I keep getting PXE-E61 Media test failure error on laptop start up
I’m having a problem with my Toshiba Satelite P20.
I believe that my HDD has finally worn out. Over the past few months, it used to take several attempts to boot up windows XP. Sometimes, the hard drive failed to load and sometimes the HDD light used to hang on, and I would receive a disk-read error has occurred. The message which I also used to get, and which I keep getting now is:
PXE-E61 Media test failure, check cable
Exiting PXE ROM
I tried booting up from a CD, and it failed to detect the hard drive.
I’m almost positive that you have a bad hard drive. PXE means Pre-Boot Execution Environment. You see this message when the laptop trying to boot from a remote server using the network card. If you didn’t see the PXE-E61 message before, it means that the network card was listed after the hard drive in the boot order (you can set the order in BIOS) and the laptop booted directly from the hard drive. Now, when the hard drive has failed, the laptop cannot detect it and tries to boot from the next available device – the network card. Your laptop is not configured to boot from a remote server using the network card, that’s why you are getting PXE-E61 Media test failure error. You have to replace the hard drive and reinstall the operating system.
October 16th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
I’m having this same problem but I know that its detecting the hard drive because sometimes it will make it to the user log in screen but will crash when I try and log in. Then sometimes it’ll go to a blue screen saying there was a problem (something about and file error “KERNAL_…” and it has to shut down. I’ve tried removing the battery and starting with just the AC but the same thing happens. I’ve tried removing the HD and reconnecting it several times and still nothing. It just crashes at the log in screen. My laptop is a Gateway W3501.
September 16th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Jeff,
Yes, it fill fix the problem if your hard drive is good.
The problem is, if the hard drive is bad, the laptop skips booting from the hard drive and moves to the network option. That’s why you see this “error” message.
September 16th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Just disable the boot from network in the BIOS. That will fix it. You do not have a hardware failure.
September 7th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
CD/DVD drive was connecting to a Hard Drive via an IDE…. I solved the same problem on a desktop by using a pin to make the harddrive as a slave (I think in my western digital drive it was the second pin). ps. I was trying to install new os on my harddrive and the system would not pick up the cd from the cd drive. hope it helps.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:25 pm
hello guys..im not sure but that also happened to my laptop acer aspire 5550..i already fixed it but i cant use the internal dvd rom for the mean time..ok if ur trying to reformat ur pc, lets start,for laptop, first of all you have to check if your cables are properly connected..then remove your dvd or cd rom..be sure the memory that is connected to your pc/laptop is the hard disk only,no cd/dvd rom..ur pc/laptop will not detect your hard disk if your cd drive is connected..reboot ur pc/laptop and if this msg shows to ur screen “NTLDR is missing,press ctrl+alt+del” then you got it successfully.ur hard disk has been detected..now you have to need external cd/dvd rom or any bootable usb that can be used to format ur laptop/pc.then ur up to go..just format ur pc with no hustle at all..
and guys,if your laptop/pc started for the first time after formatted,you have to wait for 15-20 seconds,ur pc will turn blank,that is bcoz ur pc is searching for any bootable memory until it will detect your hard disk.and of course you should not connect ur internal dvd rom bcos the main problem will exist again.
i think the secret is u only have to remove the internal cd/dvd rom so that your hard disk will be detected..just use any external cd rom or make bootable usb to format ur pc..
August 26th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Solution for me was that the hard drive was loose. The holes that held the drive in place are elongated to allow for small adjustments in different cases, I imagine. The loose screws allowed the drive to disconnect. I seated the drive and tightened the screws and all is well.
August 7th, 2010 at 7:10 am
This is hilarious! I am a total computer iliterate. I read somewhere (went on a million sites)to hit/punch the hard drive. I thought it was a joke, anyway i did it. IT WORKED!!!!! Apparently a cable was loose in the hard drive and thats why i was getting the annoying pxe-e61 error!
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:54 pm
The problem is that your computer is trying to connect to a server from the network. You need to go into BIOS and look for PXE Boot to Lan. This needs to be disabled. You should find this in the boot tab, if not then you will need to look around for it.
