Can't Boot

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I have
a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I can
see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard drive
spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can still hear
the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but nothing on the
screen. If I then force a power off by holding the power button down for
about five seconds, the machine beeps, and turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external drive
when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is readable
as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never reached the boot
up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB flash drive
as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot from USB, since I
can't get in to change the boot order?

TIA

Boris wrote in
09.88:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I
have a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I
can see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard
drive spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can
still hear the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but
nothing on the screen. If I then force a power off by holding the
power button down for about five seconds, the machine beeps, and turns
off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external
drive when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is
readable as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never
reached the boot up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB flash
drive as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot from
USB, since I can't get in to change the boot order?

TIA


There is no hard drive light, so I don't know if the hard drive is
actually booting the machine, but I can't tell because 'maybe' the
display is be dead. I'll connect the HDMI out to another display and
see what happens.

On Thu, 7 Jul 2016 21:24:00 -0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

Boris wrote in
. 209.88:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I
have a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I
can see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard
drive spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can
still hear the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but
nothing on the screen. If I then force a power off by holding the
power button down for about five seconds, the machine beeps, and turns
off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external
drive when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is
readable as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never
reached the boot up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB flash
drive as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot from
USB, since I can't get in to change the boot order?

TIA


There is no hard drive light, so I don't know if the hard drive is
actually booting the machine, but I can't tell because 'maybe' the
display is be dead. I'll connect the HDMI out to another display and
see what happens.

Do you see anything at all on the notebook display? POST messages,
Toshiba logo, anything?

Boris wrote:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I have
a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I can
see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard drive
spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can still hear
the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but nothing on the
screen. If I then force a power off by holding the power button down for
about five seconds, the machine beeps, and turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external drive
when connected to another computer. All files are there.

Does the laptop have a video output, like a VGA port? If so, connect it
to an external monitor. You may have to hit an Fn key combo to get the
hardware to switch from internal to external monitor (the manual should
explain how).

Is the problem the screen remains blank although you suspect Windows has
actually loaded? Do you hear any beeps when you cold boot the laptop?

Boris wrote:

There is no hard drive light, so I don't know if the hard drive is
actually booting the machine, but I can't tell because 'maybe' the
display is be dead. I'll connect the HDMI out to another display and
see what happens.

You said you hear the hard drive spin up (sounds like a little turbine
engine). You said "hard drive" so it is an HDD, not an SSD (which
obviously makes no startup noise). After the spinup noise, does it start
chirping as the result of its heads bouncing around to seek different
tracks to load files? Does it just make the spinup noise and that's it?

Stormin' Norman wrote in
:

On Thu, 7 Jul 2016 21:24:00 -0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

Boris wrote in
.209.88:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then
auto- upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month
ago. I have a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button,
I can see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the
hard drive spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I
can still hear the hard drive spinning. The power light is still
on, but nothing on the screen. If I then force a power off by
holding the power button down for about five seconds, the machine
beeps, and turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external
drive when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is
readable as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never
reached the boot up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB
flash drive as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot
from USB, since I can't get in to change the boot order?

TIA


There is no hard drive light, so I don't know if the hard drive is
actually booting the machine, but I can't tell because 'maybe' the
display is be dead. I'll connect the HDMI out to another display and
see what happens.

Do you see anything at all on the notebook display? POST messages,
Toshiba logo, anything?


Nope. Nada. Zilch. Not even a blink.

In article 8
Boris wrote:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I have
a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I can
see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard drive
spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can still hear
the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but nothing on the
screen. If I then force a power off by holding the power button down for
about five seconds, the machine beeps, and turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external drive
when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is readable
as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never reached the boot
up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB flash drive
as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot from USB, since I
can't get in to change the boot order?


Can you enter bios?

Is your HDD recognized?

"Boris" wrote in message
09.88...
I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I have
a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I can
see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard drive
spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can still hear
the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but nothing on the
screen. If I then force a power off by holding the power button down for
about five seconds, the machine beeps, and turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external drive
when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is readable
as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never reached the
boot
up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB flash
drive
as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot from USB, since I
can't get in to change the boot order?

