I think my bios is a little bit corrupt

Heyo,
I have a toshiba m40-yp3 laptop and I think its coming to the end of its life. I think the problems started when I accessed my bios one day. The cpu temp is 53 . I boot up the computer fine, can use the all the toshiba functions (brightness, power saver, lcd/crt,...) and the bios is recognized by the toshiba program. I go into standby fine, but when I come out, there is an error by power saver and all of the toshiba functions stop working. The bios is no longer recognized by the toshiba program (hwsetup). When I reset the bios to default, it reset the computer and the computer crashed, and it would freeze at the toshiba screen, but it started working again after 15-20minutes. Thats the only reason I'm kinda freaking out. Also I tried speedfan and it froze the computer. Otherwise everything else works fine, I guess its not that bad, I just can't go into standby more than once. Im just kinda worried it may be a sign of things to come. I reformatted i think 5 months ago. I also have the latest bios version. I'm thinking anything that accesses the bios messes the computer up. Do you think I should boot into DOS and reflash it again?
thanks

 

Flashing your BIOS again is an option, however it carries some risk if the computer is acting erratically. If your computer were to power down during a BIOS flash the whole system could become unusable. So only do that if you are 100% confident you understand the risk.

Check the Toshiba support site for any updates to your computer. If there are recent BIOS updates check what issues were fixed in the new versions. Also check the 'Support Bulletins' listed on the support site.

If we are thinking of the same program (mine is called T-BIOS) then you are referring to Toshiba's utility that reads the BIOS information while within Windows. I'm curious, have you at one point flashed the BIOS to a new version while using the original T-BIOS program? If so check to see if there is an update for that as well.

Also go into the BIOS (before Windows loads) and check to make sure all the settings (especially those regarding power settings) seems to be correctly enabled/disabled.

EDIT: Also, only download BIOS flash's from Toshiba directly.

 

thanks will try, I'm thinking it might be a windows/acpi problem, but would that explain why the computer freezes at the toshiba screen sometimes?

 

I suppose it could be related to either ACPI or Windows...

I don't know too much about ACPI, but if it were the problem flashing the BIOS could be a solution. (I am not positive if that would fix it, but I am relatively sure the BIOS handles the ACPI.)

The existence of the following problems could indicate a Windows problem or a hardware problem:

1: There were problems within Windows
2: When the computer froze at the Toshiba screen it may have actually already passed the BIOS and just froze while beginning the Windows boot (before displaying anything).

My laptop comes with a Toshiba system checkup utility that is downloadable from the support site. See if yours does do. Also try using a few programs like memtest86+, HD Tune, PC WIZARD 2008 and see if the hardware is displaying properly and running smoothly.

If it is a Windows issue it is a strange one. I wouldn't know any direct fix. A system restore to (to a point before this problem happened) might be a good place to start if you have it enabled. I wouldn't do a clean install yet unless I was positive it isn't the BIOS or hardware causing problems.

 

I have one more question, I created a dos bios cd using http://www.bay-wolf.com/bootcd-bios.htm but in dos it said I couldnt run the bios file. http://support.toshiba.ca/support/download/listdrivers/drivers.asp its the nvidia driver one. Is there a special command or somehting I have to do?

 

The Nvidia thing is the display adapter.. You install that in Windows.. The BIOS updates are also designed to be flashed from within Windows. Why do you want to do it from a command prompt?

oh wait hold on a sec will update post in a minute..

EDIT: Ok forget all the above!

I've never used that site or software before. Most computers that don't have floppy drives are designed to flash the BIOS while within Windows, but it appears yours is different. The best suggestion I can give is to reread the instructions on that site and make sure to made the CD correctly.

 

thanks for your help, I'll try some stuff now.
Alright last question, when I shut down or try to restart multiple times, the computer hangs at the toshiba screen, but when I unplug it and the battery and leave it for 10 minutes, it boots up windows. Any idea on why that would happen?

 

My X205 has been hanging at post quite frequently recently and today it won't even get there anymore. I have to send it back to the Service Depot and get the motherboard replaced, and be another week without my notebook. Hopefully I can get them to also replace the GPU heatsinks because my cards heat up to 95c after 5 minutes of gaming, causing the cards to run at 2D speed and make the game run slowly or even crash. I just hope that they actually fix everything this time. You can try flashing your BIOS, but it may be a dying motherboard like mine.

-J.B.