Re: Trouble shoot with my Toshiba Satellite 3000-S353, please help!

So if I disconnect the hard drive and the CDROM and boot up, should I
be at least see the Toshiba log and the ram testing screen?? Thanks!

Yes, you should see at least some signs of life.


I think the microswitch might have some problem, but I suspect that
other than the microswitch, maybe the motherboard was dead too...
that's why I'm trying to make sure of this before I send it to a repair
shop or something, not even sure if it worth repairing though...

Depends on the age of the laptop and it's monetary value + repair costs
against a new and better model. You can still remove your old drive, put it
in an external UB 2.0 caddy and tansfer any data you need to a new laptop.
A bit of a pain, but possible nevertheless. External 2.5" USB caddies
aren't very expensive (or should I say, they can be found quite cheaply).

If I need to buy another laptop, should I consider a DELL over
Toshiba?? I kind of like my Toshiba, but heard that DELL also has VERY
GOOD build quality for the laptops and usually trouble-free.. Is this
really the case?? Many thanks!

I generally like Toshiba laptops, as well as IBM ThinkPads and Sony Vaio
notebooks. All those companies have produced some turkeys but in general
they make nice machines. I have an older Toshiba which is still going
strong, and a newer Acer Travelmate. The Acer is mostly OK except for an
annoying keyboard problem, but I found Acer Support here in the UK to be so
appalling I will never recommend or buy another Acer, so I wouldn't
recommend Acer on that basis. Sony are generally expensive in comparison to
the competition, but look nice nevertheless :-)

Dell are used exclusively by my wife's organisation (a local government
authority - and they have several thousand Dell desktops and laptops). She
manages the account with Dell for the local authority, and the computers
seem to do the job well enough, with good support and relatively few
failures (given the numbers involved, you would expect a few by the basic
laws of averages, and the important thing is that on the rare occasions one
does develop a fault there's no quibble, and the machine is fixed with the
minimum of fuss). When purchasing on-line though as an individual, there
seems to nearly always be a strong element of upselling (additions and
options) which is fair enough, but keep an eye on the final quoted price
against the initial price that catches your eye on their site - there have
been occasions where mistakes and inconsistencies have been spotted by my
clients - this is UK based BTW . I have seen quite a few Dell systems (both
desktop and laptop)in operation and they seem to be of a good build quality
with good reliability, and their support network seems OK. Other users here
and elsewhere don't appear to have anything bad to say about Dell on the
whole. Dell, like most other mainstream manufacturers have a huge tried and
tested manufacturing and R&D system behind all their products, but because
of their direct selling approach can afford to shave a little off the price.
I'm sure there will be some disappointed Dell users around though - that's
nearly always the case with any brand.

Nick


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