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 dreaded PXE-E61 “media test failure” message at start-up.

Most likely it happens because the hard drive is not set as the first boot device in the BIOS and the laptop is trying to boot from LAN. That’s why you are getting “media test failure” message.

Enter the BIOS setup menu and change the boot order. Make sure the hard drive is the first device in the list of bootable devices. Save setting and reboot the laptop.

Now the laptop should start booting from the hard drive.

By the way, if you installed a brand new hard drive and it doesn’t appear in the BIOS, enter the BIOS setup menu and try loading default settings. There should be a button which allows to set default settings. Save changes and restart the laptop.

After changing the hard drive in my laptop, I am getting the following error message:

PXE-E61
PXE-M0F
Operating system not found

You can get this message if the hard dive is bad OR there is no operating system installed.
Didn’t you forget to reimage the hard drive using the recovery disc which usually comes with a laptop? This process will reinstall the operating system and software back to factory defaults.

A new hard drive is blank, it has on OS installed. It’s not enough just install it into the laptop. You’ll have to install the operating system.

The harddrive makes a weird noise and suddenly the screen goes blank loose all my work. I did my backup recovery disks and bought a new harddrive; I tried booting from the disk but no-go, the screen comes and says no operating system found.
I had to put back in my old harddrive. I’m so frustrated with this laptop. Please help!

Make sure the laptop actually boots from the DVD drive. Apparently the laptop is not booting from the recovery disc and goes straight to the hard drive. You have a new blank hard drive installed, that’s why you see “No operating system found” message.
Here’s what you should do. Enter the BIOS setup menu, go to the boot order menu and set the DVD drive as first bootable device in the order. Safe changes and restart the laptop. If you did everything correctly and your recovery disc is good, the laptop will start booting from the recovery disc and you’ll be able to reimage the hard drive back to factory defaults.

I have a Toshiba P25-S607 notebook. I’m pretty sure my hard drive is just about gone. Thanks to this site, I used Memtest 86+ to test my memory, which was fine. I then used Hitachi’s Drive Fitness Test and it pretty much confirmed my suspicions about my hard drive. I received error 0×72(Device SMART error). It was also whizzing a lot, clicking and was/is responding very slow. Hitachi’s DFT just gave me a piece of mind to commit and start looking for another hard drive. I think I managed to backup my hard drive using the built-in Windows XP backup utility and saved it to my external USB hard drive. It ended up being around 5 gigs. I have 3 questions:
1) How do I know what’s the maximum hard drive size my laptop will allow me to use and any recommendations?
2) Will I be able to use my “OEM Recovery Disc” after I install my new hard drive and return everything to factory settings without any other equipment? Or will I somehow need the assistance of the original hard drive?
3) Has anyone attempted to restore a Laptop/PC using the XP backup utility with success?
My basic goals here are to:
1) Install new hard drive (simple right?)
2) Get my Laptop back to factory settings (this would most likely my preferred goal. Luckily, I have 95% of all my files, docs, etc. backed up and all my programs handy, just a pain to install again.)
3) Maybe restore my laptop using the back-up utility (not terribly important, just interested if it works)

Toshiba equips these notebooks with 40GB, 60GB, 80GB 4200RPM and 5400RPM hard drives made by Toshiba, IBM and Hitachi. You can use one of the above mentioned sizes or install a larger hard drive. 100GB and 120GB drives should work just fine.
To return everything back to factory settings you should use your “Recovery disk”, just boot the notebook from this disk and follow the instruction on the screen. After you run the restore process it will install everything back on a new hard drive just the way you bought it from Toshiba. You don’t need any assistance from the original hard drive.
I have never used Windows XP backup utility and cannot give you any recommendations here.
Here are my steps for replacing the hard drive, backing up the data and reinstalling the operating system:
1. Start the notebook with the old hard drive and transfer/burn/move into save location all personal files. For this purpose I usually use an external USB hard drive because it’s much faster then transferring data over the network or burning it on CD/DVDs.
2. Install a new hard drive into the notebook.
3. Run the recovery DVD.
4. Reinstall all other software.
5. Transfer all personal files back to the notebook from the backup media.

Here’s a guide I’ve created for taking apart a Toshiba Satellite P25 notebook. It’ll show how to access the hard drive.

How do I replace the hard drive on a Toshiba Satellite p15-s479?

The hard drive is located under the CD/DVD drive. Before you start taking apart the laptop, remove the battery and unplug the AC power.
1. You have to remove the CD/DVD drive. Turn the laptop over. Remove one screw right above the dive and slide the drive out of the laptop.
2. When the CD/DVD drive is removed, you’ll see a metal plate. The metal plate is secured by 4 screws. Remove them and lift up the plate from the bay. The hard drive is located right under the plate.
3. After you remove the plate, you’ll see the hard drive. The hard drive also secured by 4 screws. Remove the screws, slide the hard dire to disconnect it from the connector on the moterboard and lift it up.
4. You have to transfer the brackets from the old hard drive to a new hard drive. Also, if there is a foil shielding around the old hard drive, you’ll have to transfer it to a new hard drive too.

Here’s a disassembly guide with pictures: Toshiba Satellite P10/P15 laptops. How to remove the hard drive.

I’ve got a couple of questions regarding my Toshiba A25-S307 laptop. I’m looking to upgrade two key components first is my RAM. So I ask this, is there any specific brand I should go with or does it not really matter about the brand? Second question is do I need PC 2100 or PC 2700, and if available should I get it in dual channel? And for my final question what is the largest hard drive and RPM speed I can put in my laptop without over heating it. The reason I’ve turned to you, is due in large part to the run around I’ve been getting from Toshiba.

According to the Toshiba specification for this model, you should use PC2100 memory and can install up to 1GB (512MB+512MB). There are no recommendations about memory brand, but I would go with brands like Kingston or Crucial. I believe both companies offer a life time warranty on their memory. You can use PC2100 or PC2700. If you use PC2700 it will automatically slow down to PC2100 speed, you shouldn’t have any problems by using PC2700. This model doesn’t support dual channel technology.
60GB, 5400RPM is the largest and fastest hard drive that Toshiba installs into this model. You can use any larger hard drive. I don’t think that you’ll experience any heat issues if you install 7200RPM hard drive.
By the way, both memory slots are located under the keyboard. Here’s a guide that shows how to access the memory slots on Toshiba Satellite A25 laptop.

I have a Toshiba TE2100 that I am content with except for two things: a) no internal 802.11g b) the small 20Gig hard drive.
Is there an 802.11b/g card that will fit and function in the TE2100?
Does anyone know what the largest hard drive the bios will support?

Toshiba Tecra TE2100 supports an internal 802.11b wireless card. Here are the original Toshiba part numbers for the internal wireless card: V000010820 or P000339520. The wireless card slot is located under the keyboard. Before you buy a new wireless card, I would recommend removing the laptop keyboard and checking if you actually have wireless antenna cables installed. Make sure that the laptop is running the latest version of BIOS; there have been an update for wireless support in version 1.40.
Toshiba TE2100 laptop supplied with 20GB, 30GB, 40GB and 60GB hard drives installed. I don’t think that you’ll see any problem when you upgrade the hard drive. I would say that you can use any newer laptop hard drive, including 80GB and 100GB. From my experience, if a laptop recognizes 20GB hard drive, it will recognize any bigger hard drive. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any official information for upgrading hard drives in older notebooks.