My laptop unexpectedly restarted while upgrading BIOS and now will not boot
Per a problem I was having with my Toshiba A65-s1067 laptop overheating and causing problems with windows I decided to upgrade the BIOS. According to Toshiba the BIOS upgrade changed some settings that would help with the overheating issue. So, I downloaded the updater version 1.9 from Toshiba directly and followed all the precautions because I know how easily the computer can be messed up during a BIOS flash. I ran the Windows based FLASH executer provided by Toshiba – my first mistake – and about 10 seconds into the update Windows came up with an information box saying that services.exe unexpectedly terminated and the computer would be restarted. I tried everything to keep it from rebooting, but to my dismay after 45 seconds the laptop restarted without being completely done with the BIOS FLASH. Of course, now I have a brick that just beeps an error code at me (Long-Short-Long-Short) and turns back off. I took the laptop apart by your instructions to check and see if it had a fixed or removable BIOS in hopes that I could get it reprogrammed or just simply replace it. Of course it has fixed BIOS (INSYDE BIOS-M 7363 39VF040 – I think this is the MobilePro BIOS advertised by INSYDE) and so that hope went out the window. I researched further and found that there is supposed to be a BIOS Key Installation that works with Toshiba laptops that allows it to read new BIOS from a floppy drive and write it into the BIOS, however, I don’t have a floppy drive and it doesn’t appear that there is an internal floppy made for my model. There is a USB model, but I don’t know if that is the floppy they are referring to (Not sure if it would work and I don’t want to buy it and find out it won’t). Also, there was some information I found about holding down the C key and allowing the BIOS to be read from a CD, but this did not work. So, I have researched and found no way that I can fix this without actually taking it to a Toshiba dealer, which I would prefer not to do as the laptop is not under warranty. This matter is also further complicated by the fact that I am currently living in Italy and there is not a Dealer nearby!!! This is very frustrating and I really would like to be able to fix the problem on my own. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
Your laptop restarted while upgrading the BIOS and I think the BIOS got corrupted. Unfortunately you will not be able to fix it yourself and even if you take the laptop to an authorized Toshiba service center, they will offer to replace the whole motherboard.
If the laptop is not bootable and you cannot start it from the DVD drive, you will not be able to start it from an external floppy drive either, so there is no sense to buy it.
PRECAUTION: you have to be very careful if you decide to upgrade or reflash the BIOS. Make sure the laptop is connected to the AC adapter, do not run the upgrade on the battery power. If the laptop shuts down during the BIOS update, the BIOS might get corrupted and the laptop will not start again. If the BIOS gets corrupted it would be necessary to replace the motherboard and it’s very expensive. Always read user’s manual before the upgrade.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:45 am
I am working on a Gateway M405 and I can’t get the laptop to boot through BIOS. Gone to Gateway sites and can’t find out where the CMOS Battery is located, as I suspect it needs to be replaced (laptop is over 5 years old). I have replaced hard drive and increased RAM, rebooting through A: drive before worked fine. Nothing left but CMOS battery. Any clue where I can find the CMOS battery and how do I get to it?
June 7th, 2009 at 11:29 am
I solved my problem.
I needed to enter the “supervisor password” screen.
You can access it by pressing INS at powerup.
regards,
peter
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
…To the ‘bios’ problems try using a very small flathead, must be conductive metal, and short the connection on the board for the cmos battery. Make sure all other batteries are out of the computer and power supply is plugged in.
…To the ‘keystroke ??’ F2, F10, or F12, possibly even Del.
Hope these things help, good luck!!
-M.B.-
May 9th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Hello,
I got problem accessing the bios on my TECRA M3.
The problem is, when i boot the device, with pressing “esc” i get into a very limited bios. there was a keystroke that i cant remeber anymore to access the real bios, so you will be asked for a password, which i know.
Does somebody know this keystroke ?
regards,
Peter
May 4th, 2009 at 7:17 am
“Human error is part of human beings and it is not possible to get rid of it.” (Prof. James Reason)
================
I have a nice brickwall black color, and very ‘computronic’…
It says TOSHIBA SATELLITE and at the bottom says Model 1410-604.
I was in a whole reinstallation process, something difficult because there are no recovery disks and the model is so old that Toshiba support service told me “we have no recovery disks for that model, is too old”.
