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in2ative1

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Toshiba a100 / 105... Fedora core... unable to power-up

I got this message from a young friend of mine. I know very little about the Satellite series and *nothing* about Fedora. I'll have to be the relay for this issue.

>        Hi, Im kinda in a pickle. I recently installed Fedora
> Core 5 on my newly acquired laptop. Its a toshiba satellite
> a100/105. Shortly after I installed it, I closed the computer
> then opened it then the screen wen't blank. I've tried
> restarting it and what not, but it won't turn on. Nor will it
> respond to any keystroke, or mouse movement. Also, I hooked
> it up to an external monitor, but alas even that wouldn't
> respond. If you have any ideas they would be much appreciated.
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in2ative1

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I have forwarded your comments. Thanks for the swift reply. I'll post my young friend's results here.
Sounds to me like he has a hardware problem. He doesn't have any display at bios.

>                Hmm, I put the DVD in then hold "C" while
> turning on the power. From as far as i can tell it runs, but
> still I have no display on the screen.
>                I agree though it shouldn't have anything to
> do with Fedora. However, when I was installing the OS I had
> to tweak a file in order for it to boot up in graphical mode.
> This is the file I changed "nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" and
> under the devices section I changed where it says "radeon" to
> "vesa". Which is just a generic driver. I could find no other
> way to get it to boot in graphical mode. I also get no
> display in the BIOS boot up screen like you thought.
>                But if I anything had to do with the problem
> it would be me tweaking that file. Other than that I guess it
> could be busted lol. Oh, and when it boots up I get a faint
> beeping sound once. However, it's done that since I got it so
> I didn't really think much of it. I spose this is what I get
> for taking windows off lol.
>                 I've been trying to get some answers from
> this forum  fedoraforum.org
> But with no luck, no responses on my thread. Nor similar
> problems from others. I'd hate to have to take it in for
> repairs. I'll see if I can't come up with something. I'll go
> take a look at that support site you gave me. =) Thanks Again
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Tell him to first remove anything he can from the notebook, like the memory modules etc. Then just install one module if the notebook doesn't already have one on board. Now try rebooting again. If that helps, add the rest one by one.
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I have forwarded ya'lls comments. I concur that the problem is likely a hibernation lockup issue, although, at a minimum, he should be getting at least the BIOS screen. I told him to mess with the "FN" key to see if the laptop is stuck displaying to an external VGA monitor. If none of these work, I'll recommend he take it in for service and I'll award points. Thanks guys.
He fixed the problem thanks to posts here. Thanks guys!

> Ok when I got home I hooked up the laptop to an EXTREMELY old
> crt monitor. 15 inch by the way. Anyways I still couldn't get
> the monitor to show anything, so I tried some fn + f key
> combinations. Still nothing, then I took out the battery pack
> and hooked it up to ac power. Then stuck in the DVD that came
> with it, then while powering up held C to boot from the disc.
> Miraculously, the screen came up. So, now I'm putting back
> all the software that was orignally on there. In hopes of my
> display to come back. Alright, I'm just playin it by ear.
> Sorry if this is getting annoying. Don't mean to be a bother.
Good to hear that!  I'm not sure this is Fedora-related as I have had hibernation act weirdly in some cases with windows as well, on some systems. I suppose he knows how to revive the system now...
Cheers
/RID