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#1
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
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 |
#2
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
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 |
#3
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 |
#4
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
What were the results of the hard drive diagnostic I said to run....I don't see
where you say in your reply? What do you mean by: So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. ? How far along in the boot process does the computer get, when it fails to load? Does it just make a noise and shut down, or does it go through the boot screens, or what? What about when you try starting in Safe Mode? -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message ups.com... Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 |
#5
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
Glee,
Sorry for the late reply! I could only access the Bios once. I wanted to make sure the Bios was set to boot to the floppy. That's the floppy with the software you wanted me to test the drive with. Well the Bios came up and the system hung up. It's been 2 days and it hasn't started back up since. I never got a chance to run the software. It just keeps lighting up the lights (plugged in and computer on). The hard drive gives one Whurr and nothing else happens. It won't reset (when reset is pressed) or power down (when shut off is pressed). So I have to un-plug it and try again. I will keep trying daily, with the software ready to go in floppy A drive. Why would my laptop act this way? Thanks, waiting for a boot up glee wrote: What were the results of the hard drive diagnostic I said to run....I don't see where you say in your reply? What do you mean by: So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. ? How far along in the boot process does the computer get, when it fails to load? Does it just make a noise and shut down, or does it go through the boot screens, or what? What about when you try starting in Safe Mode? -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message ups.com... Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 |
#6
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
It could be the hard drive, the power supply, the motherboard, the processor.......a
laptop is a lot harder to diagnose since you can't readily swap out parts to test, and even simple things like power supply testers don't hook up to laptop PSU's. Were it mine, I would remove the hard drive and connect it with a proper 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, to a desktop computer as a slave, and see if it is OK. If so, I would suspect power supply, processor or mobo. Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS parts: http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshi...cds-parts.html This is not a recommendation for the company....I know nothing about it. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message oups.com... Glee, Sorry for the late reply! I could only access the Bios once. I wanted to make sure the Bios was set to boot to the floppy. That's the floppy with the software you wanted me to test the drive with. Well the Bios came up and the system hung up. It's been 2 days and it hasn't started back up since. I never got a chance to run the software. It just keeps lighting up the lights (plugged in and computer on). The hard drive gives one Whurr and nothing else happens. It won't reset (when reset is pressed) or power down (when shut off is pressed). So I have to un-plug it and try again. I will keep trying daily, with the software ready to go in floppy A drive. Why would my laptop act this way? Thanks, waiting for a boot up glee wrote: What were the results of the hard drive diagnostic I said to run....I don't see where you say in your reply? What do you mean by: So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. ? How far along in the boot process does the computer get, when it fails to load? Does it just make a noise and shut down, or does it go through the boot screens, or what? What about when you try starting in Safe Mode? -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message ups.com... Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 |
#7
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
Glee,
Thanks for the info. I swapped the drive out to a Tosh 2105. Then I ran the Ontrack software via floppy A. The drive past with a few errors. The Ontrack pie chart showed all red. Like I said above, it passed all the tests with a few errors. With this drive I've tried: Setting up new partitions. Formating one of the smaller partitions to insert an operating sys. Using an AV (F-Prot Dos) to check the drive. The AV will only check the newly formated partition (E). All the other old partitions (C and D) come back with a drive error message. How or if, I insert an Operating system into drive E? Will that help me access any leftover masked data on the disk? I may be able to get another 2545, then maybe I can swap out parts. Hopefully I can and see what the expense of replacing the affected part will cost. Thanks, BTW, have you had any experience with Ontrack recovery software? Do you know the proceedure or command to boot an operating from the recovery CD via floppy A, to partition E? Thanks again! glee wrote: It could be the hard drive, the power supply, the motherboard, the processor.......a laptop is a lot harder to diagnose since you can't readily swap out parts to test, and even simple things like power supply testers don't hook up to laptop PSU's. Were it mine, I would remove the hard drive and connect it with a proper 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, to a desktop computer as a slave, and see if it is OK. If so, I would suspect power supply, processor or mobo. Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS parts: http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshi...cds-parts.html This is not a recommendation for the company....I know nothing about it. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message oups.com... Glee, Sorry for the late reply! I could only access the Bios once. I wanted to make sure the Bios was set to boot to the floppy. That's the floppy with the software you wanted me to test the drive with. Well the Bios came up and the system hung up. It's been 2 days and it hasn't started back up since. I never got a chance to run the software. It just keeps lighting up the lights (plugged in and computer on). The hard drive gives one Whurr and nothing else happens. It won't reset (when reset is pressed) or power down (when shut off is pressed). So I have to un-plug it and try again. I will keep trying daily, with the software ready to go in floppy A drive. Why would my laptop act this way? Thanks, waiting for a boot up glee wrote: What were the results of the hard drive diagnostic I said to run....I don't see where you say in your reply? What do you mean by: So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. ? How far along in the boot process does the computer get, when it fails to load? Does it just make a noise and shut down, or does it go through the boot screens, or what? What about when you try starting in Safe Mode? -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message ups.com... Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 |
#8
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
replies inline.....
