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VectorLinux > The nuts and bolts > Installation & Updates > access bios options
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Author Topic: access bios options  (Read 1819 times)
InTheWoods
Vectorite
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Posts: 302
« on: May 07, 2009, 04:35:06 am »
I have a Toshiba Tecra which I have run Vector on for some time. I have just come into possession of a second identical Tecra with one difference. It has an updated bios.

When I access the bios in the first Tecra I see ACPI BIOS=v 1.00
When I access the bios in the second Tecra I see ACPI BIOS=v 1.40

In both cases the the boot preference options are on the second page of settings which may be accessed by pressing the PgDn key.

The problem is that on the second Tecra pressing PgDn does nothing. It is not a keyboard problem. The PgDn key does work just not when in the updated BIOS.

Any ideas on how to get around this short of swapping hard drives and installing on Tecra no.1
I cannot use the netbootin idea discussed in another thread as I had some partial success and have killed the Windows installation.
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M0E-lnx
Administrator
Vectorian
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Posts: 3066
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2009, 07:49:22 am »
Swapping hard drives is not going to correct your BIOS problem. The BIOS resides in the mobo itself, not on the hard drive.

I would check to see if may be the key that triggers the BIOS Setup has changed in the new bios.

Common keys are for instance
Esc
F1
F4
F12
Del

In the past, I've owned some that even required a combination like ctrl+alt+esc

Do you know which (brand (ie, award, phoenix, etc)) BIOS is in the machine in question?
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lagagnon
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Vectorian
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Posts: 1922



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« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2009, 09:17:37 am »
Does the right arrow key get you there?
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InTheWoods
Vectorite
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Posts: 302
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2009, 02:12:27 pm »

Quote
I would check to see if may be the key that triggers the BIOS Setup has changed in the new bios.
Esc then F1, same as earlier version.
The key combinations within the bios are the same. They are listed at the bottom of the screen within the bios pages.

Quote
Does the right arrow key get you there?
The arrow keys allow you to move from setting to setting within a given bios page. The options are actually changed with the space and backspace keys.

Quote
Do you know which (brand (ie, award, phoenix, etc)) BIOS is in the machine in question?
I have no idea what company makes the bios. It seems it may be a Toshiba proprietary bios from my initial search. Nothing comes up on the screen like other bios's I have seen indicating another brand.

Quote
Swapping hard drives is not going to correct your BIOS problem.
No it's not! But on the plus side it did get me a working install.
However I still want to change the boot order.

Short of seeing if I can re flash the bios, something I haven't done before and am leery of trying, I may be beat here.
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toothandnail
Tester
Vectorian
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Posts: 2527
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2009, 03:35:57 pm »
Not sure if this applies (it does to some Toshiba machines), but on quite a number of laptops, pressing F12 as the machine is powered on will give you a boot menu, at which point you can select the CD/DVD drive.

Doesn't get you to any other options on the second page of BIOS settings, but may help with any boot order problems.

paul.
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gamfa
Vectorite
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Posts: 245
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2009, 04:51:18 pm »
Have you looked for help on this forum....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9

I have a couple of A215's and have received help there.
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GrannyGeek
Packager
Vectorian
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Posts: 2567
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2009, 06:39:11 pm »
On my 6-year-old Toshiba Satellite, pressing C after the computer starts will boot from the CD-ROM.
--GrannyGeek
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InTheWoods
Vectorite
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Posts: 302
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2009, 08:23:49 pm »
Quote
Not sure if this applies (it does to some Toshiba machines), but on quite a number of laptops, pressing F12 as the machine is powered on will give you a boot menu, at which point you can select the CD/DVD drive.
Not for this one.

Quote
On my 6-year-old Toshiba Satellite, pressing C after the computer starts will boot from the CD-ROM.
Also a no go.

Quote
Have you looked for help on this forum....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9
I am waiting for the email allowing me to book on right now.
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justin
Member
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Posts: 12
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2009, 12:52:11 pm »
What model number?
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InTheWoods
Vectorite
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Posts: 302
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2009, 04:28:50 pm »
It is a Toshiba Tecra M2
MODEL NO. PTM20C-4MP2S

When I go to the Toshiba support page I can find plenty of M2 Tecras but not this particular model no.
Perhaps it is to old for their site (circa 2004)

Quote
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9
So far I have not been able to get on this other forum to ask my question there.
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