Toshiba Tecra 9100 BIOS Block1 is damaged! in Off Topic

ID:181194
 
Apr 27 2011, 10:29 am
Ohoio!

I had the titled laptop mailed to me from Oklahoma. It ran fine, but after a forced boot I've been getting the same message. After some time scouring the web for solutions and similar problems, and found that I can fix it if I make a disk to boot the BIOS update from. Great! One problem. The dvd drive is recognized by the computer, but it doesn't respond.

Any of you hardware junkies got any words of advice or solutions for this novice?
#1 Apr 27 2011, 1:19 pm
Bootable USB drive, if your bios supports it.
#2 Apr 27 2011, 3:21 pm
In response to Murrawhip (#1)
I don't know what version the BIOS is in, so I don't know if it does. I've tried booting from both USB and a CD, neither of which seems to be working right. I'll give it another go tonight, I don't think I tried every USB port.
#3 Apr 27 2011, 8:41 pm
You need to open boot menu and choose CD/USB, either change boot order in BIOS.
#4 Apr 27 2011, 8:55 pm
In response to Zaoshi (#3)
I have no way to get into CMOS, because the BIOS firmware itself is the problem. Not to mention the HDD isn't even connected at this point, forcing it to try to boot from whatever else it finds.

The error message I'm getting is BIOS (Block1) is damaged! Call your serviceman immediately
#5 Apr 29 2011, 8:19 am
In response to F0lak (#4)
Have you tried clearing CMOS?
#6 May 1 2011, 5:39 pm
In response to Murrawhip (#5)
If by clear it you mean to disconnect the CMOS battery and reconnect it, yes.
#7 May 1 2011, 5:47 pm
In response to F0lak (#6)
F0lak wrote:
If by clear it you mean to disconnect the CMOS battery and reconnect it, yes.

I'm unaware of your computer hardware knowledge so forgive me if I'm being obvious here.
Removing the mobo's battery for a few seconds isn't enough to reliably clear CMOS. Generally they advise a time into the hours.
You'll get different answers from different places so I'd take the safe route and leave it disconnected overnight. (That is assuming your laptop doesn't have clear CMOS jumpers, or they're not readily accessible.
#8 May 1 2011, 6:30 pm
In response to Murrawhip (#7)
My knowledge is limited, but the CMOS battery has been disconnected for the last 3 days. There aren't any jumpers that I can find either. :(

The more obvious you are, the better. I'm still pretty wet behind the ears when it comes to hardware.