Toshiba Hard Disk Boot Problem

[arkadas]

I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 420CDT laptop with an IBM 3.2Gb HDD and CDROM, but no floppy drive. (No floppy drive = my problems). The system had so much junk on it i decided to fdsik, format and make HDD bootable on a Compaq laptop and I could install everything from CD from there on. All went well until I took the drive back to the Toshiba. The system won't boot, I get the customary 'Disk I/O Error, Replace disk ...". When I put the drive in the Compaq it works fine, take it to the Toshiba, it won't work. Interestingly the Compaq HDD also won't work on the Toshiba with an OS Missing type of message.
Just to clarify a few points, the Toshiba BIOS is very primitive, 1) HDD Mode options are Standard/Enhanced 2) Boot Priority HDD->FDD/FDD->HDD (NO CD Boot option).
Maybe the Toshiba BIOS upgrade will help but this upgrade requires the system to boot from a floppy drive.
I have searched the Toshiba website, although well informative and many drivers i have not seen anything there to help me.
Do I need to prepare the Toshiba HDD with a utility?

 

[PeterGriff]

Laptops tend to have proprietory software installs, and they come with recovery CD's that are tailored to specific models, so I am not surprised that they wont work this way (the Compaqs also have a hidden recovery partition in many models). You need to do a clean install. You should be able to boot from the CD - there is often a key to hit during the start-up phase which gives you the option of specifying a temporary boot order. It should show you on the screen - try hitting ESC or TAB to clear the logo and look for a message relating to this. Sometimes using F8 repeatedly (to prompt a boot menu) will also trigger a boot-order menu.

If the CD-ROM is PMCIA-based this wont work. You will have to use an adapter and plug the hard drive into a PC, format the drive and copy on the Windows CD. Reinstall HDD back into the laptop and boot to command mode (F8 during startup) and run the setup from the harddrive.

Peter G

 

[JohnCitron]

Arkadas,

Here is something that might be useful

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/armada/us/download/8881.html

This is for the Toshiba Hard Drive lock problem that seems to cause problems for Compaq laptops.

Peter is right too, Compaq loves the proprietary bit with hardware, but they will still boot up with a regular hard drive. The systems seem to have enough bios to boot strap, but not enough to do the regular config stuff that everyone else does.

Good luck,

John

 

[PeterGriff]

Hi Arkadas, I re-read your post and I dont think we have found the right answer yet.

When you are formatting the hard drive in the Compaq try the format /s command to copy the system boot files after the format, or copy sys.com onto your boot floppy and sys C: the hard drive after the format. (This puts a "system" on which will allow you to boot to a DOS prompt). Then try and copy on your CD install files. Then move back to the toshiba. This should allow the Toshiba to boot to a command prompt. Change to your install file directory and setup.exe to go ...

Peter G

 

[Gue5ty]

I have an identical problem, I bought a Toshiba Portege 3440CT on ebay with no cd or floppy, was supposed to come preinstalled with XP, Was intending to network in and install 2K. Seller couldn't reinstall OS (cd's stolen from car !?!?!).

So it came with an existing XP install that I couldn't log into, placed drive in another machine it was single 6GB NTFS Partition.

I used
FDisk
Format C: /s
Copied 2K cd to HD
put back in laptop and boot to c:\> prompt - no problem so far
started setup, all went fine till first reboot leaving me with flashing prompt in corner.

I believe it is NT comparing the drive geometry bios/drive and not liking it, aparently 98SE doesn't do this check.

Attempted soln 1
Have managed to get a ramdisk to run off the laptop HD, copy tools to it, run fdisk /mbr, then run fdisk fine, I had the intention of running format from the ramdisk but after fdisk finishes it needs a reboot before it can format, so ramdisk solution doesn't work. Just get similar Disk I/O error if i format it on other machine after being fdisked on portege.

Attempted soln 2
Use another HD as boot drive with toshiba, (i have an extender cable to attach two drives to laptop, making problem drive slave of course, try to fdisk and format from second drive, but no luck as bios doesn't recognise two drives attached to controller.

I have read that I should be able to edit the drive geometry that is upsetting NT to make it match but only editor I can find runs on win 32 and I can't even get win98se to install and boot. "Invalid drive" or soemthing similar.

The only other soln i see is to buy a USB-FDD to boot up, update firmware and fdisk and format drive correctly.