"bry" wrote in message oups.com... snip I swapped the drive out to a Tosh 2105. Then I ran the Ontrack software via floppy A. The drive past with a few errors. The Ontrack pie chart showed all red. What were the errors, exactly? A file should have been written to the diskette when done....DA.LOG or DA.TXT....with the detailed results in report form. Could you copy/paste that report in a reply here? The pie chart showing all red is "unknown" file system. Pink is NTFS, blue is FAT32, green is FAT, as I recall. If the drive was showing red, then the file system is not being recognised at all by Ontrack. We really need to see the report it made. Like I said above, it passed all the tests with a few errors. .....and the errors are.............? With this drive I've tried: Setting up new partitions. Formating one of the smaller partitions to insert an operating sys. Using an AV (F-Prot Dos) to check the drive. The AV will only check the newly formated partition (E). All the other old partitions (C and D) come back with a drive error message. ....and the exact error message in its entirety is......? How or if, I insert an Operating system into drive E? Will that help me access any leftover masked data on the disk? Let's see the report first. As I said earlier, if the drive can be read, I would mount it to a desktop with an adapter, to copy files. I may be able to get another 2545, then maybe I can swap out parts. Hopefully I can and see what the expense of replacing the affected part will cost. Thanks, BTW, have you had any experience with Ontrack recovery software? Do you know the proceedure or command to boot an operating from the recovery CD via floppy A, to partition E? I've never used their recovery software. Other software has been recommended to me, but let's see what is going on with the file system first. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm glee wrote: It could be the hard drive, the power supply, the motherboard, the processor.......a laptop is a lot harder to diagnose since you can't readily swap out parts to test, and even simple things like power supply testers don't hook up to laptop PSU's. Were it mine, I would remove the hard drive and connect it with a proper 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, to a desktop computer as a slave, and see if it is OK. If so, I would suspect power supply, processor or mobo. Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS parts: http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshi...cds-parts.html This is not a recommendation for the company....I know nothing about it. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message oups.com... Glee, Sorry for the late reply! I could only access the Bios once. I wanted to make sure the Bios was set to boot to the floppy. That's the floppy with the software you wanted me to test the drive with. Well the Bios came up and the system hung up. It's been 2 days and it hasn't started back up since. I never got a chance to run the software. It just keeps lighting up the lights (plugged in and computer on). The hard drive gives one Whurr and nothing else happens. It won't reset (when reset is pressed) or power down (when shut off is pressed). So I have to un-plug it and try again. I will keep trying daily, with the software ready to go in floppy A drive. Why would my laptop act this way? Thanks, waiting for a boot up glee wrote: What were the results of the hard drive diagnostic I said to run....I don't see where you say in your reply? What do you mean by: So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. ? How far along in the boot process does the computer get, when it fails to load? Does it just make a noise and shut down, or does it go through the boot screens, or what? What about when you try starting in Safe Mode? -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message ups.com... Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 |
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
Thanks again Glee,
Here's a cut and paste of the tests. ONTRACK Data Advisor V5.00 ENGLISH Report file created 2/27/2006 @ 10:08 PM The following information has been generated by the ONTRACK® Data Advisor(TM). Use this information to help you recognize and resolve potential data access problems in a timely manner. System Information: BIOS Date 08/24/99 Conventional Memory size 639 K Extended Memory size 161724 K IO Channel type PCI Drive Information: DRIVE SIZE MODEL ----- --------- --------------------- 1 6.01 GB TOSHIBA MK6015MAP Serial Number = 14AQ5921 Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 12416x15x63. ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 731x255x63 PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE ---------- ------------ ---- # Type Start End MB PRIMARY 1 Unknown 0 260 2146 EXTENDED 2 Unknown 261 521 2146 3 FAT16 522 729 1710 Diagnostic Results: Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 3 (HOMER) Result: No Errors 376 KBytes in 4 files 0 directories were found 0 KBytes in 0 deleted files 0 deleted directories were found Complete Surface Scan Result: Not Selected S.M.A.R.T., (S)elf (M)onitoring (A)nalysis and (R)eporting (T)echnology, a built-in hard disk drive failure prediction method reports an 'Alert' if a problem has occurred. It reports 'Passed' if no problems are found and 'Unsupported' if a hard disk drive does not support S.M.A.R.T. ****************************************** Diagnostic Summary: System Memory Test Result: Passed Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Complete Surface Scan Result: Not Selected Recommendation: If you are not experiencing data loss and Data Advisor reports File System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors may be repaired through normal system maintenance. If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should isolate the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After completing any maintenance tasks, run Data Advisor again to verify that all errors have been repaired. If errors continue to occur, the system may not be stable. Again, contact a computer professional. If you have experienced a data loss, Ontrack EasyRecovery software or Remote Data Recovery services are your best option to recover your data. Please select the Crisis Center button for further information on our EasyRecovery software and Remote Data Recovery service. Copyright (c) 2001 ONTRACK Data International, Inc. ================================================== ====== ONTRACK Data Advisor V5.00 ENGLISH Report file created 2/27/2006 @ 10:12 PM The following information has been generated by the ONTRACK® Data Advisor(TM). Use this information to help you recognize and resolve potential data access problems in a timely manner. System Information: BIOS Date 08/24/99 Conventional Memory size 639 K Extended Memory size 161728 K IO Channel type PCI Drive Information: DRIVE SIZE MODEL ----- --------- --------------------- 1 6.01 GB TOSHIBA MK6015MAP Serial Number = 14AQ5921 Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 12416x15x63. ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 731x255x63 PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE ---------- ------------ ---- # Type Start End MB PRIMARY 1 Unknown 0 260 2146 EXTENDED 2 Unknown 261 521 2146 3 FAT16 522 729 1710 Diagnostic Results: Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 3 (HOMER) Result: No Errors 376 KBytes in 4 files 0 directories were found 0 KBytes in 0 deleted files 0 deleted directories were found Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed with Minor Error(s) Record 666870, I/O Error S.M.A.R.T., (S)elf (M)onitoring (A)nalysis and (R)eporting (T)echnology, a built-in hard disk drive failure prediction method reports an 'Alert' if a problem has occurred. It reports 'Passed' if no problems are found and 'Unsupported' if a hard disk drive does not support S.M.A.R.T. ****************************************** Diagnostic Summary: System Memory Test Result: Passed Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed with Minor Error(s) Recommendation: If you are not experiencing data loss and Data Advisor reports File System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors may be repaired through normal system maintenance. If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should isolate the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After completing any maintenance tasks, run Data Advisor again to verify that all errors have been repaired. If errors continue to occur, the system may not be stable. Again, contact a computer professional. If you have experienced a data loss, Ontrack EasyRecovery software or Remote Data Recovery services are your best option to recover your data. Please select the Crisis Center button for further information on our EasyRecovery software and Remote Data Recovery service. Copyright (c) 2001 ONTRACK Data International, Inc. ================================================== ====== ONTRACK Data Advisor V5.00 ENGLISH Report file created 2/27/2006 @ 10:45 PM The following information has been generated by the ONTRACK® Data Advisor(TM). Use this information to help you recognize and resolve potential data access problems in a timely manner. System Information: BIOS Date 08/24/99 Conventional Memory size 639 K Extended Memory size 161728 K IO Channel type PCI Drive Information: DRIVE SIZE MODEL ----- --------- --------------------- 1 6.01 GB TOSHIBA MK6015MAP Serial Number = 14AQ5921 Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 12416x15x63. ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 731x255x63 PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE ---------- ------------ ---- # Type Start End MB PRIMARY 1 Unknown 0 260 2146 EXTENDED 2 Unknown 261 521 2146 3 FAT16 522 729 1710 Diagnostic Results: Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 3 (HOMER) Result: No Errors 376 KBytes in 4 files 0 directories were found 0 KBytes in 0 deleted files 0 deleted directories were found Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed with Minor Error(s) Record 666870, I/O Error S.M.A.R.T., (S)elf (M)onitoring (A)nalysis and (R)eporting (T)echnology, a built-in hard disk drive failure prediction method reports an 'Alert' if a problem has occurred. It reports 'Passed' if no problems are found and 'Unsupported' if a hard disk drive does not support S.M.A.R.T. ****************************************** Diagnostic Summary: System Memory Test Result: Passed Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Complete Surface Scan Result: Passed with Minor Error(s) Recommendation: If you are not experiencing data loss and Data Advisor reports File System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors may be repaired through normal system maintenance. If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should isolate the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After completing any maintenance tasks, run Data Advisor again to verify that all errors have been repaired. If errors continue to occur, the system may not be stable. Again, contact a computer professional. If you have experienced a data loss, Ontrack EasyRecovery software or Remote Data Recovery services are your best option to recover your data. Please select the Crisis Center button for further information on our EasyRecovery software and Remote Data Recovery service. Copyright (c) 2001 ONTRACK Data International, Inc. I have to admit, I was impressed with the amount of detail the software provided. Now if I can get an understanding of what 50% of it means. And an action plan to execute a fix. Thanks again! PS, Should I be editing the replies back to the list. I noticed it's getting real long? Thanks glee wrote: replies inline..... "bry" wrote in message oups.com... snip I swapped the drive out to a Tosh 2105. Then I ran the Ontrack software via floppy A. The drive past with a few errors. The Ontrack pie chart showed all red. What were the errors, exactly? A file should have been written to the diskette when done....DA.LOG or DA.TXT....with the detailed results in report form. Could you copy/paste that report in a reply here? The pie chart showing all red is "unknown" file system. Pink is NTFS, blue is FAT32, green is FAT, as I recall. If the drive was showing red, then thefile system is not being recognised at all by Ontrack. We really need to see the report it made. Like I said above, it passed all the tests with a few errors. ....and the errors are.............? With this drive I've tried: Setting up new partitions. Formating one of the smaller partitions to insert an operating sys. Using an AV (F-Prot Dos) to check the drive. The AV will only check the newly formated partition (E). All the other old partitions (C and D) come back with a drive error message. ...and the exact error message in its entirety is......? How or if, I insert an Operating system into drive E? Will that help me access any leftover masked data on the disk? Let's see the report first. As I said earlier, if the drive can be read,I would mount it to a desktop with an adapter, to copy files. I may be able to get another 2545, then maybe I can swap out parts. Hopefully I can and see what the expense of replacing the affected part will cost. Thanks, BTW, have you had any experience with Ontrack recovery software? Do you know the proceedure or command to boot an operating from the recovery CD via floppy A, to partition E? I've never used their recovery software. Other software has been recommended to me, but let's see what is going on with the file system first. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm glee wrote: It could be the hard drive, the power supply, the motherboard, the processor.......a laptop is a lot harder to diagnose since you can't readily swap out parts to test, and even simple things like power supply testers don't hook up to laptop PSU's. Were it mine, I would remove the hard drive and connect it with a proper 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, to a desktop computer as a slave, and see if it is OK. If so, I would suspect power supply, processor or mobo. Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS parts: http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshi...cds-parts.html This is not a recommendation for the company....I know nothing about it. