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Toshiba T3100/20 Boot Issues

Caleb Hansberry

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
624
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
I just got a T3100/20 on eBay as-is. So here's what happens when it boots:
First, an all-red screen. Then it tests the memory.
fWdcBkm.jpg

Then it beeps and shows this screen:
Cj3Xulk.jpg

The only thing to do is press F1. Then it restarts, spins up the HDD, tests the FDD, beeps, and then turns off both drive lights and rests at a blinking cursor, where it remains indefinitely:
5OxFGj6.jpg


I have an SCSI card for it, if I put it in it does the same thing but says "SCSI" in the boot screen. Any ideas what I can do with it? Is not the T3100 supposed to have DOS in ROM, or at least some way to enter the BIOS settings, or some way to boot from floppy disk?
Help is, as tends to be the case, appreciated. Thanks.
 
Update: I got it to usually get to boot a floppy disk. So this leaves me with three questions:
1) Why isn't there a setting to enter the CMOS settings anywhere, and is it a DOS program I can download and run such as was used in the Satellite 250CDS?
2) It sometimes says "HARD DRIVE INITIALIZATION FAILURE" on booting, and I cannot access the HDD, though it spins up - what are the first step to determining what's up with the HDD?
3)Is there anything I can do with a machine that only boots to FDD and seemingly doesn't support any graphics? So far I haven't found any software (like a game) that can run right on the T3100.
Thanks,
Caleb
 
If you have not seen it already, there is a T3100 maintenance manual at [here].

The T3100 will have an internal battery to maintain the setting of the 'CMOS' SETUP. If that battery is faulty (e.g. due to old age), it may be the cause of your computer's symptoms. The battery is referred to on page 5-16 of the aforementioned maintenance manual.
 
Yes, I've read the manual, thanks for the link though.
Replaced the battery, no change besides no CMOS errors. Main thing I'm wondering is, why does it never give me an option to access the CMOS settings?
 
1) Why isn't there a setting to enter the CMOS settings anywhere, and is it a DOS program I can download and run such as was used in the Satellite 250CDS?
I thought that the "press [F1] key" displayed was an indication that the pressing of F1 would take you into SETUP, but page 8-8 of the manual that I pointed you to indicates that for the T3100/20, Toshiba have emulated the IBM AT by placing SETUP functionality into the DIAGNOSTICS program. In the program, SETUP is the last menu option.

page 8-7 of the manual indicates that the DIAGNOSTICS program is named TESTCE.

There is a TESTCE.EXE in the \DIAGS\LOW folder of the Toshiba ZIP file available for download from [here].

2) It sometimes says "HARD DRIVE INITIALIZATION FAILURE" on booting, and I cannot access the HDD, though it spins up - what are the first step to determining what's up with the HDD?
Some things to try:
* After you set up the drive in the CMOS SETUP, perform the hard drive test that is in the aforementioned DIAGNOSTICS program.
* Open the T3100/20 and then re-seat the connectors associated with the drive and its controller.

3)Is there anything I can do with a machine that only boots to FDD and seemingly doesn't support any graphics?
The T3100/20 flyer [here] indicates graphics capability.
 
As far as i can remember you had to hold ESC when powering up and then you got to the BIOS. Can also try F1 or F2 if that doesn't work. There i would check especially the HDD settings. WHen the system hangs on boot it is likely that the faulty CMOS battery resetted everything to default and that your HDD does not match the default setting, i.e. having the wrong number of Cylinders or so configured. Then you get the endless hanging. For real troubleshooting set it to "no HDD" then reboot and see if it still hangs. Try booting from floppy to check if that drive is OK.

The T3100 has CGA graphics and so you can run Windows 3.0 (Windows 3.1 if you pre-configure it with CGA drivers), you can run old games like "Space Quest IV", "Monkey Island (CGA/EGA version ONLY), "Nuclear War", "Sim City", "Lemmings" and such... If you install a network card and WIndows 3.1 and Trumpet you can even use it for Internet browsing (Though most sites will cough up on old browsers).
 
Yeah, it turns out on some models pressing F1 does subsequently bring up the settings menu, but at least on my T3100/20, the settings is a DOS program - thanks for the testce.exe, modem7, it worked great!
I did the things you guys suggested for testing the HDD, and succeeded in getting it to respond, got it's info, and booted DOS from a DOS 3.3 disk made on my awesome flawless T1200.

Thanks for the info kyodai! I've tried an assortment of holding down or pressing ESC, F1, or F2, but to no avail - so far the testce.exe is the only way I've found to access the settings. I did succeed in getting it to boot from FDD, so it's not the fault of the system board anyway. I'll replace the CMOS battery in a few days, that will tell more.
Thanks for the suggestions, I will look into them! Sometime I'd like more info on running 3.1 on it too, that sounds quite interesting. :eek:

I've made a lot of progress through chatting on the IRC channel, #vc on concrete.slashnet.org, thanks all you people on there! I'll have more info once I get the CMOS battery replaced.
 