However I don't understand why my other laptop will read the drive regardless but the toshiba won't read *any* drive I fdisk/format on the other laptop.

Any suggestions anyone???? I'm stuck

I'm going to try putting the bios update on the HD and holding F12, I know it's supposed to be on a floppy but maybe it will check the hard drive also.

I have also considered setting both laptops to use an intial 528mb partiton and try to use standard not enhanced in the HD setup in the toshiba BIOS, would this help??

 

[PeterGriff]

Here is one reference to Win2k and Toshiba laptops (not your model though)
-------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 228314

Toshiba Laptop Stops Responding After Upgrading To Windows 2000

The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

This article was previously published under Q228314
SYMPTOMS
After you install Windows 2000 on a Toshiba laptop computer, you may not be able to restart your computer.
CAUSE
This issue can occur if your computer has a CardBus adapter in a CardBus slot.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, contact Toshiba to inquire about the availability of a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) upgrade.
MORE INFORMATION
This issue has been reported to occur on Toshiba Tecra 8000 and Toshiba Portege 7020 computers using either Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) or Advanced Power Management (APM).

------------------------------------------------------

Peter G

 

[arkadas]

I have solved the problem. I downloaded "Disk Manager 2000" from

http://www.chicorporation.com/support/IBM.html

although you might find other sites that have this. Here is what I did 1) After installing DM on a PC there is an option in it to create a floppy version. 2) Once I did this I connected the Toshiba HDD (IBM 3.2GB) on the Compaq and ran DM from a floppy. Removing the old partition and creating a new one with DM. 3) Next I formatted and made the HDD bootable with a Win98SE boot disk. 4) I copied the contents of Win98SE boot disk to the root directory and edited the startup files Autoexec, Config.sys and Setramd.bat basically changing anyy reference of "a:" to "c:". 5) Connected the HDD to Toshiba ... Everything works fine. From here it was just a matter of re-booting and installing from CDROM. Once finished I carefully deleted the unnecessary files from the C:\.

I guess the essential lesson here is use DiskManager to partition your drive. No thanks to Toshiba, IBM (and Hitachi who handles IBM drives now). There was nothing on their support pages to help me going.

Frankly, this is my first time I've had to ask a question. Usually reading other similar problems and repplies have always got me out of trouble. Thanks guys for all the help and maybe my solution might trigger something in your minds for your problems.

Arkadas

 

[seanwillnot]

I have a very similar problem with same hardware. 3440will only boot if I sys it from dos 6.2. Any os load (w2k,win me) fails to boot once it has done its initial bits. Have put another 2.5 drive in pc and this does not boot either. Must be something to do with bootstrap that is being overwritten but how can I rewrite it and continue install - tried dm and it boots with missing os message, but works fine in an ibm laptop. Tried format /s from 98 boot disk, but only boots when a sys is carried out!!! Tosh website is no use either.....help please.

/Sean

 

[sgkcomp]

I recently bought a Toshiba 3440CT laptop from eBay and after several attempts I finally got a solution to load Win2K. Firstly put the drive into a desktop with an adapter and copy DOS 6.2 and the entire contents of a Win98 and a Win2K CD onto the hard drive. After putting the drive back into my laptop, from DOS I was able to load Win98 and from Win98 I was able to load Win2K. I chose to leave Win98 on and dual boot but I can't see any reason why you can't remove Win98 in the process, thus retaining a licence. Just remember not to let Setup reformat the drive as you loose your source. I hope this helps.
Sam

 

[oweno]

I had a similar solution to the above but it saves taking the laptop apart or copying the entire win2k disc. (note that I was on a 3110ct toshiba which could be subtley different).

use partion magic to create tiny little fat16 partion (20mb) - mark it bootable etc. (the dos based engine in partion magic (pqmagict.exe) fits on a floppy)

Install dos6 onto this partion - install the pcmcia card drivers and toshiba cdrom drivers so you can get to the cd.
(fcpoint.exe & toscdrom.sys)
(interesting to note that although the usual toshiba cdrom drive and pcmcia adaptor are simply rebranded freecom parts the freecom driver (fcatapi.sys) didn't work)

run "winnt" off the win2k install disc. (yes its a dos programme !) on my disc its located in
\ENGLISH\WIN2000\PRO\I386\winnt.exe

after the install ntldr etc all end up in the little fat16 partion which can be beneficial because it makes it easier to get to them if they get trashed at any point !

hope this is some help
Owen.