Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Technical Help and How To's Toshiba Laptop

I just wanted to know if anyone else has had any trouble with a Toshiba laptops? This one so far is good but I'm just really waiting for something to start up with this one too.

I keep waiting to get a good one then add more Ram.

I've had a Toshiba Satellite laptop for about three years, and while it's awfully slow now (mostly because it's fairly old and Windows is pretty much designed to slow down), I've never had any major problems with it.

I have the Toshiba Satellite S 1900-101 since *let-me-count* 5 years now. It's a Pentium 4 with a 30 GB HD and 384 MB RAM. Yeah, that's not much anymore, but it's enough for XP home. The only thing I'm missing in that 5 year old computer is a DVD-writer, otherwise I'm still happy with it.

The only problems I had during that years were, that the Power Button was out of order which I could buy as a replacement part for I think 15 € (~ 20 US $) and 2 month ago I had to buy a new battery (eBay). Despite the fact that my 66-pounds-dog once stepped on the laptop and it has since then a hairline next to the keyboard it still works pretty well

Oh, and about the "it's slow" - every time my computer is too slow for my liking I delete the harddisk and after I've installed XP anew it's as fast as it was at the first day

Toshiba.

Bah.

I've got a Satellite P30 (1GB RAM, P4 - 3.0GHz, 80GB HD), just over two years old, and... man.

It cost me a fortune, is heavy and slow, guzzles power like a drunkard at an open bar, and I've had a rash of problems.

The cooling system died about a month after I got it (sure, it was fixed for free because of the warranty but it's still liable to over heat in the summer!) and the power socket keeps getting bent by the pin (costs $250 to fix every time it does!)

I want to upgrade within the next few months and I've promised myself that the next time won't be a Toshiba, but I have no idea where else to turn for a "reliable" notebook.

Dave (who thinks they need something like The Gadget Show where he lives)

Dave I feel for you. I'm on my Fourth Toshiba (Best Buy has been really good with exchanging them) in like three weeks.

I should have just kept the first one it just had one pixle that was turning red once and awhile of course the laptop was only a week old so I called and they said bring it in and exchange it did that had to add money to get another one that didn't have the sameone I did. Then get the new one home and that one had one red and one dead pixle I just turned it off didn't even setup a name on it and took it back the next day. Then got another one this one last about 9 days.

The third or fourth day I had it the battery light won't light up and the laptop won't turn on I unpluged the laptop plugged it back in and it work I by this time was sick of trading laptops hoped it was a one time error. But then about three or four days later it did the same thing. So I brought that one back. By this time they didn't have any other laptops in my price range so I had to exchange it for the one I have now.

If Best Buy didn't have that restocking fee of 15% I would just get my money back and wait until christmas time and get another but I don't want to lose my money on something that isn't my fault.

If you want to go for a decent laptop, my vote is on Maxdata . I've had it for three or four years now, and hardly have had problems with it. Once, I took it back to the store because the internet didn't work anymore. But that's cause I broke down something, and it turned out to be an easy fix. I can now do that myself.

For the rest, it's very reliable. Only problem with it is, it's a German brand, and they don't ship everywhere in the world.

I hope the laptop you have now is working for you. It's an important tool in one's life these days.

Saskia

Well, I was just given a Toshiba for my new job, and it's been just fine for me. Everyone in our school has one, including students, and while they do break we don't generally have the sort of chronic problems you're talking about. There was a problem last year with defective system boards-- something about the glue they used not being strong enough?-- but Toshiba replaced them and we haven't had trouble with the new ones.

I can't believe you've had so much trouble with yours! At this point I'd be demanding Best Buy waive their restocking fee (which has always seemed like a scam to me anyway) and admit that the product they sold you is just subpar.

Well, I guess I should pipe up to concur with Dave. I am on my second Toshiba, but the third in my family - my sister and I got identical ones a couple years ago.

My old one (Satellite A-15, I think) had an issue with the screen - you know how old tvs would have vertical bright colored lines when testing emergency signals? Yeah, it did that. At first, just the bottom third of the screen or so, but it migrated up. Fortunately, it was still under warranty and they fixed it.

Then the fan died. Made nasty sounds and overheated and shut down. Of course, I was in France and couldn't just go back to the store. :-P So my dad got me a replacement fan and I put it in all by myself. Was quite proud of myself. Then when my sister's had the same problem, we knew what we were doing.

Then I got another Toshiba this summer (another satellite, but a smaller newer one...U205? I think...) and it's driving me batty. It overheats and the screen freezes - my only clue is that *as* it freezes, the fan starts whirring like crazy. No warning, no chance to cool it down before it freezes. The only option is to turn it off manually and restart. I took it in and they said yup, it's the fan, but it also fried your CPU. So I got a new fan, CPU and motherboard. And less than two weeks later...started doing it again. I have an external fan that plugs into the usb port and it has overheated and frozen *while* on the fan.