Therefore I resigned to lost some tools, like the hardware configuration tool, and the BIOS configuration (that in this model is accessed through Windows). There is another way to access BIOS but has a few things less than the windows interface.
It was giving some problems configuring USB and WLAN card, and when I searched TOSHIBA site for drivers, I found a BIOS upgrade that matched this computer:
“Satellite 1410-801, Satellite 2410-703, Satellite 1410-902, Satellite 2410-304S, Satellite 1410-354, Satellite 2410-601, Satellite 1410-401, Satellite 1410-604, Satellite 2410-414, Satellite 2410-404, Satellite 1410-301, Satellite 1410, Satellite 1410-304, Satellite 2410-S403, Satellite Pro 2100, Satellite 1410-654S, Satellite 1410-S203, Satellite 1410-554, Satellite 1410-S102, Satellite 2410-304, Satellite 1410-814, Satellite 2410-303, Satellite 1410-354E, Satellite 2410-S203, Satellite 1410-303, Satellite 2410-603, Satellite 1410-313, Satellite 1410-802, Satellite 2410-354, Satellite 1410-714, Satellite 2410-514, Satellite 1410-614, Satellite 1410-704, Satellite 2410-515, Satellite 2410-702, Satellite 2410-504, Satellite 1410-S103″
You can see it is listed there (1410-604) among a lot of other machines.
Unfortunately there is no readme file in the downloaded zip, this would prevent toshiba mistakes by double redundancy checks, but Toshiba choose not to provide such verification.
But for some reason… (Reason?) I made a critical mistake at this point. I belive what TOSHIBA told me: “it is easy, fast and safe” (although I know it is risky). And I double clicked the win file. The updating process started, and everything seemed to go well.
The computer rebooted itself. But the screen never left its blackness, and I heard that fatal POST ERROR BEEPS…
3-1-1
I don’t even know WHAT that beeps stands for. I think that Award BIOS would mean video card problems… but the video card was OK… I am still looking for that error 3-1-1 in order to se if I can know what happened.
Therefore I started researching a little more, and found somewhere that Toshiba have a searching engine called askiris (http://askiris.toshiba.com), where you can search for information in the whole Toshiba site.
So I made a search for the string “bios 1410″ and I got 4 BIOS that matched this model. Versions 1.10, 1.20, 1.30 and 1.40.
My model had installed the version 1.20 of its BIOS.
I downloaded all of them, and after uncompressing them, in the version 1.40 I found:
2410A9V140.EXE (SAME FILENAME!) (In my logic this should mean the same thing… if not I would have used different names for different files).
That MATCHED the file that I downloaded before!! good…
But then I see that tere is also a readme file… and when I went to the readme file, I found this:
“This BIOS is applicable to the following models:
Satellite 1410-S105
Satellite 1410-S106
Satellite 1410-S173
Satellite 1410-S174
Satellite 1410-S175
Satellite 1410-S176
Satellite 1415-S105
Satellite 1415-S106
Satellite 1415-S115
Satellite 1415-S173
Satellite 1415-S174
Satellite 1415-S175
Satellite 1415-S176
Satellite 2410-S203
Satellite 2410-S204″
And the 1410-604 is not listed there.
It is important to say that this file has the same name and the same weight than the one I downloaded from toshiba available for the 604 model. This is very confusing, and now I don’t know if:
One of this:
Satellite 1410-S105
Satellite 1410-S106
Satellite 1410-S173
Satellite 1410-S174
Satellite 1410-S175
Satellite 1410-S176
Is equivalent to 1410-604. If so, it is not said anywhere in Toshiba knowledge base.
What I need now…
(1) To know if this is a valid file or any of them are valid for my 1410-604.
(2) If there is any rollback procedure when the upgrade fails.
(3) If there is any way to save the previous BIOS in order to let you return to the previous one if the upgrading procedure fails. (rollback)
The Compaq upgrading procedure makes a backup in the disk when you upgrades, and if it doesnt satisfy you at the end, you can revert the situation by restoring the backup.
Toshiba should have something similar… or not… everything is possible.
This computer has a key-start that reads the 1.44 diskette first thing when you turn it on, so a new BIOS can be put into the CMOS. What I would need is somehow give it the previous BIOS (that I didn’t backup, but I don’t know if the windowed program makes a backup of it, if so it should be readable by reading the HDD).
