Toshiba Trecra A4

Hi

I woundered if someone could give me some advice. I have a Toshiba
Tracra A4 Laptop and which I have had for about 13 months but I have a
major problem which I cannot resolve.

The laptop turns off/reboot and random periods without any warnings, I
have tried the following:

1. Removed the LCD cover, Main cover and double checked that everything
was connected properply.
2. Removed memory and ensure that no dust was pressent and replaced.
3. Ensure that the Hard disk was not loose
4. Formatted my harddisk and install clean WinXP

But I feel this is a hardware fault not a software one as after
performing the above steps, it still happens, it could be 20 seconds
after start Winxp or could be 20 minutes. It not overheating because
if I start the computer up in the morning, it still happens (20
seconds, couple of minutes etc).

Thank you.

Paull

PP wrote:
> Hi
>
> I woundered if someone could give me some advice. I have a Toshiba
> Tracra A4 Laptop and which I have had for about 13 months but I have a
> major problem which I cannot resolve.
>
> The laptop turns off/reboot and random periods without any warnings, I
> have tried the following:
>
> 1. Removed the LCD cover, Main cover and double checked that everything
> was connected properply.
> 2. Removed memory and ensure that no dust was pressent and replaced.
> 3. Ensure that the Hard disk was not loose
> 4. Formatted my harddisk and install clean WinXP
>
> But I feel this is a hardware fault not a software one as after
> performing the above steps, it still happens, it could be 20 seconds
> after start Winxp or could be 20 minutes. It not overheating because
> if I start the computer up in the morning, it still happens (20
> seconds, couple of minutes etc).
>
> Thank you.
>
> Paull

If it's fixable, it's either Ram, or HDD.

Download memtest86+ from www.memtest.org
Download the diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your hard
drive. Seatools from Seagate will do if you can't find it.

Hi

Thank you, I will try that when I get home from work.

Thanks.


paulmd@efn.org wrote:
> PP wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > I woundered if someone could give me some advice. I have a Toshiba
> > Tracra A4 Laptop and which I have had for about 13 months but I have a
> > major problem which I cannot resolve.
> >
> > The laptop turns off/reboot and random periods without any warnings, I
> > have tried the following:
> >
> > 1. Removed the LCD cover, Main cover and double checked that everything
> > was connected properply.
> > 2. Removed memory and ensure that no dust was pressent and replaced.
> > 3. Ensure that the Hard disk was not loose
> > 4. Formatted my harddisk and install clean WinXP
> >
> > But I feel this is a hardware fault not a software one as after
> > performing the above steps, it still happens, it could be 20 seconds
> > after start Winxp or could be 20 minutes. It not overheating because
> > if I start the computer up in the morning, it still happens (20
> > seconds, couple of minutes etc).
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Paull
>
> If it's fixable, it's either Ram, or HDD.
>
> Download memtest86+ from www.memtest.org
> Download the diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your hard
> drive. Seatools from Seagate will do if you can't find it.

Hi

I have tried that tool(s) to test the Memory, Hard Disk etc without any
luck, all come ok.

When I try to start up in Safe mode, 50% of the time it comes up with
that the BIOS is not fully ACPI compatable. I upgraded my bios from
1.3 to 1.7 (from toshiba) but this still happens.

I have reinstalled a clean copy of WINXP (formatted drive c, clean
build) and still happens. I have removed the memory, cleaned it an
insterted it into a different slot. Removed the HDD and ensure that no
dust/dirt was present and refitted back in.

When I am able to start up in Safe mode it SEEMS to be more stable as
where I can use the Internet no problems, run programs no problems etc
but as soon as I start up in normal mode, within about a minute or less
it restarts the computer, the cycle just keeps happening.

