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From: Barry Watzman on 3 Sep 2009 21:05
I'd like to have the system in front of me.

You may have a "BIOS Password" set that makes it impossible to get into
the "real" BIOS. [Note, a bug in some BIOS versions of some Toshiba
laptops is that they establish passwords "all by themselves", and the
nature of the bug is such that once this happens .... you have to return
the laptop to Toshiba (that's the official line; unofficially, there are
"secret" ways to clear it). You may also just have an old BIOS version.
I'd try updating the BIOS (you probably will need a USB floppy drive
to do that).

Also, this model is prone to CPU overheating due to dust, hair and dirt
clogging and completely (COMPLETELY) obstructing the CPU fan and
heatsink (in fact, this model has TWO fans, also). Actually ALL modern
laptops have a need for periodic cleaning, but this model is worse than
most (although it's only "slightly" exceptional, and only by degrees).
On this model, significant disassembly is required to resolve this, e.g.
to really clean the inside of the unit, in particular the heat sink and
fan (fan(S), in this case). An overheated CPU will usually lock the
system up completely but may just make it incredibly flakey.

So, if it were mine, the two things on my agenda (in this order) would
be to disassemble the system to clean the cooling system, and then
update the bios (if the system is flaky, do NOT update the bios until
the "flakeyness" is resolved; a lockup or blue screen during a bios
update can "brick" the unit).


Jeff wrote:
> I have a Toshiba A45-S120 laptop that has previously worked fine. I hadn't
> turned it on for several weeks. When I tried last week, after the WinXP
> splash screen came up, the progress bar completed one pass and then the
> video froze and showed a ghosted image of the WinXP logo off to the right of
> the real one and the two images were displayed in alternating vertical
> stripes, almost as thought you were looking through vertical blinds. At that
> point, there was no further boot progress.
>
> Pressing Esc got me into the BIOS page, so it doesn't appear that there was
> a hardware video problem. The only options that I could change in the BIOS
> were the time and password (which is not set). With the recovery DVD in the
> drive, I couldn't get the system to boot to the CD/DVD drive no matter what
> I did. I tried all the suggestions I found of F12, F2, etc., and nothing
> highlighted any of the row of icons across the bottom of the Toshiba splash
> screen. When I booted, unless I pressed Esc, the system recognized the
> failed Windows boot and went into the text screen giving me all the safe
> mode start options.
>
> Next, I was able to borrow an A45-S151 with the same CD-RW/DVD drive. I was
> able to boot the S151 from a CD and also read data from the CD once it was
> booted. While booting this unit via the F12 key, I noticed that all the
> options were available for me to change in the BIOS setup - not just time
> and password.
>
> I then tried this known good CD drive in my S120 - it wouldn't boot and the
> system went immediately to the hard drive and tried to start in safe mode.
> In setup, I only had access to time and password. I then tried the suspect
> drive in the known good S151 - I was able to boot from CD, read data and, in
> setup, I had access to all options.
>
> So, after ruling out a dead CD/DVD drive, I went one step further and
> reformatted the hard drive in the S120 system to see if the inability to
> attempt booting from it would give me an option of changing the boot order.
> Now, the only change I get upon booting is an 'invalid system disk' error
> message - I still can't change the boot order.
>
> I'm back to a non-booting S120 that won't allow me to change the boot
> device - the only real progress I've made is that WinXP is no longer trying
> to boot into safe mode.
>
> Can anyone tell if this stuff is symptomatic of a dying system or if there
> is something I can do to resurrect it and force the DVD restore somehow?
> Refurbishing desktops is a hobby of mine but I haven't had much experience
> with troubleshooting and repairing laptop issues, so thanks in advance for
> any pointers. I'm out of ideas and would greatly appreciate any tips or
> expertise.
>
>
>
From: John Doue on 4 Sep 2009 01:51
Jeff wrote:

snip
>
> Re: the 'secret' BIOS clearing: is that something I can do with
> instructions, or is that somethig I'll need to send the machine to someone
> for?
>

snip

Very nice way to ask!


