Qosmio Laptops

[williambuell]

I have a Toshiba Qosmio X775 new purchased 2 weeks ago. I just got a message that there is a bios update.
First it told me to insert the battery which I did. THEN it advised me a long serious of instructions which INCLUDES the instruction to DISABLE password on reboot. I could not find instructions on disabling the password request upon reboot. Furthermore it gave me instructions on rebooting in some special (safe) mode and using various keys to change the Bios. I have worked with computers since 1980 but this seems beyond my abilities. I am afraid that the machine will become unusuable and then I will have to spend HOURS restoring windows from the 4 dvds that i burned when I first unboxed the machine. I feel this is an unduly complex procedure for a non-technical person. What will happen if I do not upgrade the BIOS? Is the BIOS upgrade dangerous to undertake? Thanks!

[williambuell]

I did succeed in finding a Youtube demo of flash update but I suspect it is for Vista and not Windows 7.  Such videos are very helpful.  I am surprised that Toshiba does not create some automated wizard for this BIOS flast update

I do not know if this is the answer to my Toshiba Qosmio Bios Update questions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu8yzRANFMM

[cbwilsha]

William--the general consensus on this forum is to NOT update the BIOS unless you are having a problem that the BIOS is supposed to fix. I checked two different late model X775's (SP7203L and Q7387 since you didn't mention yours) and I suspect all X775's are the same and  the BIOS Update History is shown below. I don't see anything in the updates that you are likely to benefit from.  My advice would be to pass and don't try fixing something that ain't broke. If you do see something that will benefit you, proceed with caution and use the create disk procedure rather than updating through Windows.

Change History

Version 1.60 - 2012-01-12

• Made a change to detect Optimus and 3D SKUs, then inform the EC to set different VGA throttling protections.

Version 1.40 - 2011-10-29

• Added: Hynix b-die VRAM support.

Version 1.30 - 2011-08-08

• Added an Intel update solution for the "PCIe Presence Detect State May Not Be Accurate after a Warm Reset" issue.
• Updated: CPU Microcode to Rev 0x1A.

Version 1.20 - 2011-06-10

• Fixed: Noise when the eco or illumination on/off buttons are pressed.
• Added code to notify NVIDIA VGA to change P-State when EC issued VGA protection function.
• Updated N12E-GS VBIOS V70.26.2F.00.02 for support Samsung old die VRAM.

Version 1.10 - 2011-05-20

• Initial production BIOS for this model.

[williambuell]

Thanks for the quick and elaborate answer!

Some other questions:

1.) The very first thing I did after unboxing was to burn the 4 dvds of OS image and repair so that I might restore the system - WOULD THIS ALSO RESTORE THE BIOS OR IS THERE SOME OTHER BIOS BACKUP RESTORE PROCEDURE.

2.) Todays notification of BIOS update was so confusing that I an not even certain what was or was not performed. How can I be certain that my BIOS is not affected other than the fact that I can still use the computer.

3.) Would a system restore point also restore to a previous BIOS state?   Should I make a habit of setting a restore point every weekend?

4.) How reliable are restore points? I once installed Microsoft Asian fonts on an XP, and when I had problems was informed that there is no way to uninstall and that I should have set a system restore point first.  I did see one instance on another old XP where I used a restore point and the entire system crashed BUT it may be coincidence that the old Seagate simply was ready to fail.  I installed a new drive and memory and that machine worked OK.

Thanks for the great help!

[lorddethstalker]

Restore points and recovery discs have nothing to do with the bios.

The bios is totally seperate from the operating system (Windows), so if you try upgrading the bios and fail you will now have a very expensive paperweight.

The only way to fix a failed bios, unless you get really lucky, is to send the laptop back to Toshiba for repairs.

As was said before, only update the bios if the new bios fixes some problem that you are experiencing.  If it works fine as is, then leave it alone.  

[cbwilsha]

lordethstalker has already addressed the BIOS questions and I'm glad he did because he is much more technically proficient than I am, but I will try to specifically answer some of your other concerns.

1.  Addressed by lordethstalker but if you want to learn more about the BIOS, go here.

2.  There were no BIOS changes made just because you were notified.  If any BIOS changes are to be made, there are several steps you have to take and you would definitely know about them.

