Toshiba Tecra M3 Repair

The Toshiba Tecra M3 is a business laptop that was launched globally at the beginning of 2005 and discontinued early 2006. The device was apart of the Toshiba Tecra series and came after the Tecra M2 and was followed by the Tecra M4 later in the year. It had major features such as having a 14.1 inch screen and using Intel Pentium M Centrino technology, that features Intel Pentium M 740 or 750 along with the moblie Intel 915 express chipset. These features have earned it enduring popularity among tech enthusiasts and repair professionals. When compared to the previous model and the model after it, the devices were pretty similar in design and function. The M3 had updated features from the M2 such as having 14.1 inch display with a 16:10 widecreen aspect ratio whereas the M2 had a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Tecra M2 used NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go while the Tecra M3 used the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200 which offered a better performance. The Tecra M3 and M4 were similar but the M4 came with a tabletPC feature, which allowed to become a touch screen when fliped around. In 2006, due to the Toshiba Tecra M3 along with other Toshiba notebooks having lithium - ion batteries, the toshiba notebooks were recalled due to fire risk. The device had common complaints such as it being too slow and having poor battery life. The Toshiba Tecra M3 also had faliures such as it not starting up, having unexpected screen blackouts due to overheating and boot failures that are caused by old hardwares such as the batteries, motherboards and RAM.

The Toshiba Tecra M3 can be identified by the Tecra logo located below the display screen or on the palm rest. The model and serial number can be seen at the bottom as a label. The device features a 14.1 inch display and a black or grey chassis. It includes a removable modular panels on the bottom chassis for components such as memory, hard drive and optical drive. Common ports on the Tecra M3 includes VGA, USB 2.0, PCMCIA slot and Ethernet port.

Physical Characteristics

• Dimensions: 330 x 275 x 35 mm
• Weight: 2.7 kg

Power:

• Power Adapter Input: 100-240V AV
• Power Adapter Output: 19V DC, 3.42A
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion main battery pack
• RTC Battery: Yes

Processor And Chipset

• Microprocessor Options:
  • 1.6 GHz
  • 1.73 GHz
  • 1.86 GHz
  • 2.0 GHz
  • 2.13 GHz
• Chipset:
  • Intel Alviso-PM
  • Intel ICH6-M
  • TI PCI7411

Graphics

• GPU: NVIDIA MEP43L
• Video Memory: 64 MB or 128 MB

Memory And Storage

• Memory: Two slots supporting 256 MB, 512 MB, or 1 GB modules
• Hard Drive Options: 40 GB / 60 GB / 80 GB / 100 GB

Display

• 14.1″ XGA TFT Color Display
  • Resolution: 1024 × 768
• 14.1″ SXGA+ TFT Color Display
  • Resolution: 1400 × 1050

Expansion Bays

• Slim Select Bay: Optical drive, second HDD, or second battery
• USB FDD: 3.5″ USB floppy drive (1.44 MB or 720 KB)

Input Devices

• Keyboard
• Toshiba Dual Pointing Device
• Built-in Microphone
• Volume Control Knob
• Presentation Button
• Toshiba Console Button

Audio System

• AC Link (ICH6-M) with Analog Devices AD1981B
• Amplifiers: Matsushita AN12491 and MAX4410
• Stereo Speakers
• Stereo Headphone Jack
• External Microphone Jack
• Audio Line-In / Line-Out
• Supports VoIP

Connectivity And Networking

• Internal Modem
• Internal LAN
• Wireless LAN
• Bluetooth

Ports And Interfaces

• USB And Expansion
  • Two USB Ports
  • PC Card Slot
  • ExpressCard Slot
  • SD Card Slot
  • Docking Interface Port
• Video And Display
  • External Monitor (RGB) Port
  • DVI Port
  • TV-Out (S-Video)
  • Video-Out Jack
• Communication
  • IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
  • Infrared Port
  • RJ-45 LAN Jack
  • RJ-11 Modem Jack
• Legacy Ports
  • Parallel Port
  • Serial Port
  • PS/2 Mouse Port
  • PS/2 Keyboard Port
• Power
  • DC-IN Socket

• Toshiba Tecra M3 Maintenance Manual
• Tecra M3 Detailed Specifications
• Toshiba Tecra M3 Teardown (YouTube)