Computer Troubleshooting

[john152]

hello,

I have a Toshiba p100 laptop. I'd like to boot on a DVD. When the computer starts, the screen goes directly from black to the windows welcome screen, and there is no message that says what key to press to enter the boot menu. I've tried to press F12 but if I do the screen stays black and windows doesn't even start.

A few weeks ago (I haven't made any changes to the bios or anything like that, all I've made is windows updates), I had a white line that said which key to press (I think it was F12), but now it's not there anymore.

Can you help me ?

Thanks

edit:

I've now tried 5 keys (F1, F2, F10, F12, Suppr), two of them (F2, F12) prevent windows from starting (the screen remains black, the lights stay on but the computer stop working - no fans, no noise, no mouvement), and the last 3 provide the same result as when no key is pressed at all. In all cases, I never get a bios or boot menu.

[kwek_kwek_69]

try to use a external keyboard, maybe your keyboard is not working properly...F12 is the key to go into boot menu...

[john152]

hello,

thanks for your answer.

i don't have an external keyboard at hand, but as far as i know, my keyboard is working properly:

-> if i hit the F keys while in windows, it does work as intended.

-> as i said in my previous post, there are some keys that make the OS not start, and that somehow means that the keyboard works...

so unless you have serious reasons to make me try that test, I think I'd not try this right now because I'd basically have to buy a keyboard, and I don't want that.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

[Jerry_Lippey]

Which P100? What is the part number? Which country"

[john152]

It's a P100-PSPA3, from France.

[Jerry_Lippey]

Try flashing the BIOS with this update.

   BIOS Update for Satellite P100 (PSPA3), 4.80-WIN, 24/11/09

   bios-20091124164111.zip

How to update the BIOS on Toshiba notebooks

[john152]

hello,

so I used the .zip you gave me. The problem is still the same: f2 or f12 makes the computer not go to windows

[Jerry_Lippey]

Try this.

Turn the computer on. Then immediately press and hold the Esc key for three seconds, and then release it. When prompted to, press the F1 key. The Setup screen will appear.

The PC will have to be truly off (not suspended, or in standby mode, or in hibernation mode) for this method to work

[john152]

hello,

I've tried it, the computer goes right to windows as if I hadn't done anything at all (not prompted to press F1).

[Jerry_Lippey]

Sorry, John, that's the best I can do. Maybe somebody else has an idea.

[john152]

Is there a way I could contact toshiba directly and ask them what to do?

[Jerry_Lippey]

This is the US site, John. Your best bet is to inquire in the European forums. You may find somebody there with new ideas.

   Toshiba Support Forums in Europe

So far as Toshiba is concerned, my guess is they will not want to deal with a machine of that vintage even if you pay them.

Good luck!

[john152]

hello,

I have new intel: since the problem seemed to come from the screen (some keys (F2,F12) "work" in the sense that it does something peculiar, rather than just logging into windows, and that unordinary thing that they do is to make the screen stay black - as though the screen was not yet powered on, but the computer was waiting for a user input), I tried to link my laptop to another screen. I counfounded the vga cable extremities and ended up linking my laptop to a desktop computer instead of its screen. The result of that was rather odd: when my laptop is connected to a desktop computer, the laptop screen is powered on normally and I can see the toshiba logo and the bios/boot menu shortcuts. Other than making the screen power on, the connection had obviously no effect: I didn't see the content of the desktop computer on my laptop, I just saw my laptop as I normally do, and that's because the vga port is usually meant to be linked to another screen and not to another computer.

So what do you make of this experience, which is definitely interesting, and do you see now what could be my problem and hence how to fix it?

Thanks.

ps: if you have any more questions/details, please feel free to ask.

[Jerry_Lippey]

You're talking to the wrong person, John. I'm a Windows guru.

Try posting all that in the European forums.