April 7th, 2010 at 11:05 am
ACTUALLY IT WORKED!!
I USED HIREN 9.5 BOOTABLE DISK AND USED ONE OF THE (STORAGE/PARTITION) TOOLS AND IT TOOK ME EXACTLY 12 HOURS TO RE-BUILD THE HARD DISK AGAIN AND FORMAT IT!!
AND NOW I AM INSTALLING WINDOWS 7 Ultimate
YOU GUYS CANT IMAGINE HOW HAPPY I AM
CHEERS
April 7th, 2010 at 12:50 am
i am having the same problem here as well!!!
i have noticed that its a problem in the hard drive
right now i am using hiren 9.5 (bootable disk) trying to fix it!!
by deleting the whole volume and creating a new partitions!!
hopefully its gonna work!!
March 8th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
hello guys had the same problem. tried everthing in the forums but didnt work for me. BUT I NOTICED ONE THING. IN THE HARD DRIVE BAY AT THE BOTTOM WHICH WAS THE (ASPIRE 5315) I WAS REPAIRING FOR A FRIEND. THERE ARE TWO TABS (DEPENDING ON WHICH LAPTOP YOU HAVE) I TAPED THEM DOWN WITH 2 PIECES OF DUCK TAPE AND THE ERROR WENT AWAY. AFTER ALL THAT TIME. THE HARDRIVE BAY WAS THE PROBLEM.
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:24 am
I bought my Toshiba satellite one month ago and started having this problem two days ago. So far shutting it off turning it over and hitting the back a few times gets it going. I read that others have done this and it has worked for them.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Hi, my name is Johnnie, and When I turn on my laptop, it starts normally, displaying the TOSHIBA start screen, and about a minute later, at the top it reads as follows:
Intel (R) Boot Agent GE v1. 2. 31
Copyright (C) 1997-2005, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
Operating System not found
Is there any troubleshooting method to correct this problem??
February 15th, 2010 at 3:14 am
OK LISTEN EVERYONE,…..
EVERYONE HAS HAD THE SAME OR SIMILIAR PROBLEM,…YES? ,..YET if YOU READ everyone has a DIFFERENT THING THAT WORKED FOR IT ,….OK well i am here with ANSWERS for you ALL ,…1st TAKE THE THING APART AGAIN
VERY CAREFULLY ,…TOUCH METAL FIRST ,…DISCHARGE STATIC,….now unplug and plug in the hardrive A FEW TIMES,…as with any set of CONTACTS putting them together and taking them apart and reataching them “SCRATCHES” the contacts so they make GOOD CONTACT,….this COULD BE THE PROBLEM FOR ALL OF YOU,…..NEXT make SURE YOU PUT EACH AND EVERY SCREW BACK ,…AND THE CORRECT SCREW IN THE CORRECT HOLE,…..this matters because there are GROUNDS that need GOOD contact ,….ok not saying ANYONES an IDIOT HERE because i am A+ N+ MCSE NOVELL CISCO BLA BLA BLKAAAA certified ,…. and guess what THIS WHOLE THING HAPPENED TO MEEEEE ,..so this is why i am saying take it apart touch metal always reassemble it make sure all the stuff is SEATED and fully inserted screws have to be snug for good grounding and change the order of the boot to 1> CDROM 2> HARDRIVE and disable the network and the “OTHER” choice in the bios save that and exit reboot and your machine should see the harddrive whne you go back into the bios will have a little + or just have the name of the drive in there HOPE THIS HELPS AS I AM NO SMARTER THAN THE NEXT GUY but just tryin to HELP OUT thanks and take care dougie
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:25 am
I had the same problem. When I open the BIOS I cant see the hard disk on info screen. there is no specified on master or slave.
January 25th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
You have 2 problems, first remove the battery and try to work conected only to A/C, if that does not correct the problem you will need to change the battery and the hard disk
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Dennis,
You see this message because the hard drive is blank and has no operating system installed. Find a new DVD drive and run the recovery disc. Install Windows on the hard drive.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I have an older Toshiba Satellite M35X that repeatedly displays the following message when I turn the laptop on:
For Realtek RTL 8139(X) / 8130 / 810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, Check Cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM
This message only started happening when I put a new HDD in (the last one crashed). My BIOS reads the new HDD and my DVD-ROM drive, but I cannot even boot my system off the DVD-ROM and install Windows. Is it possible that I have a bad connection with the HDD or DVD-ROM (the message does indicate Check Cable), or could this be from a bad controller on the mobo? I seriously doubt that my brand-new hard drive is bad.
