FAO: Computer geeks

Fully

I'm having serious problems with my computer at the moment. I am continually getting blue screens every 30 mins or so. The warning message that i get is telling me to disable caching or shadowing, and is indicating a problem with the BIOS. I have downloaded a new BIOS from toshiba, but haven't run it yet as i'm a bit worried about causing more damage. It probably doesn't help that it's running vista on only a gb of RAM. If i run it and it doesn't work, can i still recover all of my pics, music, etc if they are stored on a different partition?

Anyone got any experience of similar problems, or advice?

Cheers

lesz42

pc ? laptop?

what os? what model of pc>?



recent issue??

blister pus

Well Vista will run like shite on 1GB of memory and you'll probably run into trouble at some point running some app or other, but you need the exact error message (with number code).

'Flashing' the BIOS with an updated revision is not to be taken lightly as a failed BIOS flash can be irretrievable and leave you looking at a dead machine. So be aware before you start randomly upgrading the BIOS and without the exact error message you don't do it unless it's absolutely necessary. Saying that, if you do have to flash the BIOS for a legitimate reason then you need to follow Toshiba's instructions exactly and things should be fine.

Yes, you can salvage your data but you'd be in data retrieval land and will be limited by your own knowledge, if you have the know how then you could download a linux live cd, run it and pull the data off to a usb stick, for example.

So before you go ahead, what's the exact error message?

Zeroman_IR

Sounds like an overheating problem but hard to say without more information.

The Northern Monkey

Ahh... your problem is that you are running microsoft windows.


Get a mac

Fully

It's a Toshiba Satelite L40 laptop (Pretty low spec tbh)

I have definitely got the right BIOS flash update for it, but i have read previously about the risks of it going tits up, which is why i'm dubious about running it. My computer knowledge is not great.

I will try and get the exact message the next time it happens, but it only stays on screen for a few seconds before restarting.

It's the only computer we have at the minute, and i don't really want to be computerless if it all goes awry.

lesz42

bigbenj_08 wrote:

Ahh... your problem is that you are running microsoft windows.


Get a mac

used to work in maplins, and macs were a PITA, got loads of people buying hardware that was not mac compatible


another planet type retailer was telling them that you could goto any computer shop and buy software/hardware for macs


they themselfs did not.........lol

blister pus

Fully - If you can still get into the OS and faff then it's worth having a look in the event viewer for indicators: http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vi ... viewer.htm

Link should give you an idea of what it's about and the big red error marks give clues as to what's going on, maybe shed some more light. Go through the categories; Custom, Windows, Apps and Services noting the errors and where they are under each section (or take a screen shot, make sure it's viewable, magnify it and crop it if need be).

blister pus

Fully - Do us a favour and go into the BIOS: http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD9502LK0000R01.htm

And see if there's any visible disabling BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing.


And for future reference here's the Toshiba BIOS update How-To: http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD9502M10000R01.htm

Fully

Thanks for looking into this for me Blister pus. I can't even access half the Toshiba hardware settings that are displayed on the link though, not sure why. I've got full admin rights, etc.

Below is a print screen of the errors that i am getting, if it's any help

blister pus

Fully wrote:

Thanks for looking into this for me Blister pus. I can't even access half the Toshiba hardware settings that are displayed on the link though

Try the bottom set of instructs and go directly into the BIOS screen:

BIOS Setup Pages

When the notebook is turned off (but not in standby or hibernation mode) you can also use one of the below methods (whichever is appropriate for your notebook model) to access the BIOS Setup pages directly.

Please disconnect any external keyboard until you have completed modifying the BIOS setup this way.

* Esc key method (Toshiba BIOS)

1. Press and hold the Esc key.
2. Turn on the notebook.
3. Press the F1 key when prompted.
4. The first page of the BIOS Setup screen appears.

TimesLikeThese

you are running vista service pack 1?
You should have upgraded to service pack 2 months ago. It will leave your system open to a host of attacks.
Go to Kasperskys website and do an online scan.
Then upgrade to sp2 if you are clean and get your os, firewall and virus scanner fully patched.
Then set up your system to automatically download and install patches and be sure to follow the instructions to install the patches properly.

Vista can be configured for lower specced machines by turning off some of the visual enhancements which is related to the memory and the tweaks its been suggested you try. However, unless you have installed new software and it crashes whist that is running or have had a hardware malfunction or even accumulation of too much dust, you shouldnt really be getting this sort of message.

So do the bios tweaks as suggested but dont upgrade the bios without knowing the exact problem as it can kill a machine.

As has been said - without the error message its difficult to say whats happening. After doing the above it may be worthwhile going into safemode and trying to replicate the conditions for the crash. If you can replicate it there then its likely to be a hardware/bios issue. If you cant replicate it there then it will likely be a software issue.

1 Gig ram is poor for vista - get a friend or a shop to see if your laptop can upgrade to at least 2 gig an you will notice a tremendous difference.

If all this fails write back as theres plenty more things to try.
Oh and double check your system ram is still showing what you expect it to be.

Good luck.

blister pus

Vista SP2 will kill a machine with a spec like that for 24 hours and it's not in great shape as it is. You should only patch a healthy machine with a major service pack - so delay patching up to SP2 just yet. See what the state of the BIOS options are like first.

Fully

Updates were set on automatic :? .

I couldn't get the second option to work either Blister.

Not sure why sp2 hadn't automatically downloaded, i've forced it now and not had any crashes since (About 3 hours worth). I'll see how it goes...

Cheers for the advice guys.