My BIOS isn't working

There has been another change in the behavior of the laptop. Instead of the BSOD, this time it showed a perfect screen, icons, notification area, you name it. The only problem is that the keyboard and the mouse pad are frozen. No shortcut commands, arrow keys, nothing works. The microphone doesn't work either. That exhausts my input devices.

I should get more specific now:

This is 13-month old Toshiba L-300-EZ100-4x running Toshiba's version of XP Pro. It was one of the last Satellites available before XP Pro was not available to manufacturers. Not liking Vista I got it.

Since I can't use it I can't tell you what the hard drive is other than it's one 160 (non-formatted) GB. I am pretty sure that it's a Hitachi, but I'm not a hardware person and I'm not going to open it up to verify that.

It started out with 1 GB RAM which proved insufficient. It now has 4GB because I'd rather waste 0.75 GB than stop at 2. Although I can't find the receipt it is the fastest RAM that this machine can take.

As stated before it is plugged into a very good Belkin surge suppressor which is itself plugged into a very good Tripp Lite suppressor which is plugged into the ground plug.

As I haven't been taking it around for a few months I have removed the battery.

It has a 15.4 inch wide screen.

Since the memory upgrade it has been great.

At this moment I do not have any peripheral devices plugged in. Normally there's an external hard drive, a printer, a mouse, a full keyboard, and a microphone for both a Spanish program that I was using and Skype.

Since I'm not getting the BSOD right now I really can't tell you what it said. In my ignorance I thought that there was only one of them and I never tried reading them. Sorry about that.

Thanks for your interest,

Gerry

If it not yet obvious, every number you see is critical information. What was posted is only enough to blame a very long list of suspected - wild speculation.

When you booted from the CD-Rom, some critical start up files get executed from that CD-Rom. But eventually software must go to the hard drive for other critical files. The BSOD message says specifically where a failure is or was detected - especially the numbers. Without that, nobody can be helpful. Only says what to do to get useful facts.

Many machines offer a boot selection Window that is available by pressing repeatedly F2, F5, F8, F12, Del, etc. Those boot options may offer booting in safe mode, booting diagnostics, building a boot log, etc.

Well, it does boot. That means you can load and execute diagnostics. Half of the suspects are in hardware. Other half are in Windows. So eliminate half the suspects and learn what does work.

For example, download the hard disk diagnostic from Hitachi. Or get the same diagnostics from the UltimateBootCD website. Basically make a bootable CD so that you can see problems without being confused by Windows. IOW boot and execute the computer without Windows complications. See what Hitachi says about their disk drive.

Break a problem into simple and 'easier to understand' sections. Learn what does and does not work. Diagnostics do that. Report back. Get useful replies.

Only the more responsible computer manufacturers provide comprehensive hardware diagnostics for free on the machine, on a CD, and on their web site. All computer manufacturers have them. But only some bother to make then available. With comprehensive diagnostics, the answer and solution would be almost immediate. You might search the Toshiba web site. But manufacturers who cut costs rather than provide useful tools often do not provide their diagnostics - that already exist. So download diagnostics from the individual hardware manufacturers. The Hitachi disk diagnostic is a good place to start.

This is most important. The numbers you least understand are often facts that say the most. Always collect and record facts - especially numbers. Only way to get replies from the most informed computer geeks is post numbers; not subjective symptoms.

Yes, F8 gives me the options:

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Safe Mode with Networking
Go to last working version (I've mentioned that)

The problem is that I don't know what to do when I'm in safe mode. I actually chose "with command prompt" which I'm going to do again. My DOS is very rusty. As to numbers I'm not seeing the BSOD any more so I can't give you any of that information.

Can you boot into Safe Mode? If yes, then you go to system (event) logs. Windows sees problems, records the event, and then works around the problem. You are expected to go back later and learn what has failed.

If you do not know where to find these logs (and other information), then use Windows Help.

Also confirm in Device Manager that everything is functional.

Is the Record a Boot Log available? Then try booting with that option. The boot log is often stored in the root directory under a name (I current forget it) such as Bootlog.txt.

In Command Prompt, enter DIR to see programs available to discover or fix problems. Do not try to fix anything until after information has been corrected (ie Hitachi disk drive diagnostic, system logs, etc).

And what of your search for comprehensive hardware diagnostics from the computer manufacturer? Are they available? Get the disk drive diagnostic. Does not matter if anything is working. You still need those facts and numbers. Especially when the system is currently easy to get facts.

Well, for better or for worse, I finally got System Restore to run. Actually it's for better. This restoration is basically a reformatting and that's okay. I had so many programs on that hard drive that it was ridiculous. I've got a complete list of the installation files, but I don't intend to reload all of them.

I tried all of your suggestions and amazed myself by remembering most of the appropriate DOS commands. It was really more like my fingers remembered them. Nothing that I was able to "type" was worthwhile and my printer wasn't recognized which is hardly surprising given that it was made for Windows XP.

Thanks for all your efforts on my behalf. I really do appreciate them.

Gerry Rains

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