When I open it today, the system failed to boot up with below error
message:-

Valid password entered, system is now starting up.
IDE#0 ERROR

Intel(R) Boot Agent FE v4.1.10
Copyright(c) 1997-2003, Intel Corporation.

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Existing Intel Boot Agent.
Insert system disk in drive.
Press any key when ready........

It appears to me that the harddisk is broken down. I have learnt that the
harddisk is a special one. Can I change it by myself. Is the special HDD
is available on the market? I use it for one year and am not a heavy user
in past one year. How come is a hard disk so unreliable?

Thanks,

Scott

All that this message says is that {for whatever reason} it's trying
(and failing) to boot from the network rather than from a hard drive.
The message doesn't NECESSARILY mean that the hard drive is bad,
although that is possible.

I'm finding no such laptop as a Portege R150 on the Toshiba web site,
are you certain that is the correct designation?

Toshiba does not use proprietary or special drives. All of their
Satellite and Tecra laptops that I've ever worked on (I service laptops)
use industry standard IDE or SATA 2.5" drives that are not difficult to
change (although some are easier than others, and there are a few models
that require major disassembly to change the drive). I have not worked
on any Portege models, and it's possible that some of them might use
1.8" drives, which are not common, and there are two standards for 1.8"
drives.


Scott wrote:
> When I open it today, the system failed to boot up with below error
> message:-
>
> Valid password entered, system is now starting up.
> IDE#0 ERROR
>
> Intel(R) Boot Agent FE v4.1.10
> Copyright(c) 1997-2003, Intel Corporation.
>
> PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
> PXE-M0F: Existing Intel Boot Agent.
> Insert system disk in drive.
> Press any key when ready........
>
> It appears to me that the harddisk is broken down. I have learnt that the
> harddisk is a special one. Can I change it by myself. Is the special HDD
> is available on the market? I use it for one year and am not a heavy user
> in past one year. How come is a hard disk so unreliable?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Scott
>
>

Barry Watzman wrote:
>
> Toshiba does not use proprietary or special drives. All of their
> Satellite and Tecra laptops that I've ever worked on (I service laptops)
> use industry standard IDE or SATA 2.5" drives that are not difficult to
> change (although some are easier than others, and there are a few models
> that require major disassembly to change the drive). I have not worked
> on any Portege models, and it's possible that some of them might use
> 1.8" drives, which are not common, and there are two standards for 1.8"
> drives.

Portege 4000 and Tecra 9100 use same IDE 2.5" drives and same caddy.
Undo about 4 screws on the bottom, remove the cover plate and the drive
in its caddy comes right out. Caddy is a holder and a platic frame that
goes around the pins on the drive to stop them spreading out as the
contact in the computer mates between the two rows of pins.

Nice thing about these two models is the selectabay means optical drives
and extra battery are interchangeable. So is main hard drive and battery
pack.

Ian Singer


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