Stubborn Satellite P30

[JSinnott]

I have a Toshiba Satellite P30, and a few months ago, my mother dropped the damn thing on the ground... It was from three feet, and it landed flat. Right afterwards, I got a bluescreen advising me that the hard drive had been damaged...


I bought a new hard drive from Toshiba, and I tried to use my recovery disc to recover the OS... When I try to boot from CD, I always get the same message:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.13 (020326)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.
Invalid partition table
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I understand that this message is from the driver that controls the boot from network function...

So... I disabled the boot from network function (as well as the boot from external device function)

With those two functions disabled, I get the message "Operating System Not Found."

Any help to clarify this matter would be much appreciated...

 

[kimsland]

I tried to use my recovery disc to recover the OS... When I try to boot from CD

Confirm Boot from CD is the first bootable device
Also test with another boot disc, just to confirm the CD Drive is ok

 

[JSinnott]

Yes, I tried that...


Exact same case...

 

[raybay]

You have to install a new chipset, and all other drivers before you know whether that motherboard is damaged... which it may be... but the recovery disk on a laptop that new should install all the needed controllers, if it can get that far.
Disassemble to the maximum you can, the remove and reseat every cable and device.
Then if available, use another computer to setup the drive... format, etc.
Toshiba makes an excellent laptop drive, but they are way behind on setup and diagnostics.
Once you have it formatted, or even windows installed on another computer, then go back to the Toshiba and try again.
The Toshiba DVD drive is very rugged, but it can still be as easily damaged as the hard drive... that much impact can easily knock that optical drive out of alignment. But if you get it up after this, it is probably OK.

Do you have home insurance. Some policies will cover an accident such as this one.
There is a lot of brittle stuff in a laptop that cracks under impact. Still, since it didn't shatter the LCD, you have a chance.

 

[LookinAround]

Yes, I tried that...


Exact same case...

You tried which?

1. You tried changing/booting from CD? Just in case, you can refer to here to make sure you're doing that correctly
2. Have you tried the CD disc in someone else's computer to make sure it is a good CD?
3. Go to Toshiba website and find Support link and look up your model to see how to slide the CD drive out. (you might find other help/hints for your problem as well.) Then slide the drive back in with two fingers, one on each side of the external plate so you slide it back in with even pressure and you are sure to re-seat the drive firmly when it is re-inserted

btw. Are you getting the initial Toshiba splash screen and this is the next error message?

 

[LookinAround]

posting this separately just to make sure you see it.

Look at the bottom of the document i refered you to in in 1). It states If a "PXE..." error is displayed when you start the computer, it indicates that the computer is attempting to boot from a network (LAN), but is not able to find a remote boot server. If this happens repeatedly, and you are not deliberately trying to boot from a network server, change the boot priority in BIOS Setup to make 'LAN' the last entry in the list of boot devices.

So the problem probably maybe isn't a driver vs either a damaged contoller or simply that it can't find a network boot device. You might also see if you can get your hands on a different boot device (like an external or internal floppy)

 

[JSinnott]

MASSIVE, WHOPPING, HUMGONOID update


I am using the P30 right now...


I put a hard drive from my other laptop that has windows 2000 on it into the computer, and low and behold, the damn thing works fine...


So, because the old (thirteen years old) hard drive is too thick, it's only half hanging out of the computer (I bent a connection a bit to make it work for now)

So I know that this computer (should) work fine.... Now the biggest obstacle is installing windows on to the drive meant for it...