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Toshiba T5100

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prw411

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Messages
28
Good day (or evening) folks! I bought a T5100 (w/40Mb HD and 3.5 1.44M? floppy) at a flea market today. It was working fine with the exception of BAD CMOS / CMOS battery dead error. I had no problems using it until I decided I didn't need what was on the Hard drive (like Windows 3.1...)and decided to format it. Now everytime I try to boot from a floppy I get the same Non-system disk error, or Problem with diskette...:killcomputer: I tried formating a 3.5 to 720k as a boot disk but even that fails to register. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As for me I am :confused:

Paul
 
1. Try cleaning the diskette drives heads with a head cleaning kit.

2. I'm unfamiliar with the T5100 CMOS setup, but maybe a setting in there? Low probability given the dedicated nature of a laptop/notebook's CMOS/BIOS setup.

3. If the diskette drive is making a 'grawnching' sound (stepper motor struggling), then the metal shaft on which the head assembly slides probably needs cleaning followed by relubrication. I normally see this problem on old (unused for many years) 5.25 drives - very rarely 3.5 drives.
 
Thank you. I did get different errors for different disks that I tried, although I am quite sure they were all 1.44Mb in capacity. Perhaps I have been looking for a software solution where as you have suggested it may simply be a mechanical problem. The machine had been outside for most of the day in the sun (28C today and humid! probably didn't help either:( Anyways I will open it up and take those steps. I will let post again if I get any progress...
 
Did you fix it?

Did you fix it?

Hi
I got a T5100 also a few weeks ago. In great condition. Had to replace the battery though.
I think I had the same problem as you when I tried to format the HD and start over with MS DOS 6.22. Turned out it didn't try to boot from the floppy, so as the HD was without any OS, problems occurred ;-)
Anyway, the switch on the left side was the solution for me.
So, did you fix it, and if so, how is it running?

Roger
 
No, I unfortunately did not fix it yet, but I'm glad you found a solution to yours. I had started to open it up to get the hard drive out, but it's no easy task! I ran into a few stubborn screws. What a mess now....:lookroun:
 
prw411 said:
.................. I had started to open it up to get the hard drive out, but it's no easy task! I ran into a few stubborn screws. ................
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that.
It's an interesting portable I could only dream of when it was current. I used to have a neighbor who had a T-3100, and I used that a little. Awesome at the time. I kid you not, but the T-3100 was about USD 5,000 there back then.
Anyway, just curious why you want to pull the hard drive? Sure it is bad?
I did open the thing in order to change the battery. Not too easy, but ... Of course, getting it back together was a little harder, but succeeded after some frustration.
I managed to find some info about the T-5100. Let me know if you're interested.
I'm still amazed by the build quality of it. It's like a tank compared to today's lightweigthers. I have an early Satellite also, and that's just plain crap in comparison.

Later
Roger
 
Why did I plan to remove the hard drive? Impatience really. I picked a bad time to work with a machine that didn't so I figured well I can't boot the hard drive and couldn't even boot from the floppy, so maybe I should just reformat the drive - et voila!. I should have taken time to gather more info.:( In any case I have a set of Toshiba MS-Dos disks with some pretty interesting utilities if you would like I could send you the images, or since I won't be using them myself anytime soon perhaps I could send them to you. Hate to see stuff sitting around gathering dust when someone else could make use of it. Let me know. By the way, yes they are built like tanks- what is that bullet-proof plating? :lol: As for the cost- I remember my father bringing home a laptop (286)from work (late 80's). It could have been in the range of CAN$5000-$10000! I paid $20 for the Toshiba;)
 
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