The mobo could be bad. If so, it is probably a bad capacitor. Or, it could
just be bad. My new computer will arrive next week; it replaces the one
that did much the same as yours, mobo was shot.

Can you enter BIOS?

VanguardLH wrote in :

Boris wrote:

There is no hard drive light, so I don't know if the hard drive is
actually booting the machine, but I can't tell because 'maybe' the
display is be dead. I'll connect the HDMI out to another display and
see what happens.

You said you hear the hard drive spin up (sounds like a little turbine
engine). You said "hard drive" so it is an HDD, not an SSD (which
obviously makes no startup noise). After the spinup noise, does it
start chirping as the result of its heads bouncing around to seek
different tracks to load files? Does it just make the spinup noise
and that's it?


Good question SSD or hard drive. The specs say Storage Drive:

"500 GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive with 32 GB (system use
only) solid state disk cache"

The label on the hard drive says nothing about an SSD cache. The label
says:

500 GB
SATA 3.0Gb/s

The label also shows Hitachi HDD:Z5K500-500. When I look this up on
google, there's no mention of any SSD disk cache.

But, it does start up really fast, when working, so I believe it has an
SSD disk cache, I do believe it is a mechanical hard drive because when
purchased in November 2012, the cost of the machine was $600, and at
that time, I don't think you could have purchased a 14" machine with a
500GB SSD for that amount.

Plus, it says 5400 RPM.

In the condition it's in now, I do hear mechanical noise when it spins
up, but then just a very, very faint hum, which sounds like the platter
spinning.

VanguardLH wrote in :

Boris wrote:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I
have a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I
can see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard
drive spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can
still hear the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but
nothing on the screen. If I then force a power off by holding the
power button down for about five seconds, the machine beeps, and
turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external
drive when connected to another computer. All files are there.

Does the laptop have a video output, like a VGA port? If so, connect
it to an external monitor. You may have to hit an Fn key combo to get
the hardware to switch from internal to external monitor (the manual
should explain how).

It has an HDMI port, and that is my next step later this evening. Gotta
run out for a while. Will report back.

Is the problem the screen remains blank although you suspect Windows
has actually loaded?

I am beginning go suspect that.

Do you hear any beeps when you cold boot the
laptop?


No beeps, but then none of my Win10 machines make a sound when the
Windows splash screen appears, like the 'old' Windows did.

"dadiOH" wrote in :


"Boris" wrote in message
09.88...
I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I
have a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I
can see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard
drive spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can
still hear the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but
nothing on the screen. If I then force a power off by holding the
power button down for about five seconds, the machine beeps, and
turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external
drive when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is
readable as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never
reached the boot
up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB flash
drive
as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot from USB,
since I can't get in to change the boot order?

The mobo could be bad. If so, it is probably a bad capacitor. Or, it
could just be bad. My new computer will arrive next week; it replaces
the one that did much the same as yours, mobo was shot.

Can you enter BIOS?




Wish I could, but Not in Windows 10.

Nomen Nescio wrote in
:

In article 8
Boris wrote:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I
have a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I
can see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard
drive spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can
still hear the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but
nothing on the screen. If I then force a power off by holding the
power button down for about five seconds, the machine beeps, and
turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external
drive when connected to another computer. All files are there.

So, any idea what could cause this? The hard drive spins, and is
readable as an external drive, but won't boot up. Perhaps it never
reached the boot up stage?

Could the UEFI be corrupt? If so, I believe I can format a USB flash
drive as FAT32, but how would I get the ailing machine to boot from
USB, since I can't get in to change the boot order?


Can you enter bios?

Is your HDD recognized?



Nope. My understanding is that you can only enter BIOS, or Safe Mode in
a UEFI controlled machine once the OS boots, and you select Settings...

I've tried F2, F8, F12,

Boris wrote:
VanguardLH wrote in :

Boris wrote:

There is no hard drive light, so I don't know if the hard drive is
actually booting the machine, but I can't tell because 'maybe' the
display is be dead. I'll connect the HDMI out to another display and
see what happens.
You said you hear the hard drive spin up (sounds like a little turbine
engine). You said "hard drive" so it is an HDD, not an SSD (which
obviously makes no startup noise). After the spinup noise, does it
start chirping as the result of its heads bouncing around to seek
different tracks to load files? Does it just make the spinup noise
and that's it?