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Ohhhhhhkay so now I have a different problem with booting. The display stopped showing anything ever (I have no external display of any sort). I tested the leads according to the manual, revealing that the power and mobo should be fine, leaving the issue with either the display or the display's PCB. I... don't know what to do about this, I can't really test the screen further than that nor buy a new one, and I have no idea why it stopped working or if it'll start working again. Sheesh, such is life I guess, perhaps it'll randomly start working.
 
Hi,

Did it stop working AFTER you took it apart to replace the CMOS battery?

If so, I'd go back over EVERY step of the dis-assembly/reassembly and check ALL connections.

Then report back, and we can try other things if need be.

gwk
 
Ohhhhhhkay so now I have a different problem with booting. The display stopped showing anything ever (I have no external display of any sort). I tested the leads according to the manual, revealing that the power and mobo should be fine, leaving the issue with either the display or the display's PCB. I... don't know what to do about this, I can't really test the screen further than that nor buy a new one, and I have no idea why it stopped working or if it'll start working again. Sheesh, such is life I guess, perhaps it'll randomly start working.
One day, I brought my Toshiba 430CDT laptop out of storage, plugged it into mains power (house power), and then after I turned it on, I discovered a 'no display' symptom.
All of the expected booting sounds were heard.
Eventually, I discovered that if powered up the laptop with the main battery removed, the display appeared.

This turned out to be be a known isssue in the Toshiba 400 series ([reference]).

I wonder if the T3100 has the same issue.
 
Alright, I'm back! I'm very very sorry for the delay in responding, I was lazy, no excuses.

So I tried your suggestions, the last two posts, but no dice. I went ahead and bought a new unit so I'd have another PDP (plasma display panel) to test it with, and I'm very glad I did because I discovered many interesting differences between the T3100 and the T3100/20.

The T3100/20 has an AMD chip inside, maybe it's the BIOS chip I really don't know, while in the same spot the T3100 has a Toshiba chip. They certainly have different BIOSes: I have verified that the T3100 does let you change the settings by pressing F1 on boot-up, whereas the T3100/20 does *not*. You need a bootable floppy with testce on it for the T3100/20.

I made a full forum post about it on Bosaiknet: [Documentation] Full documentation of the Toshiba T3100 with lots of pictures.

So the bottom line is, the PDP no longer works; I verified that by carefully testing it with the one, then the other. That is most unfortunate but there's no help for it. I'll keep the T3100 that I used to diagnose it though, which works excellently! I'm selling the partially-functioning T3100/20 on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111890686511
 
Ah, I have just dug my 3100E/20 out to see if it works, see other thread.

I needed a new battery, putting that in and came up with BIOS screen where I could set the disc type. But after that it doesn't do anything but can't hear the disc spin up. At the moment it is all in pieces trying to get to the disc, what a rubbish piece of design. Have to have the screen hanging off the base unit by a flimsy cable. The cable seems to be soldered to the main board and connectors on the VFD are buried in the screen surround.
 
Ah, I have just dug my 3100E/20 out to see if it works, see other thread.

I needed a new battery, putting that in and came up with BIOS screen where I could set the disc type. But after that it doesn't do anything but can't hear the disc spin up. At the moment it is all in pieces trying to get to the disc, what a rubbish piece of design. Have to have the screen hanging off the base unit by a flimsy cable. The cable seems to be soldered to the main board and connectors on the VFD are buried in the screen surround.


Interesting, I had thought the 3100E was a better model since it used an IDE HDD instead of MFM. I would guess that there should be some way to unplug the cable from the screen but of course I don't know - as far as there's any similarity between the T3100 and the T3100E feel free to check out my collection of images detailing each step of disassembly, but if they're too different that won't help.
 
Interesting, I had thought the 3100E was a better model since it used an IDE HDD instead of MFM. I would guess that there should be some way to unplug the cable from the screen but of course I don't know - as far as there's any similarity between the T3100 and the T3100E feel free to check out my collection of images detailing each step of disassembly, but if they're too different that won't help.
Thanks for the writeup and pictures, I hadn't noticed many of the differences you spotted between the T3100 and T3100/20.
I Have been looking for one of the later T3100/20 BIOS revisions and noticed in your pictures that you seem to have one in your T3100/20, (chip marked 005G and 006G)
Would it be possible to make a dump from that BIOS? , that would help out a lot.
(something like "BIOS1351.zip" from https://www.dosdays.co.uk/topics/bios.php should do it)

Thanks for the help :)
 
Thanks for the writeup and pictures, I hadn't noticed many of the differences you spotted between the T3100 and T3100/20.
I Have been looking for one of the later T3100/20 BIOS revisions and noticed in your pictures that you seem to have one in your T3100/20, (chip marked 005G and 006G)
Would it be possible to make a dump from that BIOS? , that would help out a lot.
(something like "BIOS1351.zip" from https://www.dosdays.co.uk/topics/bios.php should do it)

Thanks for the help :)
The difference is between the T3100/T3100/20, and the T3100e.

I'll look for it, but I believe I sold my T3100!
 
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