Exception Error Code ?

[Xeroid]

Can anyone shed some light on a problem I have with a Toshiba TE2000 laptop. The motherboard has been replaced after a comms port problem and now if the laptop is left overnight at Power on it starts initial boot sequence but then comes up with

EXCEPTION ERROR
Selector =0048H
Offset =49A3H

I have updated BIOS and EB/KB (?) firmware.
Once it has been rebooted it comes ok, no occurence.
Any clues anybody ?


Brent

 

[Dreamland]

Brent -

Does not look familiar to me. Interrupt 12h (address 0000:0048h) has to do with memory size, for what it's worth. You generally have to reset the BIOS *after* you flash and then re-enter the user-configurable stuff. If you just re-flashed and never reset the BIOS, you might get odd errors like this. Might be related, so it's worth a try to reset it.

Only other thing I can think of is either CMOS battery (did you replace or just move the old one over?) or some weird problem with Toshiba's pesky hibernate feature.

 

[Xeroid]

Dreamland, thanx for reply.
Motherboard was replaced by Tosh Service agent, supposedly new so battery should not be a issue ( supposedly !! )
If you power off then restart quite often the error does not occur but if you leave it overnight powered off for sure next morninig at bootup it reappears. Unit is only about a year old.
How do you 'reset' the BIOS for Tosh, I have not found an access method for it so far. Only access to config has been through Toshiba Toolbox in Windows98. I have updated the BIOS and KB/??( can't remember other letters ) firmware as the instructions say but can find no access to BIOS at Power on.
Chking RAM to see if that has any bearing on the matter.

 

[Dreamland]

This sounds more and more like a failing battery problem, Xeroid. Not resetting the BIOS should make no difference based on how long the machine was powered down. Funny that you're not seeing other issues though - the usual one is that the time is either reset or falls way behind the longer the computer is powered off.

Even if the batter was replaced (new) with the motherboard, there's still the possibility that it's failing. There's a certain small percentage that fail well before they're suppose to - you just may be one of the unlucky ones! Kind of expensive for most Satellite brands, so I probably wouldn't recommend trying to swap out unless you're familiar with the process (and have a good spare available). You might just be better off keeping an eye on it. If the problem increases in frequency or other wierd settings start get lost, then you have even more evidence that the CMOS battery is to blame. Check for warranty service on the battery - it probably started when they replaced the motherboard.

Completely resetting your CMOS settings (not the flashed part) can be done simply by removing the main and CMOS batery overnight. I don't recall if there's a jumper or other 'mechanical' way to speed up the process. Resetting the DMI part of CMOS can (probably) be done in the BIOS screen. You would get into it on a Satellite usually by holding the 'esc' (escape) key as it boots. Some variations (not sure if they apply to the TE2000) might be the 'F1' or the 'Fn' key - try them if 'esc' does not work.

You shouldn't see many additional settings then what you already see in the Toshiba Toolbox. See if there's anything about 'reset DMI' or 'reset resource configuration'. Again, I really don't think this is your problem at this point. Nothing here should change behavior based on how long the laptop was powered down.

 

[Xeroid]

Dreamland, thanks for detailed reply.
Power On & Esc works for TE2000 so checked and resaved that.
Date has been holding Ok but maybe battery is marginal so CMOS might be a bit more sensitive to that. I can't have it flaky, it is an engineering support laptop so has to go 100%.
I'll recheck the Power On later and tomorrow morning to see if BIOS resave has helped but otherwise I'll get it up to the Service Agent with a note to check battery voltage.