Toshiba A215-7427 Bios update failed unexpectedly

Hi guys n girls

So I felt I have had enough of this piece of **** going on the blank screen of death on me and googled for some solutions and it turns out there is some known kinda glitch with these series that for some reason makes the notebook to freeze and screen to go blank... this means loss of any unsaved data without any possible way to prevent it

I was just taking an online quiz for my online college class and this thing screwed me over!

Finally i find out there needs to be a BIOS FLASH performed. I get the latest related version from toshiba's website fairly easy and run the windows option.

system is running on Vista home.

Everything goes fine, until getting to sector 7 i believe of the 17 sectors that needed to be erased and reporgrammed

i had closed all active programs that i could possibly close including many routine taskbar items.

my system had more than 50% battery charge and indeed it was connected to electric grid. there was no electrical shocks or anything.

all of a sudden i hear a pop and bam. system completely shuts down, not even the front led indicating the power connection remains on, but that and battery leds come on a few seconds later. the system never turns back on by itself and when i turn it on it seems its just the power on led turns on without the screen even lighting up or cpu fan making any noise or airflow

now half of my life was on this system and I am absolutely pissed off @ toshiba for this nasty product that even cannot be fixed with their very own fix solution.

I did everything according to instructions and its still failed. I just had a feeling it was gonna happen.

Now what? what is the solution if any other than taking this to a service center. is my current bios a lost cause? is the only way out replacement? or do i have a 2nd chance

pay attn: the system does not even power on anymore, nothing but the power on led changes when i try to power it on.

this system is less than a year old from date of purchase and i dont even know if my basic default guarantee covers it for free or i have to shell out something for this...

any ideas to share fellas?
really anything is appreciated.

 

sounds like your motherboard fried. is it still under warranty? hopefully it is, and hopefully toshiba's service is great. if so, then hopefully your data is intact on your hard drive and the motherboard swap should solve everything. but, i could be wrong.

 

well, it came with basic warranty. i think its out of warranty now. must find the papers, but as long as i remember it was a 90 day warranty. i may be wrong as well.... do u have any idea how much it would cost without a warranty to swap the Mobo?

 

ummm, maybe $300-700. i'm guessing your model is not high end and was mass produced so you're looking @ closer to $300. i'm just giving you an estimate of what it might be. $300 is reasonable for a motherboard swap, but if you're laptop is less than a year old, and the motherboard is actually the problem and you didn't have anything at all to do with it's demise, even accidentally, i would push toshiba to give you a big discount or even free, except shipping.

 

thnx for the tip.

i gotta make sure about my warranty 1st though. must find the papers and the box... well its 4:15 am... that will be 1st order of bizness later on when i wake up
i do have a center near me apparently which i can drive to. UPS is expensive especially with these gas surcharges etc...


the laptop was purchased at $700 itself on sale!
no chance in hell im going to shell out $300 in total for just a mobo swap, hopefully i can find out about my warranty or if i'm out of luck with that, push them for a free service since this is all caused by them, i only tried to fix their crappy product using their crappy firmware and their own instructions and their crappy **** malfunctioned!!! pardon me french, but im mad as hell! and this indian/paki guy on the phone made my mood even worse! how come we the American consumers are forced to buy some ****ty chinese made product and are forced to talk to some idiot on the phone who cant even understand us? total bs... i may as well look into some mac models as well

If i have to reach deep in my pocket, i very much prefer to just get a new deal on a sony vaip that i have had excellent sustainability and reliability experience with so far... even though its been 2.5 years since i got it, i have not had 1 single issue with it.

do u guys know which notebook brands currently are considered the most reliable ones in the market since these things change so often?

I'm looking for a $700-$1000 range for now as my alternative option if toshiba insists on rippin me off...

 

Hi.

Have you tried unplug from the mains, remove the battery and then hold the power button down for 5 seconds and then re-assemble and try the laptop?

 

i don't understand why people whine about chinese quality. sometimes the production quality is specifically ordered by a company. any company can spec a product to meet certain standards or lack of. if i'm not mistaken, toshiba is a japanese company that outsources a lot of their production to china just like many other countries and corporations, including the US. the chinese are very capable of making high quality, but it has to be paid for, and ultimately, consumers pay for it. and last time i checked, sony is also a japanese corporation who outsources alot of their production in china. and if i had a choice, i'd choose toshiba any day over sony for many many reasons. alot of toshiba products are higher quality than sony, and tend to be cheaper. sony does make some good and/or better products but i think some of the draw comes in the form of glitter.

 

If the motherboard swap costs too much then maybe you can find the same model of notebook new or used on eBay for cheap, and just throw in your HDD. If it works then you could probably put your old notebook on eBay as a "parts" laptop.

-J.B.