im having problems with my cf-29

ive had my toughbook for a week now and everything was fine,untill a windows update,now when i switch it on it gets as far as windows welcome page then shuts off,i cant do a restore as ive not got the restore discs yet,my mate who repairs computers recons im stuffed untill i get the restore disc,as the bios won,t let him do anything,so im hoping for some freindly advice,it,s a cf-29 ctkgzke mk1 running windows xp pro.
id appreciate any help or advice...........

 

You can use any oem windows xp installation disk and then install all the drivers for MK1. Boot the cd rom device first on the bios. Do you have a paasword on the bios? I ask becoz you said you can't access on it? I am right or wrong.

Or you can start the pc on safe mode then open as administrator and then uninstall the service pack 3.
It happened to me after updating to sp3 it gives me bsod. The simpliest way is to download the sp3 and then burn the image in to cd. Here how I done it; I reinstalled the fresh copy of xp sp2 and then installed all the drivers. Afterthat insert the sp3 image on the cd rom and your set to go.

ohlip

 

theres no passwords on it as i can get into the bios and change any settings if i wanted,i haven,t though,unfortunatly with buying second hand i didn,t get any discs so im off to get an original windows xp pro. probably cost me but im not bothered,just my hdd money out the window.

 

i managed to get in the bios after it had been switched of for 30 mins,ive got the floppy set to the top of the list,just going to see what it will do next

 

On the bios boot menu set the cd rom first not the floppy if the floppy is at the top fresh F5 to go down and make the cd rom first and then save, exit. Don't buy any xp cd just borrow somewhere you can use the COA of your unit.

 

right ive done what you said ive set the cd rom to the top,it,s booted up just going to try a system restore see what happens from there.

 

Just follow the instruction if you have the restore disk.


teo

 

no i don,t have the restore disc,was trying a system restore in windows,but it crashed off with a blue screen,it was that quick all i got was bios driver then it switched of now it won,t switch on,but the blue screen had loads of text on it,it went off that quick didn,t get a chance to read any of it

 

BSOD, man! try to find any xp cd and reinstall the whole system or try with this on startup hit F8 I quess or maybe F12 if I am not mistaken to boot on a safe mode and when your on safe mode Uninstall the sp3.


ohlip

 

Have you tried to run fixmbr.exe yet? This usually fixes those "stuck on windows splash screen and won't go any farther" problems.

~Paul

 

well found the problem today it,s not a driver or software problem,it,s the graphics card,it is knackered so looks like it will have to be sent away for repair

 

update on my problem,i won,t be trusting pc shops for a while,what i was told about a graphics card turned out to be crap,it was the memory card,which was a cheap fix,i found out after i was told to download memtest which i did and ran twice,both times it crashed the test,so i put a new 1gb memory card in ran the test and hey presto,my cf-29 is running a dream,even upgraded from a 60gb hdd to a 250gb while i was at it.
im still going to get myself the recovery discs for piece of mind,but even more good news for me my wife has bought me a cf-18 tablet toughbook,can,t wait to play with it when it arrives,along with my backlit keyboard for my cf-29.so i would like to say a very big thank you to all the members for there help and support keep up the good work.

 

Andy, Glad to hear you figured it out. I'm surprised that nobody suggested taking out the RAM. That is one of the first things to do. (Yeah I know I'm a Johnny-come-lately to the thread!) The cool thing about the Toughbook is the base RAM on the CF-29 and down. You can pop it out and still fire up the laptop.

Memtest saved me a lot of aggravation... That is for sure!

 

i,ll be open and honest i don,t know that much about the workings and tech side of computers,but i am learning,and i greatfully apreciate all help when i get stuck,the main thing is my toughy is back up and running well bar the sound but thats a driver problem from realtek,but ive maged to upgrade to a dvd rw,bigger hdd reinstall windows and register it,reistall all the drivers,bar the sound one for the ac-97 as it keeps crashing the system so ive removed it untill i hear from realtek,then im going to make a system backup then im sorted.just can,t wait to get abacklit keyboard and original restore discs.
but i do appreciate the time and effort from people who try o help me.