December 27th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
One day my Toshiba Satellite SA50-522 with WinXP SP3 worked fine and the next day it just started with the message:
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure. check cable.
PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent
I got to know that the trouble had nothing to do with the HDD because I was able to run UBUNTU and another MS-XP version on it, but not the OEM version that came with my laptop.
I did also check the battery and the HDD but the error message remained.
Here it is what I did to finally fix up the system:
1. Use UBCD4WIN (or UBUNTU Live CD) to save all the information on an external drive.
2. From the Windows Recovery Console of UBCD4WIN:
- format the HHD.
- run the fixboot command.
- run the fixmbr command.
3. Restart the computer and reset the BIOS.
4. Install the OS from the OEM version.
Hope this will be useful for somebody.
Thank you very much to everybody for their pieces of advice.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
PMIJJ,
Enter the BIOS menu, set your hard drive as a first bootable device, safe settings and restart the laptop. Will it boot now?
November 10th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Ok I too have the dreaded PXE-E61. Here’s my dilema: I just changed out my hard drive on my Panasonic CF-Y2. I reloaded windows XP and can see all of the files on my hard drive when I use a Linux CD Rom operating disk,so I know the drive works, but I cannot boot XP from my hard drive. I continue to get the “media test failure” message at start-up.
October 27th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Tami,
Can you boot from the CD-ROM when the hard drive is removed? Maybe the CD-ROM is not working properly.
Is your hard drive plugged directly into the connector on motherboard, or there is a cable between the hard drive connector and motherboard?
October 26th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I also am having this problem only I have replaced the hard drive and the motherboard and I am still getting same error. I am getting very frustrated as all these forums say its a bad hard drive, it may have been before it didnt recognize it at all but now it recognizes the hard drive but still will not boot to hard drive or cd rom I have changed the settings in bios, I have disabled my network boot even and still same thing over and over I will try the battery deal but i wont hold my breath if anyone has any other suggestions please reply, it will be much appreciated! Thanks
October 24th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Bo,
Could be:
1. Bad connection between HDD and motherboard.
2. Failed hard drive.
3. Failed hard drive controller on the motherboard.
I posted your question and some suggestion here.
October 24th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I am having the same prob with pxe-e61 and pxe-m0f on startup with a toshiba. When I go to the Bios it shows nothing for the HDD. Does that mean the drive needs to be replaced? I cant tell if the drive is working or not. I have tried everything I have read in all the posts.
Thanks
August 22nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Boy, I wish I had visited this site earlier. Removing the battery, waited five minutes and booted off of A/C worked fine. I had purchased a new HD and still have it. So, does this point to an inherent battery problem (mine was the original Toshiba battery) and I need to get a new battery?
July 27th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I replaced the HDD when my Toshiba laptop gave me the error that my harddrive was failing. I keep getting PXE-E61 Media test failure error on laptop start up. Now I can’t get it to recognize the any source including the recovery disc. I tried to changing the boot order HDD – CD- LAN, etc..but it will not work. It recognizes the new hard drive. I dont know what to do now!!! Help!!
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:42 am
I have the same recurring problem. A temporary fix which works for a few weeks is to remove the laptop battery and mains lead (if connected) and leave overnight then reconnect the lead and switch on. Mine always boots fine after this and the battery can then be reconnected. I got this fix from another forum and the prob seems quite common with Tosh laptops so it may be an inherent fault rather than the drive?
June 16th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I had the same problem in Toshiba M35X-S349
I bought a 250 GB HDD and after setting it ,it works now.
June 14th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I agree with the first comment, Check your connections to the motherboard and if everything is secure, your hard drive is probaly bad, I have the same problem with my laptop, I am going to get a new hard drive soon, I’ll post my results later