Or, maybe backing up a BIOS on a similar (same model) machine, and then upload it to this one.
Or… throw it away and buy a new one…
March 31st, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Per a problem I was having with my HP DV6291EA laptop overheating and causing problems with windows I decided to upgrade the BIOS.
According to HP the BIOS upgrade changed some settings that would help with the overheating issue.
So, I downloaded the updater version from F29 To F.2D from HP directly and followed all the precautions because I know how easily the computer can be messed up during a BIOS flash, I ran the Windows based FLASH executor provided by HP it was successfully Done as per bios update. now wen i Power ON my laptop totally nonfunctional brick just beeps an error code at me (1Long beep-2Short beeps?)after Remove/changing everything 1by1 (LIKE) RAM, HDD, DVD Rom, Wifi Card, Battery, work only with AC Power no battery, i find removing ram sound stop then i changed the ram to new ram but same problem?, then i changed AC Adapter & battery but nothing happens? also i try removing bios battery for 10mints pressing power please if any1 know how to help me with this please.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:35 pm
was installing drivers for a friend’s dell vostro 1000 and decided to upgrade the bios. i run the .exe file and then it froze. i held down the power button till it switched off. now when i boot nothing happens. tried flashing the bios but nothing happens. not even a sign of life. now i’m in trouble. been online for like 5 hours. is there a solution or i should give up?
September 27th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
sorry what can i do to reinstall windows or get it to boot its current version
September 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Hi I have an IBM thinkpad T20 type 2647
it has the PhoenixBios 4.0 Release 6.0
Pentium III
512 RAM
anyway I get the PXE-E05
then after that goes away i get
ERROR
Expansion ROM not initialized _ PCI on Motherboard
Bus:)), Device:00, Function:00
Press to setup
September 10th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
SAM,
Apparently something went wrong during the BIOS update and it got corrupted. The only way to fix the laptop now is replacing the motherboard.
I would definitely try calling Toshiba and explain what had happened to you. Maybe they will repair the laptop at no charge. Don’t give up!
September 10th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Kevin,
You have to press Esc, or F1, or F2 key (I don’t remember witch one) as soon as Toshiba logo appears on the screen. It will take to to the BIOS setup menu.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hi – I’ve read descriptions of BIOS recovery methods, for when a laptop will not even POST but is able to boot via USB floppy / USB memory stick – solely for the purpose of BIOS recovery (e.g. FN+B / Win+B on Phoenix BIOSes)
My question is – does *anyone* know a method that works on Insyde MobilePro bios? Specifically, something that works for a BenQ Joybook 5000U model. I, too, have a laptop that mercilessly restarted while flashing BIOS and now is a large paperweight that won’t boot/post (power light on, fan spins, nothing in screen, no hard drive activity…)
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I am unable to access the Bios settings in my G30.
On pressing the power button it directly displays the welcome screen…
July 15th, 2008 at 4:13 am
Guys, please please help me…
I’ve got Toshiba A 105- S4211.
3 weeks ago, all of sudden from nowhere, there appeared a password on the BIOS system of my laptop. After doing a week research on internet, I found out how to bypass this password: I took the laptop a part and used jumpers method) it worked fine. I recovered the whole system using recovery disk.
The Toshiba Co. has admitted that the old bios system for the models alike mine has some fault thus they produced new BIOS system and recommended to flash (update) the current ones.
So, I found a new BIOS and downloaded from Toshiba’s web site.
While upgrading the BIOS within Windows, the text box saying “please wait” appeared and stayed there for about 2 hours. I left it as it is, and left, the battery was there, and AC power was also connected.
I was aware what could happen if power goes off while upgrading BIOS.
When I come back the laptop was off. I couldn’t turn it on because, neither battery nor the AC power was available.
Later on, using AC power, I turned on, but, all I get was blue power on button, blank screen (nothing on it), some sounds of CPU (or it’s fan) and that;s it.
I realized the power went off during the BIOS flash… and I have no idea of what to do.
I created auto-run CD of the BIOS and run it on CD-Rom but it didn’t work.
I connected desktop monitor to the laptop, it stays blank anyway.
I have been using the laptop for almost 2 years, and my warranty program is over.
