Frantic disk activity and 100% CPU activity for 10 minutes after start

Thanks, Doug. No, there wasn't a CD in the drive. The hard drive is already at the top of the list in the BIOS. Does it neeed to be enabled in some way or is it enabled by virtue of being first? Rosie

hmmm. those are the only two conditions that come to mind regarding the F12 feature. I see Ztruker reading this Thread. Hopefully he will have a suggestion. Otherwise, it's back to research for me, and a delayed response to you. Sorry. I'll get back. Doug

Thank, Doug. No hurry to get back to me as I've got family commitments for the next few days and won't have access to the laptop again until Sunday. Have a good weekend, Rosie

RosieB, You are very kind. You have a good weekend too.

Hi RosieB.

The Users Manual for your laptop is here: http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/inn….jsp?service=UK

Click on the white triangle in the red circle to download, then unzip it.

It doesn't have any information of removing/replacing the keyboard unfortunately. I've done this on several different makes of llaptops and each is a bit different so having a step by step guide would be a very good idea. Your best bet would be to contact Toshiba, hopefully via their web site and ask them for a guide on how to remove the keyboard.

Anyway, look at Chapter 7, Hardware Setup. It tells you how to restore the BIOS settings to default. Try that and see if it resolves your F12 at boot problem.

Thank you for that suggestion, Ztruker. I noticed that I could press F9 to restore default settings when I was looking at the BIOS following Doug's earlier suggestion. I pressed it in hope, but the notebook still hangs on the Toshiba page that asks me to press either F2 or F12. On Sunday, I'll try doing it through the Hardware Setup Utility, as per Chapter 7. It may work! I'll email Toshiba for step-by-step instructions for removing the keyboad. Thanks, that's a good idea. Rosie

Rosie, please let us know how you make out. Thanks

Anyway, look at Chapter 7, Hardware Setup. It tells you how to restore the BIOS settings to default. Try that and see if it resolves your F12 at boot problem.

I tried Hardware Setup but still no luck.

In Chapter 9 (page 9-4), I see that it says the Self Test has failed if the OS doesn't load. The solution is to contact the dealer.

Re: removing the keyboard - I found a very helpful site with pictures of how to do this,
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/tosh…therboard-2.htm
I shall try to clean it tomorrow and see if that solves my Spacebar problem.

If I can get hold of a USB keyboard, I'll try it and see if all the keys work.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Rosie

Guess you have to be a musician or have a guitar playing friend to do this repair.

I just stuck my fingernails under the bezel strip and pulled it up - easy peasy! I've given the keyboard a liberal clean with a water/isopropyl mix. I'll leave it for a few hours and hope it does the trick. Under the keyboard seemed very clean. I only spotted a single wine drip which i cleaned. Everything else looked pristine. I don't really want to go beyond step 10 in the guide until after I've tried another keyboard. So far, no-one I've asked has a USB keyboard; I may have to buy a PS2 to USB adapter or even a cheap keyboard to try it out. I'll keep you posted. Rosie

Doesn't the laptop have a single PS/2 connector port? (round with multi-pin holes) If not, that's fine. Just thinking that PS/2 is likely to be less expensive, and/or maybe one laying around available.

Just to update you …. I've just switched the laptop back on and……. Yippee!!! The Spacebar is now working again. There must have been something preventing contact. As for the POST problem, I think we'll just have to live with it for now. I've found that if I click ENTER , rather than F12, it then starts the boot sequence. There still seems to be a lot of disk activity, I wonder if defragmentation might help? Thanks for all your help, Rosie

Defrag's a good idea.

Your Pit Test reported being so fragmeted that it could not test.
We just hadn't gotten that far with the other issues as yet.

Let's get rid of temporary files and junk before starting Defrag
Download ATF-Cleaner and allow it to clear everything except - Prefetch
http://www.atribune.org/index.php?option=c…5&Itemid=25

Next

You'll need to run Error Checking before Defrag.
and once you get to the point of defragging, you should run your defrag while in SAFE Mode, since many fewer processes are active in SAFE Mode.

go to Start - Run - (type):chkdsk /r - then press enter.

You'll be warned that you cannot run CHKDSK due to files being in use.
You'll be invite to schedule CHKDSK for next boot….. select Y for yes
Reboot and allow CHKDSK to run through its entire course of 5 scans.
May take 40 minutes to and hour to complete.

It will boot into Normal Windows when it automatically completes.
Do not touch the keyboard or interupt CHKDSK during its operation.

Next

After CHKDSK is complete and booted back into Windows, select Turn-off and Restart…. Taping F8 repeatedly during initial Boot to get to the Boot Option Menu…. Then select SAFE Mode

Once in SAFE Mode,
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tool - Disk Defrag

Run a fresh PCPitstop Full Test and post your results after completing the above

I did all you asked. Here's the link:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?conid=22588063

Oddly, following some windows updates last night, when I switched on today the laptop booted normally! It hasn't stuck at the boot page at all today.

Rosie