Bios Help

[coryspc]

i have a toshiba laptop. not even a month old. i got notificaion on the toshiba bullitin board on my computer that there were recomended updates to install.
i did 2 of them with no problem but the 3rd was called bios and when you restarted your computer it said when the toshiba logo is displayed press f2 after that press f9 to load setup and f10 to save. the problem is that the logo went bye so fast i missed it and shut down my compter and did it again and did what it said to do. so now im wondering if i missed it the first time if i even got the new bios what ever that is.i checked the registry for my bios and it is tosinv - linsyde h20 version 1.20

 

[MadMaxData]

The BIOS stands for "basic input output system." It's the most critical software on your entire machine. Why in the world Toshiba instructed you to update it is beyond me. Are you having a problem with something now, or just wondering if it actually updated? BIOS updates aren't like Microsoft updates where you can mess up the install from shutting down prematurely. If that was the case, you would repeatedy be prompted to repeat the BIOS update until it was completely installed.

 

[coryspc]

i dont notice anything wrong just wondering if it took or not due to missing the logo and having to shut down and start up again. this kind of thing makes me want to never download or install anything again because i cant fix it if something goes wrong.

 

[MadMaxData]

If it's not prompting you to continue updating the BIOS, and you don't have any problems, then it installed correctly. I understand your anger too. Flashing a BIOS should be left to technicians who know the risks, and the procedure. From now on, just make sure you read the details of what software your installing. I can't stress that enough. Many times we just want to click and be done with it, but that's a really bad practice.

If anything, you can learn from this experience, and take something posative from it.

 

[thefabe]

Welcome to Seven Forums. You can type sys info in the search box>click on it and it will show your bios, you may neeed to hover your mouse over it to get the full information avalible. From this you'll see your bios version. Check it with the version listed in the update to see if your now running the updated version. Fabe

 

[Thorsen]

You can check the BIOS version by either entering the BIOS or by running a program like CPU-Z to look at what hardware you are using.

CPUID

For CPU-z, go to the Mainboard tab and you should see the BIOS version.


Edit: Also you can do what Fabe just said. Your quick Fabe

 

[coryspc]

bios version insyde 1.20 it also has a date of 1-25-2010 also smbois version 2.6 the problem i have is when i installed it it showed what it was and gave the information but all i wrote down was the instructions it gave so i dont know if the one i have is the old or the new. its a best buy laptop a505 6005. someone must have the same one and did the download. thank you for all the replies and help for my foolishness.

 

[Thorsen]

Can you post for us what the namebrand of the motherboard is? I am having difficulty finding specs online for it

 

[coryspc]

under system information what do u need i dont see an item labeled mother board. maybe its in another place that i dont know where to find it. i dont know alot about computers.

 

[Jacee]

Download Speccy, it will tell you Speccy - Download

 

[Jonathan_King]

If Speccy doesn't tell you, SIW will.

 

[coryspc]

i went to those pages it said download for advanced users and only on test computers. this is the kind of thing that got me in the situation i am in now and will not want to download it. at this point my concern is if i messed something up when i didnt hit f2 when i was supposed to. everything is working like it should. but i have read others and when they did it their computer was all messed up. i am so thankfull that mine is ok and will be doing research before atemting things like this again.
so even though i downloaded a recommended update from toshiba and failed at the instructions it could have really done damage. does anybody think that when i shut the computer down after missing the prompt it just cleared and never installed. and i did get it the second time but if cleared on shut down i never got the update and now dont even want..

 

[Jonathan_King]

They are both stable, despite what they say. We really need to know your motherboard. I guarantee 100% those programs will not harm your machine.

 

[coryspc]

intel id0042 revision 02 north bridge
intel hm55 revision 02 south bridge
is this what you need i got the siw and clicked on mother board there is also cpu and other stuff but i dont know what i need.

 

[coryspc]

that must have been the wrong 1. can someone tell me what to look for.

 

[coryspc]

system model satellite a505
manufacture toshiba

 

[mpcrsc562]

The BIOS stands for "basic input output system." It's the most critical software on your entire machine. Why in the world Toshiba instructed you to update it is beyond me. Are you having a problem with something now, or just wondering if it actually updated? BIOS updates aren't like Microsoft updates where you can mess up the install from shutting down prematurely. If that was the case, you would repeatedy be prompted to repeat the BIOS update until it was completely installed.

If it's not prompting you to continue updating the BIOS, and you don't have any problems, then it installed correctly. I understand your anger too. Flashing a BIOS should be left to technicians who know the risks, and the procedure. From now on, just make sure you read the details of what software your installing. I can't stress that enough. Many times we just want to click and be done with it, but that's a really bad practice.

If anything, you can learn from this experience, and take something posative from it.

You have to remember, this is an OEM branded machine -- not one the OP put together. The OP stated that the Toshiba Bulletin Board notified him of the update -- most PCs like that have the notifications for updates turned on automatically, so all updates are brought to notification -- bios updates too. From my experience with HP, the bios update is an .exe file and done within Windows. When I had my HP, I have never had a problem with updating the bios in that manner (and I think I did it twice).

True, if the OP has nothing wrong with his PC, then he must weigh the option of the bios upgrade. But, remember: this is a PC that Toshiba built and put together... If Toshiba thinks and recommends that a bios update is beneficial for a certain line of its PCs, then they will put out that update and the notification for it.

As with bios upgrades for aftermarket motherboards, driver updates, Microsoft updates -- it is our own perogative if we decide to update or not. But as we should know, most updates fix or improve functionality for the item(s) in question.

Lastly, if the OP does not want to update the bios, then within the automatic notifications from Toshiba, there should be an option to hide that particular update message -- similar for hiding updates in Windows Update.

 

[mpcrsc562]

i dont notice anything wrong just wondering if it took or not due to missing the logo and having to shut down and start up again. this kind of thing makes me want to never download or install anything again because i cant fix it if something goes wrong.

The question should be: when you supposedly updated the bios, did you in fact have a screen that specifically stated that you were updating the bios? The bios is extremely critical -- if you did in fact update the bios, you would have seen a warning or two telling you not to shut the computer off while the update is in progress. If you didn't see any such message, it would be safe to assume that you did not update the bios.

 

[coryspc]

there was a screen and it only took maybe 10 sec. to download when it was done my computer shut down by its self thats when i was to follow the instructions. however when i missed the first thing my computer loaded fully and i went to shut down and try again and a message came up for 1 sec saying please wait while background programs closes or something like that.