John Doue
From: Barry Watzman on 5 Sep 2009 02:40
I do not know how to clear passwords on this particular model. But a
web search would likely turn that information up.


Jeff wrote:

>
> Re: the 'secret' BIOS clearing: is that something I can do with
> instructions, or is that somethig I'll need to send the machine to someone
> for?
>
>
From: Barry Watzman on 13 Sep 2009 12:25
I'm wondering if someone flashed the wrong bios at some point. Your
behavior is not normal for this model. Another possibility is a BIOS
supervisor (but NOT "user") password. In fact that is what seems most
likely.



Jeff wrote:
>> In that vein, I do have a Toshiba USB floppy drive that I got after
> getting
>> the laptop but I've not used it. Since I had no success changing the boot
>> order or booting from CD with known good media and drive, I guess I didn't
>> bother trying the next step of trying a boot floppy. I can give that a
>> whirl and post back.
>
> Thanks for all the ideas so far. I tried booting to floppy with the same
> result. The floppy spins and lights up but the system only tried booting
> from the hard drive, I can't get to F12 to select an alternate boot device
> and am still limited in BIOS to time and password changes.
>
>> I do not know how to clear passwords on this particular model. But a
>> web search would likely turn that information up.
>
> Would anyone have any idea what to search for to let me find instructions on
> the secret method of clearing a password on a machine that potentially set
> one on its own??
>
>
From: Barry Watzman on 13 Sep 2009 17:32
I believe that you may have a supervisor password set. But I'm not sure
how to clear it on that model. On some older Toshiba models with a
parallel port, there was a "dongle" that you plugged into the parallel
port that would kill the password (you can find instructions online for
making it, it requires a DB-25 plug and soldering). Not sure if that
model still had a parallel port or not, or if that method worked.

You may be able to find out if there is a password by downloading (from
the Toshiba web site) HWSETUP, a program that runs under Windows (it's
basically a BIOS setup program that runs under Windows).

Another possibility, some Toshiba models can access the passwords
through a utility SVPW32.EXE located in C:\PROGRAM FILES\TOSHIBA\WINDOWS
UTILITIES\SVPWTOOL.

Note: I just checked a "secret" service manual that I have for this
model and it says to use the parallel port dongle that I referred to
above to remove lost passwords on this model.

Barry Watzman
Watzman(a)neo.rr.com


Jeff wrote:
>> I'm wondering if someone flashed the wrong bios at some point.
>
> Thanks for the continued help Barry. I could be wrong, but I'm 95% sure
> that this unit booted fine several months ago. I bought it used,
> specifically to get the restore software that came with it so I could
> refurbish a friend's A45-S151 (the one I borrowed) and then resell this one
> after refurbishing it too. I'm almost positive that I turned it on when I
> got it just to see what was present. I do have a couple of other laptops in
> the same process, so I may have swapped this in my mind with another unit.
>
> Any ideas on how to clear any possible passwords and/or somehow get to where
> I can reflash the BIOS would be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>>>> In that vein, I do have a Toshiba USB floppy drive that I got after
>>> getting
>>>> the laptop but I've not used it. Since I had no success changing the
> boot
>>>> order or booting from CD with known good media and drive, I guess I
> didn't
>>>> bother trying the next step of trying a boot floppy. I can give that a
>>>> whirl and post back.
>>> Thanks for all the ideas so far. I tried booting to floppy with the
> same
>>> result. The floppy spins and lights up but the system only tried
> booting
>>> from the hard drive, I can't get to F12 to select an alternate boot
> device
>>> and am still limited in BIOS to time and password changes.
>>>
>>>> I do not know how to clear passwords on this particular model. But a
>>>> web search would likely turn that information up.
>>> Would anyone have any idea what to search for to let me find
> instructions on
>>> the secret method of clearing a password on a machine that potentially
> set
>>> one on its own??
>
>
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