 

You may have posted about this before... Forgive me if I ask again... What MK model do you have? (Or what is your model #?) Can't you find Recovery Disks? I know we have members over in the UK.... That should solve all your driver issues! Also... Beside the RAM is a speaker plug... Did you make sure that it was plugged in? Sometimes when people put Toughbooks back together they forget things... I'm thinking of who you bought it from...

 

the model i have is cf-29 ctkgzke mk1,ive contacted a company over here,but with it so close to xmas i don,t think i will get a reply untill the new year,as for the speaker it,s conected,when i went into the device manager there was a caution mark next to the multimedia audio controller,after researching the net and trying to download the driver for it the machine crashed,when it rebooted an error report was sent to microsoft then when i learnt the driver isn,t signed for use on windows and to contact the vendor,which i have done.just waiting for a response

 

Did you download the sound driver from panasonic download site?

Alex

 

hi yes i did but it has done nothing,ive downloaded 2 from the realtek site and both of those have crashed the system so ive had to uninstall them,but while i have been searching on the net it seems to be a problem with the realtek ac-97 on all laptops that have been restored or drver accidently lost,so i think it is a realtek problem not anything with the laptop.

 

This is strange... I have the same thing in all my CF-29s and have never had a problem. You should try to locate some restore disks and do a OS re-installation! That should fix it... Either that or you have larger issues. Lets hope it is just an install issue!

 

it,s something to do with a security setting on windows xp,im going to wait until i get my restore cd and i,ll take it from there,so in the meantime i live without sound

 

Andy,

PM me your address and I'll send you some MK1 Restore Disks... Unless you already have them sourced....

Merry Christmas!

 

thanks for that toughbook another member said he has a set for me,the place over here has them on back order from heartland over in your neck of the woods.
but i did get to the root of the problem,because i didn,t clone my hdd i basicly purchased a replacement copy of windows xp pro with service pk3 so i installed it onto my new hdd then downloaded the drivers from panasonic,unknown to me at the time,theres a security patch in service pk 3 that conflicts with the realtek ac'97,driver so windows protects itself by disabling the ac'97.
the response from realtek is the driver for the ac'97 needs to be installed before service pk3 then windows reconfigures so the security patch doesn,t conflict with the driver for the ac'97,so in a nut shell when i get the restore discs,im going to basicly start all over again,and see if that is indeed the problem,if it cures it then at least members can refer to this post if any of them suffer the same problem.

 

Hmmmmm... Interesting... Nice to know....

Just let me know... I have them for you if you need them.

Rick

 

thanks very much for that rick i appreciate it

have a happy xmas

andy

 

Hmm , think this would affect a MK5 in the same fashion?

 

This is the procedure for loading windows that I use

Load windows xp pro oem c/w sp2
Install sp3 updates
Load toughbook driver updates, starting with chipset driver first
Run Microsoft update and get the latest updates


Or

Load windows using the restore disks
On most of the models I have, they include sp1 only
Install sp2 updates
Install sp3 updates
Run Microsoft update and get the latest updates including and hardware updates listed


I have full service pack installation disks for both sp2 and sp3

Using this procedure I have never had any problems yet on the cf-29 mk1 or mk2
Or on any of the other toughbooks that I have



Alex

 

it was probably me that caused the problem,as i really had nothing essential on the hdd that came with it,i upgraded to a hdd went from 60gb to a 250gb i got hold of a windows replacement disc that included sp3 installed that then downloaded the drivers,as i don,t have the restore discs,and that is when i lost sound,everything else is working,well ive since found out that i have touchscreen but that don,t work it,s enabled but i may not have the driver installed yet,im going to check later,but im starting to learn a lot about the toughbook but computer systems in a bit more depth,and most of it is down to you guys,which im greatful for.

anyway,im off to the shop in a while for some uncle jd,so i might be in a bit of a state later so heres me wishing you all the very best for xmas,eat loads and get drunk alot and i,ll catch up with you all later

all the best andy

 

well i now have sound and my touchscreen is working,the way i solved this,got rid of windows xp pro sp3 and installed a fresh copy of windows xp pro sp2,installed all the panasonic drivers,and hey presto everything is working fine and dandy like it should be,all i need now is a backlit keyboard and im sorted,thanks for your help guys