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Toshiba T1000XE

S

Sinisterdragon

Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
43
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hi all,

I have recently gotten hold of a T1000 XE XT laptop. I have problems with booting, I suspect that the hard drive was formated. I should be able too boot off the Fdd. However pluging in the Fdd brings no joy. I have a working DOS disk, but I get no access light. I'm not sure if it's the floppy drive of the hardware in the Laptop. Unfautunately, the Fdd is a custom Toshiba job. Does anyone know if it's possible to wire up a "standard" Fdd with a converter. I want to be able to check if it's the computer or the Fdd thats at fault here. Likewise if anyone knows of any coman falts with these machines regards the Fdd I would apreciate it.

Thanks all

:twisted:
 
Have you taken a look at the harddrive? Is yours the model that has the hdd in a little box that comes out? Check the cables and make sure everything is contacting right. I can't comment on the fdd, I never had one with mine. I can only suggest trying to find a different fdd.
 
Yes, Thats the one, It comes out in a nice little box, It seems to be connected correctly... Hdd seeks and makes some "good" grinding noises like it is trying to do SOMETHING..... In any case if I can test the Fdd or make sure the floppy bootup hardware and software are working that would be nice...

:twisted:
 
Do you have a T1000 handy to swap out the floppy drive ? I think the external one on the XE and the internal one on the 1000 are the same.

If, because it's so obvious, but not obvious, you're already aware of it, forgive me, but is your boot floppy formatted to 720 k ? The 1000 series didn't do 1.44 floppies.

If it's 720k, pull it apart and see if it's a belt-driven 3.5, if yes, replace the belt.

patscc
 
There is something they didn't mention in the manual... 720k?? I'll have to format a 720k disk and try again. I'm not sure it will make much diferance as I'm not getting an access light, but at lest when I get things sorted I'll then be able to read it... Can you format a 720k disk from windows?? never tried such a thing before.. might be time to fire up one of my vintage systems again and just do it from there...

As for belt drivern?? I glad to say the belt seems to be in goodcondition, and still attatched as it seems it should be... Which is good, because I would hate to have to try and replace it, looks like the only easy way to do that wold be to pull the whole Fdd apart...

:twisted:
 
XP won't format a 720k disk. Older versions should be able to.
Put some opaque tape over the media sense hole on the floppy (this is the one across from the write-protect hole)
You probably want to do this on a vintage machine, since I'm not sure T1000's will boot with a WIn95/98 style boot disk.

Depending on your version of DOS,
try
format a: /f:720 /s

which is format floppy in a, format to 720k, transfer system.

If you have a 1.44 floppy, and don't tape the media sense hole, depending on your bios, you might get a 'track 0 bad, media unusable' error, which is why you tape the hole. Unless, of course, you've still got 720k disks laying around.

What happens if you just let it finish it's boot attempt ? Do you get any error messages ?

patscc
 
I'm trying think how long it is since I had to type that... I was going to look up some old DOS books as a refresher, but now you have saved me the hassle... I might get out some of the older DOS machines anyway, might be fun to have a bit of a play again and check too see that they are still functional...

Now that I think about it I have a T1600 buried deep in the bowels of the storage shed thats suposed to be fully functional... Maybe its about time I dug that out and blew the dust off so to speak... If memory serves me correctly it has an interenal 1.44 Fdd... should be a snap to get a disk formatted from that...

As for whats happens when I try to boot the machine... It performs the RAM test, you can hear the Hdd trying to do something, then it just stops... No error mesage comes up... I fget a Hdd access light come up, but no Access light on the Fdd... Which hopefully means the Fdd is haveing some trouble and not the machine... However I dont have a second drive to test it with of course....

:twisted:
 
It sounds like the IDE bus is being locked by the HD.
If you're not scared of of opening her up, open up, disconnect HD interface cable, and try again. See if you get some sort of error message, or even better, if she then tries to boot from the floppy.

patscc
 
Nope. The Hdd contector is soldered directly to the mother board. Removing the HDD doesn't help either, the computer wont start at all.... It must have an internal wiring check to make sure there is a Hdd contected.... Any other ideas???

:twisted:
 
Well, let's go back a step.
Does she give you a successful memory count when you fire her up ?
Other suggestion, try pulling out the battery pack, if it's old, it might be sucking to much current to charge, causing problems.
patscc
 
Ah... I have never left it on more than everal minutes once it was obvious that things wern't working... Now that I have, after about like ten minutes or so up comes the error mesage:

Error Loading operating system : 80

So i'd say it's prety obvious whats going on now... Either the Hdd is faulty, or it has beend formated as i suspected... This still doesn't explain why it doesn't go to the Fdd though.. As I said not getting the Fdd access light coming up... The BIOS is set correctly to boot from the Fdd if necasary...

:twisted:
 
How do you get into your BIOS ? I have the list from Toshiba, but have never actually been able to get into BIOS with any key-combination listed. Of course. this is on a 1200XE, but still... Do you hold the key on boot, after boot, what ?

Are you sure the HD is wired to the mobo ? Usually, it's just a 40 or 44 pin header soldered into the board, and then the HD plugs into that header.

patscc
 
On the T1000 XE, the Key combination is (Fn, Esc).. the Fn key is to the left of the space bar and the Esc key is on the top left corner... It's a bit hard to get into the BIOS section, but it seems if you hold the keys down slightly before or just after the Memory test the BIOS display comes up in the lower right hand corner of the screen. You have to do it correctly as the same key combination also cloes the little box... So if you press at the wrong time or for too long, the box doesn't open or closes straight away... It usually takes several start ups to get it right...

I have taken the box apart and Yep, the conector for the Hdd is hard wired to the mother board... Inside the hard drive box itself it also seems to be hard wired.. and removing the Hdd doesn't help cause the machine wont even start up if I do that...

:twisted:
 
You actually get a real BIOS, and not just that funny little popup with battery capacity, and that let's you toggle betweem boot and resume ?
patscc
 
Yeah, that's no good. You can always get that. I bet if you look at the bottom edge of the 'esc' key keycap, it'll say 'popup' in blue. Join the ranks of those that have never been able to follow the Toshiba instructions to break into BIOS. I'm begging to think the instructions are bogus.

On the popup, though, see if the psrt where you can switch resume-boot is set to boot.

Other than that, I'll get back later, I need to pull mine apart, because I'm juat about that sure the HD can be disconnected. Give me a day or so. If changing the popup menu option to 'boot' fixes it, by the way, post back so I don't needlessly tear my poor abused T apart.
patscc
 
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