteries. But unfortunelaty, without any results.
I also noticed the strange, yellow - taped cilinder in the back of the laptop. This cilinder also contains some batteries. Perhaps I have to replace them too? But the problem is, there is no indication of power / voltage.

Any suggestions on getting my old laptop back to life?

Thanks in advance,
 
Remove the main battery, it could be shorted out keeping the machine from functioning. That machine is old enough where parts are going to start failing (mostly capacitors and battery leaks killing stuff).
 
You mean the removable battery? I tried to start the laptop with and without this battery, but with the same result: a blinking red led...
 
Some early laptops only run from the battery pack. The AC power supply/adapter is only a battery charger (trickle charge) and cannot power the laptop. In some cases, the manuals for such laptops indicated that damage might result if the laptop was run whilst the AC power supply/adapter was plugged in.

Maybe the T1200 is in that category, in which case, an almost-dead battery pack won't have enough power to start the laptop.

With the laptop turned off, try charging the battery pack for a few hours (or whatever the manual indicates). Then see if the laptop runs. Even if it only runs for a minute, you'll be very confident that the battery pack is the problem (although a charger related issue can't be ruled out).
 
Guess I could try all the suggestions above. The removable battery has also a switch which can be used to say "don't charge the battery while it's connected to the laptop". I will set this switch on white ( guess this means charging if the power is plugged in") and will try the suggestion of modem7 first.

If this doesn't help, and if the fuses are ok, I think I have to search the web again.

Thanks a lot for responding!
 
Okay, I plugged in the power and let the battery charge for about 10-12 hours. The red LED is blinking the whole time. When I pull out the power supply, it keeps on blinking. Guess the power birc is OK than and I think that the removable battery is loaded ( since the LED is blinking ).
Since I'm not good in electronics, I guess that's all I could do... unless someone here can point me other ways where I can find help?
 
Dustar said:
Guess the power birc is OK
Click to expand...
It could be outputting lower voltage than it is meant to.
Internet sources indicate that the brick part number is PA7485U, has an output of +12 volts DC, and can supply up to 2.2 amps.
If you have a voltage meter, expect to read +12 volts DC (or more) when the power brick is disconnected from the T1200.

Dustar said:
Since I'm not good in electronics, I guess that's all I could do... unless someone here can point me other ways where I can find help?
Click to expand...
Refer to the final post in the thread at http://www.motherboardpoint.com/toshiba-t1200-problem-t143104.html

It suggests that you should be able to remove the battery pack ("acckupack") and then power the T1200 using a power supply of sufficient power rating. Quote: "that gives you 12 volts DC and enough current ( min. 2 A )." The Toshiba-supplied power brick meets that requirement.

Both the first and last posts (different authors) indicate that the LED goes green with the battery pack removed. You are not seeing the LED go green with the battery pack removed. I think at this point, you really need to determine whether or not the power brick is generating the required voltage.
 
Dustar said:
Okay, I plugged in the power and let the battery charge for about 10-12 hours. The red LED is blinking the whole time. When I pull out the power supply, it keeps on blinking. Guess the power birc is OK than and I think that the removable battery is loaded ( since the LED is blinking ).
Since I'm not good in electronics, I guess that's all I could do... unless someone here can point me other ways where I can find help?
Click to expand...

Have you been able to get it work ? I repaired last weekend an T1000LE. It did not want to start neither. Only the red LED started blinking. Before press the light was steady. It was basically an easy repair. When you open it up you will find some electrolytic condesators on the main board on the left, that is power supply section. Look if some of them are leaking and replace them. Or replace them all. And in my unit there were two more condesators leaking. In the upper part of the unit, on the PCB, under display. Replace them too. That is all. My T100LE now works flawlessly.

By the way. When you are done. Can you tell me how you can get into BIOS ?
 
archeocomp said:
Have you been able to get it work ? I repaired last weekend an T1000LE. It did not want to start neither. Only the red LED started blinking. Before press the light was steady. It was basically an easy repair. When you open it up you will find some electrolytic condesators on the main board on the left, that is power supply section. Look if some of them are leaking and replace them. Or replace them all. And in my unit there were two more condesators leaking. In the upper part of the unit, on the PCB, under display. Replace them too. That is all. My T100LE now works flawlessly.

By the way. When you are done. Can you tell me how you can get into BIOS ?
Click to expand...

I am guessing you mean capacitors? Not sure what condesators are... I have an early Tandy laptop with the same symptoms, and was about to do a recap on the unit...
 
modem7 said:
I'm sure that he meant to write, "condenser", an early term for capacitor.
Click to expand...

I meant capacitors :) That was my "czechoslovak" english, sorry. I did not check it in dictionary .. here in central europe we say condesator :)
 
Yeay, I was right. I thought you meant condensers! :D

Definitely gives me hope in resurrecting my tandy laptop. =)
 
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