Re: UPDATE: Toshiba Satellite A85-S107 Laptop POST Constant Beeping

On 9/17/2022 2:10 PM, [email protected] wrote:
>>      My Toshiba Satellite A85-S107 Laptop  keeps beeping when
>> I try to boot it up.
>>
>>      I am able to press F2 and enter the BIOS settings (beeping stops).
>> However, when I exit BIOS settings (save & exit), the beeping is back.
>>
>>      I googled for the beeping codes for this laptop, but found a list
>> of codes for others.
>>
>>       Does anyone know what a constant beeping (POST) indicates?
>>
>       UPDATE:
> 
>        I forgot to try pressing F12  (select boot device) during bootup.
> After I pressed F12 (constant beeping), the HDD was highlighted so
> I pressed Enter.  By golly, the beeping stopped and everything
> booted up just fine!!   Note:  I tried a reboot, but the beeping was
> back until I pressed F12 and pressed Enter.
> 
>       FYI:   A list of beeping codes I had downloaded, but nothing
> specified for this particular laptop.  A constant beeping may
> indicated bad RAM.  I had checked the RAM in this laptop
> via bootable RAM testing CD.  There was NO errors with
> the RAM.
> 
>       I am able to use this laptop in spite of the beeping
> at bootup.
> 
>                   John

Does it have a "check SMART data" setting in the BIOS ?

It could be that the hard drive has passed a certain number
of Reallocated sectors, and the BIOS is trying to tell you
to check the hard drive.

I'm unaware of any beep pattern for this. And this is just
a guess, based on your system "allowing you to make
your getaway" in the way that it did :-)

If you disable the BIOS setting, the beeping should then stop.

There is also a BIOS setting to "Stop on Error", which would
not allow you to escape (until fixing the problem).

The hard drive companies make a diagnostic.

You can try HDTune and the SMART table. If the Reallocated Raw
is greater than zero, that means the drive is "ripe". And you should
plan on a swap soon. Or a backup at least, so you don't lose everything.

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

    http://www.hdtune.com/files/hdtune_255.exe

Using a Linux LiveDVD, you can do

    sudo apt install smartmontools

    sudo smartctl --all /dev/sda    # Normally has a one line summary which
                                    # will say "Healthy" even when it is sick :-)

   Paul