Bios

[sleppy]

Well I've pretty much figured out that it is my BIOS that is causing the problems, because everything works fine, except it won't boot unless the laptop has been refrigerated. My question is does anyone know of a way to only replace the BIOS on my laptop, without replacing the whole mobo. Can they be separated?

I have a Toshiba Satellite 1115-S103.

 

[Ididmyc600]

Well I've pretty much figured out that it is my BIOS that is causing the problems, because everything works fine, except it won't boot unless the laptop has been refrigerated. My question is does anyone know of a way to only replace the BIOS on my laptop, without replacing the whole mobo. Can they be separated?

I have a Toshiba Satellite 1115-S103.

How did you work out it was the BIOS?

 

[Tedster]

BIOS is NOT HARDWARE. It is FIRMWARE and is "burned" onto an EPROM. You need to have a REAL 40pin floppy drive (not a USB floppy) to update. I do NOT recommend re-programming from a CD ROM.

Go to your motherboard manufactuer's website and download their latest BIOS update.
Follow the directions EXACTLY and do NOT be impatient. Failure to let a BIOS replacement / update finish completely will result in a brain-dead motherboard. The only fix is to send it to the manufactuer for a hardware chip replacement.

The EPROM is located in the CMOS on your motherboard and kept alive by your CMOS battery. Pulling the battery won't kill it, but will reset it to all it's defaults.

 

[mailpup]

Refrigerated? Sounds more like a hardware problem if refrigeration will fix it, like the hard drive.

 

[Tedster]

if temperature is causing failure, you have a faulty thermal detection circuit OR in rare cases your BIOS is not updated.

 

[sleppy]

replys

How did you work out it was the BIOS?

Well the computer won't boot at all (unless it has been cooled). The boot won't even get to the HDD or anything, the button just pushes and nothing happens except the computer on light comes on and the fan spins a bit. There's a thread called "Toshiba Satellite 1155-S103 won't boot at all" that explains the problem I was having.

I think it's a hardware problem too, because of the refrigeration working, but I"m sure it's not the hard drive, because when I do get it running, it runs no problem and never crashes. For a couple days now it's been running and going on standby and everything and coming back no problem. It's only when I boot up from it turned off that I have the problem.

If updating the BIOS is what I need to do, how does refrigerating it help it to boot. I really think that would mean it's a hardware problem, like part of the BIOS is burned out or something, like a stick of RAM can do; is that possible. If I update the BIOS properly, can it do any damage to my computer?
Well I don't have a REAL 40-pin floppy on my laptop anyways, so I guess updating the BIOS is out for me anyways. What is this EPROM, and can that be replaced or something?

 

[Tedster]

please only post your questions once per forum.

an EPROM is Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory.

a program that is on a chip an can be altered.

a ROM is Read Only Memory. Same thing except you cannot change it.

Firmware is a platform or operating system usually located on an EPROM or ROM.

BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is an example of Firmware.

I highly suggest you get a basic computing book. These are beginner terms. Messing around or changing a BIOS can wreck havoc on your computer if you don't know what you're doing.

 

[sleppy]

please only post your questions once per forum.

an EPROM is Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory.

a program that is on a chip an can be altered.

a ROM is Read Only Memory. Same thing except you cannot change it.

Firmware is a platform or operating system usually located on an EPROM or ROM.

BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is an example of Firmware.

I highly suggest you get a basic computing book. These are beginner terms. Messing around or changing a BIOS can wreck havoc on your computer if you don't know what you're doing.

what do you mean only ask them once? that's what I've been doing..I even checked back through my posts and I only asked things once.