Please, please, help me!
July 9th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Jose Cardenas,
Before you can continue troubleshooting your laptop, you’ll have to get rid of the BIOS password. I think Toshiba will clear your password at no charge because it’s not your fault. I started a new thread for you:
Toshiba Satellite laptop asking for the BIOS password I never had.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
NEED HELP WITH MY LAPTOP
Hello all well I’m writing cause I have a rather pricey problem. I own a
TOSHIBA Satellite P105-S9722
It began with a slew of problems, initially it began shutting down at random times, running for hours, or just minutes. Also included with crazy messages on the blue screen of death, some we’re to the effect of bad kernenls or something, or “Memory_Corrupt” others like “system/config/win32″ needs to be replaced or something to that effect. I thought maybe it was over heating, so I bought a fan, same problems, possible ram problem, i purchased brand new ram for it, same problems. So I thought about putting in my recovery CD in it, when I did it locked me out at the BIOS screen requiring me to put in a password, when I never ever put one on to beging with. Now at it does is turn on at that screen, and im at my wits ends, can someone shoot me some info thanks in advance.
Here are my specs
Genuine Windows® XP Professional, Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200, 2048MB
DDR2 SDRAM, 200GB HDD (4200RPM), 17” WXGA+ TruBrite™, DVD SuperMulti
Double Layer, 802.11 a/b/g, NVIDIA® GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM
VRAM, Fingerprint Reader, Express Media Player
Memory5
height
Display8
Sound
• Keyboard
June 28th, 2008 at 10:26 am
I have a M45-S165 toshiba laptop, and my RTC battery is dying. I want cu change it, So if you know what kind of battery, the type of the battery please tell me. I dont want to stay a week with my laptop disassembled searching for a battery
June 6th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Hi,
(sorry for my english)
My Laptop (Toshiba L30-105, Model PSL33E) Hanged during a Bios upgrade. After forced restart (had to wait one hour to make sure) , the laptop boots (fans start) but screen remains black. So i think the BIOS gets corrupted.
I tried the boot block recovery procedure for phoenix BIOS using a USB floppy device and pressing Fnc+B and Win+B without success. The laptop is not willing to access the floppy drive.
As my laptop is no longer under warranty, it will cost me around 90€ for diagnosis and 296€ for the motherboard. Basically, the price for a new laptop.
My questions are :
Is there something I can do to recover from corrupted bios problem that i had’nt tried ?
Does it make sense to send the Laptop to Service center ?
Do you think that service center guys can recover it by some means, or they are going to simply replace the motherboard, and bill me 400€ ?
Thank you in advance,
May 13th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
DIMZ,
I don’t think you’ll be able to fix this problem at home. If the laptop is still under warranty, you can try sending to IBM/Lenovo.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:57 am
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO RESTORING BIOS ON LENOVO R60 TYPE 9457? I’D UPGRADED THE BIOS BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT GET A BLUE SCREEN WHILE PROCESSING BLOCK 24, NOW I CAN’T GET P.O.S.T. PLEASE HELP.. I’M ALREADY DESPERATE..
May 4th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Well, guess what…..the brand new hard drive didn’t solve anything, so I’m going to try calling Toshiba again tomorrow. Wish me luck – Annewithany
May 1st, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Thanks, it’s nice to know I’m not alone. Kurt at Laptop Computing website said the hard drive had failed so I have one on order. If installing it doesn’t solve the BIOS error problem, I’ll call Toshiba with this info’. Thanks again – Annewithany
May 1st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Annewithany,
Apparently, you see this message because the laptop is trying to boot from LAN before the hard drive. Usually you can fix it if you enter the BIOS setup menu and set the hard drive as the first bootable device. But in order to enter the BIOS you’ll have to clear the BIOS password first.
I’ve seen some Toshiba Satellite M105 laptops setting up the BIOS passwords on it’s own and I think Toshiba knows about this problem. If you go to Toshiba website and check the BIOS release notes, in the version 2.20 you’ll find this: “Added a workaround for a BIOS password anomaly”. They do not give you more details regarding this issue.