Could anyone give me any more advice, many thanks

Paul.
PP wrote:
> Hi
>
> Thank you, I will try that when I get home from work.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> paulmd@efn.org wrote:
> > PP wrote:
> > > Hi
> > >
> > > I woundered if someone could give me some advice. I have a Toshiba
> > > Tracra A4 Laptop and which I have had for about 13 months but I have a
> > > major problem which I cannot resolve.
> > >
> > > The laptop turns off/reboot and random periods without any warnings, I
> > > have tried the following:
> > >
> > > 1. Removed the LCD cover, Main cover and double checked that everything
> > > was connected properply.
> > > 2. Removed memory and ensure that no dust was pressent and replaced.
> > > 3. Ensure that the Hard disk was not loose
> > > 4. Formatted my harddisk and install clean WinXP
> > >
> > > But I feel this is a hardware fault not a software one as after
> > > performing the above steps, it still happens, it could be 20 seconds
> > > after start Winxp or could be 20 minutes. It not overheating because
> > > if I start the computer up in the morning, it still happens (20
> > > seconds, couple of minutes etc).
> > >
> > > Thank you.
> > >
> > > Paull
> >
> > If it's fixable, it's either Ram, or HDD.
> >
> > Download memtest86+ from www.memtest.org
> > Download the diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your hard
> > drive. Seatools from Seagate will do if you can't find it.

PP wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have tried that tool(s) to test the Memory, Hard Disk etc without any
> luck, all come ok.
>
> When I try to start up in Safe mode, 50% of the time it comes up with
> that the BIOS is not fully ACPI compatable. I upgraded my bios from
> 1.3 to 1.7 (from toshiba) but this still happens.
>
> I have reinstalled a clean copy of WINXP (formatted drive c, clean
> build) and still happens. I have removed the memory, cleaned it an
> insterted it into a different slot. Removed the HDD and ensure that no
> dust/dirt was present and refitted back in.
>
> When I am able to start up in Safe mode it SEEMS to be more stable as
> where I can use the Internet no problems, run programs no problems etc
> but as soon as I start up in normal mode, within about a minute or less
> it restarts the computer, the cycle just keeps happening.
>
> Could anyone give me any more advice, many thanks

Not much on a laptop is economical to replace. You can go into the
Bios, and disable as many devices as you can. And isolate a failing
component of the motherboard. To see if you can get it stable. IIRC,
the command to get in to Toshiba BIOS is ESC then F1, which is odd.

ACPI can be silently disabled during the install process by pressing
F7, where it asks you to press F6 to install storage devices. You will
get no message indicating that ACPI was disabled.

It's starting to look a lot like a dead laptop, though.

Thanks for that

I have already installed WinXP so the option to silent the ACPI is not
an option. Yes I am now getting the feeling that I have a dead laptop.

Paul.
paulmd@efn.org wrote:
> PP wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > I have tried that tool(s) to test the Memory, Hard Disk etc without any
> > luck, all come ok.
> >
> > When I try to start up in Safe mode, 50% of the time it comes up with
> > that the BIOS is not fully ACPI compatable. I upgraded my bios from
> > 1.3 to 1.7 (from toshiba) but this still happens.
> >
> > I have reinstalled a clean copy of WINXP (formatted drive c, clean
> > build) and still happens. I have removed the memory, cleaned it an
> > insterted it into a different slot. Removed the HDD and ensure that no
> > dust/dirt was present and refitted back in.
> >
> > When I am able to start up in Safe mode it SEEMS to be more stable as
> > where I can use the Internet no problems, run programs no problems etc
> > but as soon as I start up in normal mode, within about a minute or less
> > it restarts the computer, the cycle just keeps happening.
> >
> > Could anyone give me any more advice, many thanks
>
> Not much on a laptop is economical to replace. You can go into the
> Bios, and disable as many devices as you can. And isolate a failing
> component of the motherboard. To see if you can get it stable. IIRC,
> the command to get in to Toshiba BIOS is ESC then F1, which is odd.
>
> ACPI can be silently disabled during the install process by pressing
> F7, where it asks you to press F6 to install storage devices. You will
> get no message indicating that ACPI was disabled.
>
> It's starting to look a lot like a dead laptop, though.