I would certainly NOT consider the BIOS to be the problem at this point in your
diagnosis, although it may be some other hardware fault (hard drive, motherboard,
etc). The first thing I would do is test the hard drive from a floppy
boot......does the machine have a floppy drive?

Test the drive by running the diagnostics from the hard drive manufacturer's web
site.

If you don't know what brand the drive is, you can download the limited-use free
edition of OnTrack Data Advisor from this location:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor

When you click the download link on that page for Data Advisor 5.0 Free edition, you
will be taken to a page to register with the OnTrack site, then you will be able to
download the diskette creator file.

The downloads are diskette creators. They are to be run once from a working Windows
system and will guide you through the process of extracting the Data Advisor onto a
3.5" floppy disk.

Download and Use Instructions:
http://www.ontrack.com/dataadvisor/downloadinfo.asp

As far as I know, Maxtor's diagnostics will also work with any brand of drive, and
the older versions of Seagate Seatools also, but I am not sure about the new
version.

Hard Drive Diagnostic Programs by Vendor:

OnTrack Data Advisor:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test:
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools:
http://support.wdc.com/download/
Quantum/Maxtor PowerMax:
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
Seagate SeaTools:
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html
Download:
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/B7a.html
http://www.seagate.com/support/seato...toold_reg.html
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"bry" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

I have a Tosh satellite 2545 CDS laptop, running win98 FE.

Now when I try and boot it up, sometimes it will and others it won't.
The few times it does boot up, it will eventually hang up.

This leaves me with an un-responsive machine.
No power button shut off capability, only a reset button shutdown
without a restart too.
Or just an un-plug her without the battery attached option.

I've be told it's a bios problem, since the power light does comes on.
The HD gives a whurr sound once and then comes the maybe she starts and
maybe she doesn't part.

I tried to flash the bios with upgrades, but for a tosh 2545 cds
running win 98 there are very few updates. How can I find out
definently that it is the bios. It's my favorite Laptop and if a not so
pricey DIY job to replace it or the motherboard is in order. I'm
willing to give it a shot.

I know I should move into the 2k gerenration, but old reliable should
be given a chance to run free once more.

Thanks