It’s possible that your laptop has an earlier BIOS version installed and somehow set up the BIOS password on it’s own. I believe that you can argue this problem with Toshiba and they will clear the BIOS password at no charge even thought the laptop is not under warranty anymore. Try it. If you call them, they will not let you know how to clear the BIOS password yourself. You’ll have to ship the laptop to the authorized repair center.
Discharging or even removing the BIOS battery will not help to clear the password.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Hi – I’ve run out of ideas for my 1.5 yr old Toshiba M105 S3064 which has been trouble since day one. It will not boot and give the following error: “Initializing Intel(R) BOOT Agent GE v1.2.30 PXE-E05 The LAN Adaptor’s configuration is corrupted or has not been initialized. The Boot Agent cannot continue.”
Then it comes up and asks for a BIOS password. I’ve tried leaving the battery out for 48 hours to let the BIOS battery discharge to no avail. Tried the system disk but got the same errors. Tried a million passwords,e.g. PhoenixBIOS and variations. Tried control + every letter = same error. Toshiba doesn’t want to know and suggests sending it to NY for repair. Geek Squad shakes their heads and says it sounds complicated and EXPENSIVE. Given the multiple problems with this laptop, I’m willing to try and jump/discharge the BIOS battery myself, is this something to try? If so, where is it and how do I go about it? If not, does anyone have experience with a similar locked Toshiba?
Thanks, Annewithany
February 13th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I have a toshiba sat pro 6100 where is the cmos battery at and where can i get a replacement? The system is old but in good condition. When it is unpluged for a day or so when I boot it up it gives me a cmos rtc battery error.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:10 am
hello, i tried re-installing a dell latitude laptop brought to me by an owner stating that wasn`t booting to windows i knew that the OS was corrupted and decided to reload it but found out that i could`nt choose the boot from CD drive option from the bios setup cos it was`nt highlighted…soi could not make the setting…the bios setup has no passwords but the boot option has a password, i`ve tried resetting all by taking out the cmos battery and the laptop battery to refresh all settings but to no avail it still remains the same pls help out so i can reload the system and make small money from the owner…lol.. uche
May 28th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I´m running a hp nx9020. I searched for information on website and in manual, about location of cmos battery on motherboard, and how to clear cmos on that laptop model. But there seems to be minor written about it, and lack of more nuanced published information concerning that function in hp nx9020, both on hp website, in manual or other websites as well. Description for routine how to reset data in cmos and setup, like passwords and so forth.
I wonder if person reading this have a clue, if it´s possible to clear cmos on that model, a description of how to, or a website address to a description of how to, maybe a picture of motherboard with battery ? If you do I would appreciate an answer about it …..
20070528 18:33 (+1GMT)
February 24th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
i installed system commander 8.13 on my ‘acer travelmate 4152′ notebook .since it’s not having any floppy drive i didnt made any boot disk….
i accidently interrupted in the partitioning operation…
now its asking for boot up disk 2…
i managed to make a bootable cd from disk2 from my friend pc…
but im unable boot my laptop… even im NOT ABLE TO ENTER THE BIOS SETUP/EDITOR….
after the POST its jumping to a screan saying,
partitionong inturrupted
insert boot disk 2 V8.13
i hope reomoving the cmos battery will solve the problem… i tried to locate it opening the keypad but cmos bttry not found… i dont know how this laptop cmos battry looks like… is there any jumper or dispatcher switch to reset bios…?
plz help me…
January 29th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Hey, I had a similar problem once. I was freaking out. I tried disconnecting the CMOS battery for five minutes, connecting it back up and starting the laptop. Everything worked magically after that.
In most laptops, the cmos battery looks like a button and can be found under the keyboard.
January 14th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I had a similar problem recently.
The laptop was fully charged and plugged into mains and I was following the instructions off Toshiba’s site (which say it’s “easy safe and quick”)
Again, something similar happened, The computer locked up totally and after several hours I gritted my teeth and power cycled it.
End result = totally nonfunctional brick.
I havew yet to disconnect the CMOS battery (It’s soldered on underside of mainboard) to see if clearing the CMOS will reset things to a state where the machine will boot up, but I don’t really hold out much hope for that anyway.
The BIOS EEPROM is removable given appropriate soldering tools (which I have), however I’d need an image to flash it with – does anyone have any way of extracting the image from Toshiba’s update program or (preferably) a snapshot of the complete EEPROM from another computer?
Model is PA65E