Got a puter problem

[Henning]

Henning, if you weren't halfway around the world we could take it to my CFI/computer company CEO in Vicksburg, MS and examine the BIOS parameters.

I'm no Toshiba certified repairman, but I bet something the BIOS has gotten hosed and a reflash might at least recover the ROM to pre-usb external drive configuration. There may even be a BIOS update that can handle the external drive status changes.

I did the BIOS update that was offered on the Toshiba site which claimed to correct USB issues with No Joy, sigh. Maybe it wasn't complete enough.

 

[Henning]

I'm leaning towards an actual hardware issue.

Of course nothing is for sure since I can't see it. But that's what it sounds like.

I'm thinking the same thing. Doesn't seem to matter what brand I buy, I get about 1 year out of a laptop before I start having "Issues". Typically they deal with the motherboard. For those of you who say "Go Mac", I haven't had any better luck with them either and I was crippled by software issues. I was considering one of the Ruggedized Panasonic MilSpec units, but for the price and with obsolecense issues, I'm cheaper by half to just get a new one on an annual basis and even better off just dealing with the work around for an extra year till it all goes to crap.

 

[Greebo]

I'm inclined to agree - it may be a bios issue, but it seems unlikely given the symptoms. Time for the techs to look at it.

 

[Henning]

I'm inclined to agree - it may be a bios issue, but it seems unlikely given the symptoms. Time for the techs to look at it.

Rarely is it "worth" having the techs look at it. Typically costs more than the unit is worth, especially on a laptop where the answer to every problem I can't fix myself is "Motherboard". Replacing parts I can do, that's not a problem. Except for hard drives and memory chips, I haven't found it cost effective to go replacing parts on year + old laptops. With a minimum bill of $500 to fix the thing and you only get another year to obsolesence, why bother.

 

[Brian Austin]

Rarely is it "worth" having the techs look at it. Typically costs more than the unit is worth, especially on a laptop where the answer to every problem I can't fix myself is "Motherboard". Replacing parts I can do, that's not a problem. Except for hard drives and memory chips, I haven't found it cost effective to go replacing parts on year + old laptops. With a minimum bill of $500 to fix the thing and you only get another year to obsolesence, why bother.

And, as I'm finding out with some Toshibas here at the office, replacing the motherboard is usually done with "refurbished" parts. I'm having MORE issues now, after the warranty replacement, then before!!

 

[gismo]

Rarely is it "worth" having the techs look at it. Typically costs more than the unit is worth, especially on a laptop where the answer to every problem I can't fix myself is "Motherboard". Replacing parts I can do, that's not a problem. Except for hard drives and memory chips, I haven't found it cost effective to go replacing parts on year + old laptops. With a minimum bill of $500 to fix the thing and you only get another year to obsolesence, why bother.

You might be able to find an identical unit with display problems that you could combine with yours to make a working laptop for little money. One other thing you might try as a last ditch effort would be to remove any unnecessary internal accessories like modems, WiFi, optical drives, floppy drives etc. The USB problem may not actually be with the USB itself.

 

[Henning]

You might be able to find an identical unit with display problems that you could combine with yours to make a working laptop for little money. One other thing you might try as a last ditch effort would be to remove any unnecessary internal accessories like modems, WiFi, optical drives, floppy drives etc. The USB problem may not actually be with the USB itself.

It's really too much freakin bother, and then what assurance do I have it's gonna last for more than a month? As Alfred E Newman would say in the old days "Bleeaach". I'm not real sure about PC based panels in a plane, but then from the track record of the Avidyne system, seems they are changing things out as frequently.