[REQUEST] Toshiba Satellite A300D PSAK0C-SH808C BIOS unlock

[1000palladium]

Hi there,

Working on a project bringing an old Toshiba Satellite A300D PSAK0C-SH808C back from the dead. Upgraded its processor from the stock AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-64 to TL-68. Ever since, the BIOS emits two loud beeps on startup that throws a generic read error. I'm able to press F1 to proceed to boot Windows and from there everything runs normally, so I suspect that simply because the BIOS does not expect the new part ID, it's throwing the error even though the part is compatible.

I don't mind having to press F1 on startup each time I boot, but the beep is the part that really irritates me due to how loud it is. In the current BIOS (Phoenix V2.80 for 32-bit Windows) there's no option to disable the beep. I was wondering if it would be possible to see if:

1) The option to disable BIOS beep might be an unlockable feature of V2.80
2) It's possible to have the TL-68 processor be accepted as valid hardware

I'd happily tinker with any other settings that are unlockable in this BIOS as well if they aren't too much trouble to unlock, but my main focus is the beep. If there's the ability to disable that, everything else is gravy.

Thanks in advance for anything y'all might be able to check out, I really appreciate it!

Link to BIOS: https://driverscollection.com/_451566617...WIN32-free

[Maxinator500]

Hello.

throws a generic read error

I found only "System Configuration Data Read Error" and no generic read error.
Or you mean no text message is shown and you just translated the beep code?

[1000palladium]

Hi there, thanks for taking a look! Yes that's the error I'm getting ("System Configuration Data Read Error"). I assumed that was just a sort of "best fit" error since the system didn't know what was actually happening. I've tried to interpret that beep code for my system but none of the possibilities I've found have checked out for me. I've cleaned and reseated both the RAM and CPU, I've checked the connection on the hard drive, went through every connection on the motherboard meticulously to make sure all the connectors and solder points looked good. I can find no reason for the error so I assumed it just recognises the CPU is not the model that was stock for this system and giving that error. Unfortunately I no longer have the old CPU to test that theory though

In any case, I've been using the system this way for a while now and just moving past this screen to the OS boot doesn't seem to cause any problems. Every bit of software, hardware, and peripherals all work perfectly. So rather than trying to figure out what the issue is, I figured I'd just see if it was possible to silence the beeps haha. Thanks again!

throws a generic read error

I found only "System Configuration Data Read Error" and no generic read error.
Or you mean no text message is shown and you just translated the beep code?

[Maxinator500]

I assumed it just recognises the CPU is not the model that was stock

I don't think it does so.
One odd thing I noticed is that the bios uses code for CPU ID 60F80, which is marked as engineering, according to cpu-world. While the correct one must be 60F82. There was no error with the previous cpu though, so idk if this is true.

I figured I'd just see if it was possible to silence the beeps haha.

There is no explicit setting to add, which mutes beeping.
I found Quiet Boot setting. Its description says: when enabled, display the diagnostic screen during boot.

I added the setting to Main menu. bios-20090226170023.zip. Try disabling it.

Also, here's one of the web search results related to the error. It might be worth trying the tips from there.

[1000palladium]

Sorry, I was off-grid for the weekend!

Thank you for investigating it, I really appreciate all the work. Let me try this out and I'll let you know what it achieves. Either way, I think we've gone as far as we can so if this doesn't silence it, I imagine nothing will, haha. What I'll probably end up doing if it doesn't work is just disconnecting the onboard speakers from the motherboard and just always using that computer with headphones/external speakers.

Thanks again and I'll report back!

[1000palladium]

I assumed it just recognises the CPU is not the model that was stock

I don't think it does so.
One odd thing I noticed is that the bios uses code for CPU ID 60F80, which is marked as engineering, according to cpu-world. While the correct one must be 60F82. There was no error with the previous cpu though, so idk if this is true.

I figured I'd just see if it was possible to silence the beeps haha.

There is no explicit setting to add, which mutes beeping.
I found Quiet Boot setting. Its description says: when enabled, display the diagnostic screen during boot.

I added the setting to Main menu. bios-20090226170023.zip. Try disabling it.

Also, here's one of the web search results related to the error. It might be worth trying the tips from there.

Thanks again for looking into this! I had a chance to flash with the new BIOS this week. Unfortunately it didn't achieve the desired result - I was hoping the quiet boot being disabled might just have it bypass that diagnostic screen altogether which is where the beep happens since it's when the error is registered. But that is not what it does, sadly.

In terms of the error, yeah I did check out some of the common issues with that specific message before turning to the BIOS since I thought it might be solvable that way. I replaced the CMOS battery as well as connector, also tried reinstalling the operating system. Since all the other hardware is working exactly as expected (at least as far as I can tell), I can't figure out any reason for this error. But as mentioned earlier, a solution for the loud beeps every time I turn on the system is just to disconnect the speakers from the motherboard and then use external speakers or headphones for any applications I need sound for.

Thanks again!