My experience with customized A130-ST1312

Just bought a new customized Satellite - A130-ST1312. installed 4GB memory, well only 3GB usable as expected. dumped all the garbage installed on the laptop and reinstalled things i really need to use.
all those specific toshiba software, such as toshiba hardware setup can only be found on the recovery cd. those you find on thosbia website under other model will not work, especial HWsetup.. my Fn fucntion keys were not working until i reinstalled all those toshiba hardware related softwares from the recovery cd.
BTW, it looks like toshiba stopped updating drivers for A130 series. so, if you need updated video driver for geforce 7600, you have to extract inf file from the video driver supplied on the recovery cd and replace it into those new drivers on toshiba website.

then, i started to find out lots of "bugs" (I guess they are bugs) with this A130/135 series' bios. it looks like A130 and 135 use the same bios..... wondering if others experience similar problems.

first, the laptop came with bios version 1.30 dated 03/30/2007. what currently on toshiba website is actually version 1.20... so i guess they fixed something and/or broke something with this new version of bios..... now, i am looking forward for the possible version 1.40.....

1. i use a usb memory stick sandisk cruzer 1.0gb for ready boost feature of vista. if i unplug the stick and restart the laptop, the bios will get stuck after it detected all system parts (processor, memory amount, harddrive and mouse). it will not go ahead to start loading the windows.... it is the same result if your shut down the system by holding the powerbutton and then restart..... it is also uselss if you try to press f2 to access the bios setup page or press f12 to load the bootup order page.... the system just get stuck after detected mouse, before start loading system.( it will not enter bios setup page or load boot order page).. the only solution so far i found out is to shut down the system and replug the usb memory stick and turn on system. the system will load system as it should be. if you want to get rid of the usb memory stick, you have to press f2 to enter bios setup page. then, you unplug the usb stick and save setting to restart. this time, the system will boot fine without memory stick............obviously, if you later use the memory stick again, the problem came back again......... my guess is the bios recorded the existence of the usb stick. if you unplug it later on, the bios will keep searching for it forever...... just my guess.. tried a corsair flash voyager gt 8GB stick, same problem...

2. the system will also get stuck right before start loading windows, if you attached usb external 2.5'' hard drive. I tried two brand of hard drive ( western digital 160GB and Hitachi 60GB, both are sata interface and brandnew. tested and worked fine with my desktop and my one year old toshiba A105 series) the external enclosure i used is vantec nexstar 3 with esata and usb interface, powered by usb port itself. i also tried with scythe usb to sata&ide adapter with external power supply( i did so to make sure it's not a power issue or chipset issue). the bios will detect all usb drive and display them on the screen, but will just stop moving forard at the same spot as i described in problem 1. so far, i did not find a solution for this problem. all you can do is plug your external drive after get into the windows....and unplug it after you shut down window. otherwise, you will get stuck the next time you boot up...

3. bios security setting page.

(1) if you only set password for user, the bios will also ask you for password when you enter bios setup page (this should only happen if you set admin password, not with user password. user password as described in the help section is only for booting up windows)

(2) if you set password for built -in HDD as for USER, it works fine. if you set password for built-in HDD as for USER+Admin and then enter password for Admin and leave password for USER untoched, the bios will not record password for Admin..... if you set password for both Admin and USER, the bios will save both password, but the system will not ask you for password before loading windows -_-.... after i installed a new secondary harddrive, system start to ask for password before loading system. One more serious problem is that you can't remove those password once you set both admin and user password. actually, you can't remove the admin password, because it will not recognize the password you previously set.... the bios will still accept your USER password, but only allow you to change password, not remove it..... those HDD passwords stay with that HDD, even if you remove it from the laptop... i believe this is some kind of loophole.. I did find a bug that allow me to remove the password. i will have to test it few more times before post it out..

4. the quiet boot option in the bios doesn't look like working. the system always check your memory amount regardless you enable or disable that option.
it takes sometimes since i have 3GB there.....

4. For the Protector suite software with the finger print reader, the software indiciate you can use power-on security feature, which is described as use fingerprint reader to gain access before booting up windows.. I enabled the feature in the software and also entered password in bios for user, admin and built-in HDD password. however, the fingerprint reader doesn't work before loading up windows... you can only gain access with password...

well, i am not very familiar with this fingerprint thing, but i did read the help file very carefully. if i missed something, hope someone could point out..... i guess the buggy bios caused all of these troubles.....

In general, the laptop works fine. Heatsink looks much bigger than those on A105 series. running hotter than the A105 series wth Core Duo my friend used. by installing a second harddrive, both of your hands will feel the heat, especially from the second hdd. both of my hdds are the same brand model......

hope toshiba will fix those problems....

 

I have a new A130-ST1312 as well, I received it on 4/12/07. Mine came with BIOS version 1.20 so your version 1.30 is interesting. I don't know what to make of that since 1.30 is not posted on Toshiba's site for download.

I'll have to try out the scenario you mention with the Readyboost USB stick and see if I can duplicate the issue you are seeing.

As for the Nvidia drivers you can download new drivers and .inf files from www.laptopvideo2go.com - the website is currently recovering from a hard drive crash but they have drivers galore that will work with your Go 7600.

Are you using Windows XP or Vista and what software are you using to monitor temps?

 

well, no idea why it comes with v1.30 .....

yeah, for the nvidia video driver, that site provides you modded inf file, which you can mod by yourself, just copying two lines from the orginal inf........

USB stick problem doesn't bother me much, as i have my stick connected all the time.....
USB external harddrive is really annoying. i pretty much always have my external drive connected. if i forgot unplug it in the night when i shut down the system, i always get the laptop stuck there when i turn on the system in the next morning......