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message oups.com... Glee, Sorry for the late reply! I could only access the Bios once. I wanted to make sure the Bios was set to boot to the floppy. That's the floppy with the software you wanted me to test the drive with. Well the Bios came up and the system hung up. It's been 2 days and it hasn't started back up since. I never got a chance to run the software. It just keeps lighting up the lights (plugged in and computer on). The hard drive gives one Whurr and nothing else happens. It won't reset (when reset is pressed) or power down (when shut offis pressed). So I have to un-plug it and try again. I will keep trying daily, with the software ready to go in floppy A drive. Why would my laptop act this way? Thanks, waiting for a boot up glee wrote: What were the results of the hard drive diagnostic I said to run.....I don't see where you say in your reply? What do you mean by: So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. ? How far along in the boot process does the computer get, when it fails to load? Does it just make a noise and shut down, or does it go through the boot screens, or what? What about when you try starting in Safe Mode? -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message ups.com... Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 (harddrive, motherboard, etc). The first thing I would do is test the hard drive froma 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 othersit 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 andif 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 |
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Tosh Satellite Bios gone bye bye?
I have asked another MVP whose specialty is disk geometry to take a look at this
thread when he gets the time. The fact that two of your three partitions show as "unknown" file system rather than as FAT or FAT32, and that those same partitions are reported to have "Invalid BPB" (BIOS parameter block), leads me to believe the best course would be using data recovery software followed by either repartitioning and re-formatting OR attempting repair of the boot sector......but such repair is something in which I would rather not attempt via newsgroups, with my limited experience in that area. To terribly oversimplify, the part of the drive that stores info about the file system, partition labels, and other aspects of its geometry and setup, is apparently corrupt or invalid. I don't think this is due to it being installed in another computer as you have done here, but rather occurred while it was still installed in the original Toshiba. Still, I would have installed it as a slave in a desktop for testing, rather than installing it as single master in another non-identical laptop. So bear with me, as I would like to wait for someone with more first-hand experience with errors such as "invalid BIOS parameter block". Note that this is a section on the hard drive, so it still does not mean there is anything wrong with your BIOS, IMO. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message oups.com... Here's a cut and paste of the tests. ONTRACK Data Advisor V5.00 ENGLISH Report file created 2/27/2006 @ 10:08 PM System Information: BIOS Date 08/24/99 Conventional Memory size 639 K Extended Memory size 161724 K IO Channel type PCI Drive Information: DRIVE SIZE MODEL ----- --------- --------------------- 1 6.01 GB TOSHIBA MK6015MAP Serial Number = 14AQ5921 Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 12416x15x63. ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 731x255x63 PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE ---------- ------------ ---- # Type Start End MB PRIMARY 1 Unknown 0 260 2146 EXTENDED 2 Unknown 261 521 2146 3 FAT16 522 729 1710 Diagnostic Results: Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Partition 1 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 2 (No Label) Result: Invalid BPB Partition 3 (HOMER) Result: No Errors 376 KBytes in 4 files 0 directories were found 0 KBytes in 0 deleted files 0 deleted directories were found Complete Surface Scan Result: Not Selected S.M.A.R.T., (S)elf (M)onitoring (A)nalysis and (R)eporting (T)echnology, a built-in hard disk drive failure prediction method reports an 'Alert' if a problem has occurred. It reports 'Passed' if no problems are found and 'Unsupported' if a hard disk drive does not support S.M.A.R.T. ****************************************** Diagnostic Summary: System Memory Test Result: Passed Drive 1 (TOSHIBA MK6015MAP) SMART Status Check Result: Passed 90-Second Test Result: Passed File Structure Test Result: Failed Complete Surface Scan Result: Not Selected Recommendation: If you are not experiencing data loss and Data Advisor reports File System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors may be repaired through normal system maintenance. If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should isolate the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After completing any maintenance tasks, run Data Advisor again to verify that all errors have been repaired. If errors continue to occur, the system may not be stable. Again, contact a computer professional. If you have experienced a data loss, Ontrack EasyRecovery software or Remote Data Recovery services are your best option to recover your data. Please select the