Tuesday, when I haven't got class, I'm going to take it back to the repair shop, because this is ridiculous.

Funny thing is, other than Dave, everyone I know with a Toshiba loves it! I figure three times for me, though, is enough and so I'm never getting one again.

Bethy

Personally, I have all HP products. I have had good luck with them including a still working HP laptop from January 2000. It is a dinosaur but it works fine for word processing.

The only time I tried buying something other than an HP I got it home and it kept turning itself off during the set up process. I had paid a fee for them to do what they call an in store set up (CompUSA). What they do is supposedly plug it in and start it up to make sure it works. Well obviously they leave it turned on for about 2 seconds since longer than a minute and it turned it self off. I stood at the customer service desk loudly telling them what a joke their service was and that I would call Discover Card and charge back the set up fee. They refunded everything.

So if you have a computer problem always -

1. Document the problems you have and all steps that you took to get them resolved.

2. If you are dealing with a store talk loud so the other customers can hear. They don't want a scene and they don't want other customers to know that they aren't helpful. Tell them loadly that obviously they don't stand behind what they sell and they want to charge you extra for inferior products by charging you a restocking charge. You might be surprized at how helpful they can become. Also never hesitate to ask for a supervisor or store manager. And if that fails ask for the number for the Vice President of the store chain. I did that with the Staples rebate service. They screwed up and kept giving me excuses so I called Staples Customer Service and asked for the vice president of stores or operations. They gave me the number I called talked to the secretary and I had my rebate in 5 days.

3. If you are dealing with them through emails or phone calls ask for a supvisor. After my friend told me about the problems he was having with Dell over the same problem for 18 months, I told him to ask for a supervior and if he didn't get any where to contact his local Better Business Bureau and to write PC World magazine. They love to publish such letters and get on the phone with the companies. I've seen a number of them where they got stuff straightened out for readers. -- He did this and the supervisor checked the records and saw where he had called repeatedly about the same problem and realized no one had diagnosised the problem properly - a short in the motherboard - and sent him a new computer and a box with shipping paid to return the old one. They sent the new computer before they even had the old one back.

SO DON'T BE AFRAID TO MAKE A RUCKUS - CAUSE A SCENE. This is your hard earned money involved and they don't really what to give it back and everytime we return something it cost them money to do the paperwork. So what they are trying to do is pass that cost to you but you shouldn't have to pay it. It is between them and the companies of the products they carry.

I know of what I speak - I've worked in the hotel industry I believe me if someone is standing at the front desk we get them away and try to placate them. Heck people who have really been disatisfied with a stay at a hotel chain can get free stays to make them happy. So people when you feel you are getting ripped off be vocal about it. You paid for a working computer so darn well give me a working computer.

I may have to jokingly hate you because I'm a walking horror story of HP products from printers falling apart to computers being lost during repair. :p

But I will ditto the statement above me to cause a ruckus if necessary! I say 'jump' and HP says 'how high'.

JD

I'm in the middle of moving now and hopefully this one will work for the long haul. But I haven't added any of my files or let the laptop remember my passwords. I don't feel like having to change them all again.

I'm waiting until I have past the 14 days return/exchange date before I upload anything on this laptop.

It's working good so far. The only thing I've noticed is that the battery light sometimes when I plug it in does for a few seconds show charging. But compared to the problems I've had that not alot. And I did buy a extra warrt. So if the battery does go I can get it replaced.

I just hope if this one does starting actting up the Best Buy down where I'm moving is as nice with exchanging as the one I was dealing with.

Let me tell ya the warrt. floders has lots of returns stick in it.

I think the problem is I got the Best Buy speacil Toshiba makes this one model just for Best Buy.

But at the time that was all the money I had saved and My parents added some if only I could have waited until Christmas like I wanted I would have mostly had more saved and could have gotten a different one.

Oh, I never buy anything electronic when it is made for a store chain. I did twice in the past an it was a nightmare. I'm a firm believer that if it is a special made for store it is junk - they are probably putting in the low end electronics to meet the store price.

Just my thoughts but like I said I've been burned in the past and learned from it.

As to the comment about HP - I've heard it before but I've had 3 desktops, 1 laptop, 3 printers - 2 inkjet & 1 laserjet, a camera and scanner all from HP. The reason for the 3 desktops was upgrading as was the second inkjet an upgrade. I only had something breaking once after a couple of years but I had bought the store warranty and it was fixed for free. Computers is the only thing I ever buy the extended warranty on.

I've used Dells, HPs, a very old Toshiba satellite, a WinBook, Vaios, and Gateway, and I muck around with a lot of laptops in the course of my job. My best luck has been with the Vaio, though the Toshiba was nice back when I still used it.

If you're leaving the laptop in hibernate mode instead of turning it completely off, it's possible for the battery to drain a little even while the laptop appears to be off. This is likely not a problem with your laptop if it just charges a little bit.