3.  As lordethstalker (I wish he had a nickname!) said, a System Restore point does NOT include the BIOS. As far as I know, there is no way to backup the BIOS. System Restores are automatically made quite often, but you can make one anytime you want.

4.  Restore points are quite reliable as far as I'm concerned.  They have saved my tail quite a few times on each computer I've had since they became a part of the OS.

Have we bored you enough by now?

[williambuell]

Thanks everyone for such speedy and complete explanations. This is my first experience with a Toshiba AND my first experience with Windows 7.  I have been using 32 bit XP Dells and 32 bit Ubuntu on old Dells.  I am so impressed by the Toshiba Qosmio X775 as a desktop replacement.  I realize the battery only gives 1.75 hours but it does recharge in 30 minutes.  I am retired and at home plugged into an outlet most of the time and I leave the battery out so it will not get worn out.  I have a Brother HL-2280-BW printer/scanner/copier that all the computers can use via Wi-Fi.  I use Apple Airport Extreme for WAN attached to a RoadRunner Time-Warner cable modem which is fast enough for my purposes.  I configure the Airport from a 6 year old Mac (Snowleopard) so I want to try the Airport utility on the Toshiba, in case the old Mac has a problem.  I was pleased to see that the Toshiba runs Intuit Quicken 2012. My wife depends on Quicken 2005 on the XP and I can find no suitable substitute. I am also pleased to see that my IOGEAR usb to RS232 cable installs automatically on Toshiba's Windows 7 (even though it came with a driver CD) and can read our Abbot Labs Freestyle Lite Glucose Meters since it was impossible to get the Glucose meters to work on several XP machines (using CoPilot glucose meter software.

[cbwilsha]

Good luck and Happy Computing, William.  BTW, I've been using Quicken for all my financial matters since Quicken 98.

[prussianette]

I just got the "Blue Screen" on my Qosmio X775-3Dv78.  On the blues screen it stated that I should check my manufacturer for a Bios update.  I rebooted it went to windows, and then a message came up stating that the system closed unexpectedly, and when I pressed for further info, this is what it gave me:

Problem signature:

  Problem Event Name:                        BlueScreen

  OS Version:                                          6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3

  Locale ID:                                             1033

Additional information about the problem:

  BCCode:                                               1e

  BCP1:                                                    FFFFFFFFC0000005

  BCP2:                                                    FFFFF8000329C0A4

  BCP3:                                                    0000000000000000

  BCP4:                                                    0000000000000015

  OS Version:                                          6_1_7601

  Service Pack:                                       1_0

  Product:                                               768_1

Files that help describe the problem:

  C:\Windows\Minidump\031712-40778-01.dmp

  C:\Users\Lucy\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-53960-0.sysdata.xml

My Toshiba Service station showed a Bios file for download with a January Date, but I just noticed Toshiba has a Bios file for download dated in February. 

So.....for those of us who don't "know" if updating the Bios will fix our problem, how do we find out??

[cbwilsha]

Sounds like you should go ahead with the BIOS update of 2/27/12. The full history of your BIOS is shown below as to which versions corrected what. It doesn't specifically mention your blue screen but the message you got seems to believe a BIOS update will solve whatever the problem was.

Change History

Version 1.70 - 2012-02-27

• Made changes to improve VGA throttling.

Version 1.60 - 2012-01-12

• Made a change to detect Optimus and 3D SKUs, then inform the EC to set different VGA throttling protections.

Version 1.40 - 2011-10-29

• Added: Hynix b-die VRAM support.

Version 1.30 - 2011-08-08

• Added an Intel update solution for the "PCIe Presence Detect State May Not Be Accurate after a Warm Reset" issue.
• Updated: CPU Microcode to Rev 0x1A.

Version 1.20 - 2011-06-10

• Fixed: Noise when the eco or illumination on/off buttons are pressed.
• Added code to notify NVIDIA VGA to change P-State when EC issued VGA protection function.
• Updated N12E-GS VBIOS V70.26.2F.00.02 for support Samsung old die VRAM.

Version 1.10 - 2011-05-20

• Initial production BIOS for this model.