This problum is driving me insane .... so i need help.. please.

I bought 3 identical laptops , toshiba tecras 8100's , off ebay. all are the same: 850mhz 20g h/d 512 ram. all came from "lease turn-ins" from a corp.

All have win xp pro.

I only have access to the net via "cingular nationwide wireless aircard". {gt max card}

This is the problum i am having:
Cingular wireless connects to the net via there aircards... so you must do a install onto your pc with there "connection manager"... no big deal. you put the disk in , and follow the prompts. easy stuff.

After you do this, and are ready to go, you start your pc, wait for the aircard modem to find a data signal... then it connects to the net. also easy stuff.

On two of the laptops i have, they both work fine with the "connection manager" from cingular.
But one of them has never worked right. I once connected to the net with it, but after that, problums...
The laptop works fine when not connected to the net, you can do anything you want, BUT IT WONT CONNECT TO THE NET.
EVERYTIME IT STARTS TO CONNECT, THE SCREEN FREEZES, and the only to get out of that frozen screen is to use the on / off botton. nothing else will work.

The event manager shows "bios is writing to an illegal port". i dont know what that would have to do with the aircard, but something is wrong somewhere, and it must be hardware related.. something is in conflict.

The following is what i have done to fix, with no avail.

:new memory-2 sticks kingston 256's
:Complete re-install of win xp, and changed hal to "standard pc"
:chkdsk /f + defrag
ownloaded latest version of bios... but when i tried to install, it said "your system has the latest version available" 2.5 from toshiba web site.
:two laptops have 2.5 and one has 2.3 version bios. one with 2.5 and one with 2.3 both work with the aircard, one with 2.5 does not work... so i dont believe its the bios.

I did get the thing to connect once and did a complete scan from "pc pit stop" web site.
results were : device disabled / s3graphics savage mx , and - code 22 nt apm/legacy interface node.. whatever that means.

So , i go into device manager and look for a "red x" or a yellow ! , under ANYTHING IN THERE.... NOTHING WAS DISABLED!!.
I disabled everything... and made windows re-install it all.... nothing, it still freezes.

I was messing around with it the other day, just checking things.. and it "blue screened"
the error message was "s3savmx"... this is the graphics or video card driver, i think?
I dont know.
I again went in and made sure the video drivers were working properly, ... disabled them, and made win reinstall. i tried to roll back driver, would not let me do it.
THERE HAS TO BE A WAY TO FIX THIS THING!!

Other than taking it in and letting someone charge me $80. an hour to fix it... im stuck.
I only paid $150. per laptop.. so i dont want to spend to much to fix it,.. but these are good little machines... they have a great color on the screens, and work fine for what i use them for.

I cant figure out why it keeps pointing toward s3savmx, this has to be the problum, but when i check out... there is nothing wrong.
All systems show "working properly" when you click on
properties.
I have never had the laptop hooked up to a hard line internet connection, i dont have access to this, just the aircard.

Any suggestion ?

I would try this driver from Toshiba:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...ngdgmm.0&ct=DL

toshiba tecras 8100

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...ceghdgngdgmm.0

Thank you for the driver update, and i will use it when i can.... the problum is that i cannot access the internet to update, because .. it will not connect to the net.

I will have to take the laptop in somewhere and get a hardline connection, then do the update, or re-installing or the driver.
Thanks for taking the time.... i know it was a long post, but i wanted to put all the info out there, so you knew what was done. thanks gregg

It was just my first reaction.

As you surmised s3graphics savage mx is your integrated graphics chip.

Sorry I missed the point of not being on-line but assuming the laptop has a CD drive you could import it off of another computer.

Also you might want to check the BIOS Settings to ensure that the graphics has not been disabled.

For whatever reason the previous owner might have disabled it.

Just an afterthought: have you tried booting into Safe Mode with Networking?

This going to sound dumb... but how do i check the "bios " for a disable?
I am not real literate in the pc game yet... but having a problum sure teaches you a lot!!

ITS actually kind of fun to have a hard problum...

Also, i did try in safe mode under ALL settings there, it still froze. gregg

There is a Display Options when you Power On the Computer via Fn + F5

This hot key cycles through the power-on display options.
The display modes are:
built-in display panel only, built-in display panel and
external monitor simultaneously, external monitor only,
built in display panel and TV (or other external video
device) simultaneously, and TV (or other external video
device) only.
In order to use a simultaneous mode, you must set the
resolution of the internal display panel to match the
resolution of the external display device.

Here is the manual:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...ceghdgngdgmm.0

BIOS Setup is accessed on Toshiba laptops by pressing the Esc key right after Power ON.

Thank very much for all your help... you are very smart on this stuff.
i checked the bios , after "esc" on start, and matched all settings exactly to one of my other tecras.
it didnt make a difference after saving changes, and reboot.
It must be in the video driver.... and i will have to get a hard line to try and repair.

This is the first place that has really helped me!! "pc pit stop" and "elder geeks" were NO HELP at all... pit stop does have the free scans.... so i guess they are ok, but to fix the problums... you are pretty much on your own.
Many forums have people who are so advanced, that there answers are to "technical", but i like this board.
thanks again.

Thanks for the thanks.

Many regulars here started off by asking their own questions (I know I did).

I think we are a group that likes to learn together. I enjoy searching the internet to find ideas.

Let us know how it goes.

I have not fixed pc yet, but wanted also THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REG CLEANER DOWNLOAD : HOVERDESK!!!
THIS IS THE "BEST" CLEANER I HAVE USED THAT IS FREE!! IT FOUND 271 IN VALID PATHS.... ALL VERY OLD ITEMS IN MY REGISTRY

I use CCleaner, and Easycleaner, and the windows cleaner... and all of these don t even come close to the indepth cleaning of the Hoverdesk cleaner.

Thanks a million!!!!