Crisis Center button for further information on our EasyRecovery software and Remote Data Recovery service. Copyright (c) 2001 ONTRACK Data International, Inc. ================================================== ====== I have to admit, I was impressed with the amount of detail the software provided. Now if I can get an understanding of what 50% of it means. And an action plan to execute a fix. Thanks again! PS, Should I be editing the replies back to the list. I noticed it's getting real long? Thanks glee wrote: replies inline..... "bry" wrote in message oups.com... snip I swapped the drive out to a Tosh 2105. Then I ran the Ontrack software via floppy A. The drive past with a few errors. The Ontrack pie chart showed all red. What were the errors, exactly? A file should have been written to the diskette when done....DA.LOG or DA.TXT....with the detailed results in report form. Could you copy/paste that report in a reply here? The pie chart showing all red is "unknown" file system. Pink is NTFS, blue is FAT32, green is FAT, as I recall. If the drive was showing red, then the file system is not being recognised at all by Ontrack. We really need to see the report it made. Like I said above, it passed all the tests with a few errors. ....and the errors are.............? With this drive I've tried: Setting up new partitions. Formating one of the smaller partitions to insert an operating sys. Using an AV (F-Prot Dos) to check the drive. The AV will only check the newly formated partition (E). All the other old partitions (C and D) come back with a drive error message. ...and the exact error message in its entirety is......? How or if, I insert an Operating system into drive E? Will that help me access any leftover masked data on the disk? Let's see the report first. As I said earlier, if the drive can be read, I would mount it to a desktop with an adapter, to copy files. I may be able to get another 2545, then maybe I can swap out parts. Hopefully I can and see what the expense of replacing the affected part will cost. Thanks, BTW, have you had any experience with Ontrack recovery software? Do you know the proceedure or command to boot an operating from the recovery CD via floppy A, to partition E? I've never used their recovery software. Other software has been recommended to me, but let's see what is going on with the file system first. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm glee wrote: It could be the hard drive, the power supply, the motherboard, the processor.......a laptop is a lot harder to diagnose since you can't readily swap out parts to test, and even simple things like power supply testers don't hook up to laptop PSU's. Were it mine, I would remove the hard drive and connect it with a proper 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, to a desktop computer as a slave, and see if it is OK. If so, I would suspect power supply, processor or mobo. Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS parts: http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshi...cds-parts.html This is not a recommendation for the company....I know nothing about it. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message oups.com... Glee, Sorry for the late reply! I could only access the Bios once. I wanted to make sure the Bios was set to boot to the floppy. That's the floppy with the software you wanted me to test the drive with. Well the Bios came up and the system hung up. It's been 2 days and it hasn't started back up since. I never got a chance to run the software. It just keeps lighting up the lights (plugged in and computer on). The hard drive gives one Whurr and nothing else happens. It won't reset (when reset is pressed) or power down (when shut off is pressed). So I have to un-plug it and try again. I will keep trying daily, with the software ready to go in floppy A drive. Why would my laptop act this way? Thanks, waiting for a boot up glee wrote: What were the results of the hard drive diagnostic I said to run....I don't see where you say in your reply? What do you mean by: So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. ? How far along in the boot process does the computer get, when it fails to load? Does it just make a noise and shut down, or does it go through the boot screens, or what? What about when you try starting in Safe Mode? -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "bry" wrote in message ups.com... Glee, Thanks for the reply. Yes it has a floopy drive. I initially had a virus, which was on a HD that was not backed up recently. So I got another HD and installed it. With either drive the machine still acts the same. So I tested the second drive in another borrrowed Tosh Sat 2105CDS. Same result. I like your diagnosis, what would be my next step in finding the problem? Thanks again. glee wrote: 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 |
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