Good question SSD or hard drive. The specs say Storage Drive:

"500 GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive with 32 GB (system use
only) solid state disk cache"

The label on the hard drive says nothing about an SSD cache. The label
says:

500 GB
SATA 3.0Gb/s

The label also shows Hitachi HDD:Z5K500-500. When I look this up on
google, there's no mention of any SSD disk cache.

But, it does start up really fast, when working, so I believe it has an
SSD disk cache, I do believe it is a mechanical hard drive because when
purchased in November 2012, the cost of the machine was $600, and at
that time, I don't think you could have purchased a 14" machine with a
500GB SSD for that amount.

Plus, it says 5400 RPM.

In the condition it's in now, I do hear mechanical noise when it spins
up, but then just a very, very faint hum, which sounds like the platter
spinning.

That could be SRT. Normally the cache module is 20GB
of SLC flash chips. (When I say normally, it's because
Larson Creek tended to be bundled with the product.
Users could still add their own, on desktop systems.
And Larson Creek being built on SLC chips, it would
have the wear life for this application.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology

(Example of a 20GB Larson Creek cache module. You stopped
being able to buy these particular ones, several years ago.)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820167063

Installing a new OS, would cause the SRT cache to purge
the old files stored there for acceleration purposes. As
speeding up boot is one of its jobs.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/i...ching-review/2

So somewhere, there should be controls for it. To enable
write-back or write-thru, to enable or disable caching
entirely. When it disables caching, then the hard drive
should have complete copies of all files. The Anandtech
article should give you enough hints to figure it out.

When the cache is operated in the "slow writes" mode,
then the hard drive always has a complete set of files.
In the "fast write" mode, where the writes go to SSD,
and are later transferred to the hard drive, if the
cache dies before the transfer is complete, the copy
on the hard drive will not be complete.

Just a guess,
Paul

VanguardLH wrote in :

Boris wrote:

I've (wife) got a Toshiba laptop, originally running Win8, then auto-
upgraded to Win8.1, then auto-upgraded to Win10 about a month ago. I
have a recovery USB drive for this machine.

Yesterday, the machine wouldn't boot. If I press the power button, I
can see the power light come on, I hear the fan come on, and the hard
drive spin up, After about three seconds, the fan stops, but I can
still hear the hard drive spinning. The power light is still on, but
nothing on the screen. If I then force a power off by holding the
power button down for about five seconds, the machine beeps, and
turns off completely.

I removed the hard drive, and can access it just fine as an external
drive when connected to another computer. All files are there.

Does the laptop have a video output, like a VGA port? If so, connect
it to an external monitor. You may have to hit an Fn key combo to get
the hardware to switch from internal to external monitor (the manual
should explain how).

Is the problem the screen remains blank although you suspect Windows
has actually loaded? Do you hear any beeps when you cold boot the
laptop?

Well, I just connected the machine to my TV via an HDMI, Of course I
can't see the list of external outputs, and I need to select Second
Screen Only. It's at the bottom of the list, which I can't see, but I
used the touchpad to blindly scroll all the way right and then down, but
no luck when I then clicked. BTW, I can't see the mouse arrow either,

I can't see a way of testing the LCD monitor without seeing anyting on
screen to be sure that I've selected the proper output.

Out of warranty repair costs are high, per the Toshiba Repair Site:

Minor Repair: $375.00*
Replacement of either the hard drive, touchpad,
keyboard, CD or DVD driver, or memory (RAM).

Major Repair: $550.00*
Replacement or repair of either the LCD
or motherboard.

I may have to scrap this machine.

On 7/7/2016 7:51 PM, Boris wrote:

The mobo could be bad. If so, it is probably a bad capacitor. Or, it
could just be bad. My new computer will arrive next week; it replaces
the one that did much the same as yours, mobo was shot.

Can you enter BIOS?




Wish I could, but Not in Windows 10.

If your system still has the CD drive as the first boot device you might
want to try booting one of the live Linux CD's just to see if that
brings up the screen.