I have an old Toshiba Satellite M105-S3084 that the hard drive crashed on years ago. I finally found another HDD and put a fresh copy of WinXP on the laptop to give to my 9 year old brother. When I first booted up, I had to go to the toshiba support page and download all the model specific drivers to please the Device Manager.

When I was downloading all the 'latest' files, I figured it would be wise to get the latest bios (hey, why not?). Well I just grabbed the newest one not realizing it was for Vista only. (Should have thought not broke, don't fix it) I needed an older file that was the latest XP version. So I download the 'correct' newest BIOS and when I try to flash the new BIOS, the installer tells me that the current BIOS is newer and it exits the update. Also, the installer made a BIOS.bak file when I first updated, but I can't find anything that I can do with that .bak file to restore or revert.

Does anyone know any kind of walk-around for this? I haven't seen any ill effects of the wrong bios yet (I'm posting this from said computer), but I would like to get the proper BIOS installed. Any help or suggestions?

quote Originally posted by Jncomutt: <snip>(Should have thought not broke, don't fix it) <snip>

If it's working now.....

Use search w/ search hidden and system folders ON

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

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I am lucky I can turn the dam things on and get online so I am not one to give you any advise but here's a bump to the top for ya.

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



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quote Originally posted by Jncomutt: ... I just grabbed the newest [BIOS] not realizing it was for Vista only.

I've never encountered a BIOS that was operating system dependent or not backwards compatible. With modern operating systems, the BIOS is only used during the first phase of bootup ... finding the boot loader on disc and loading it into memory; after that, the BIOS is never referenced.

If all else fails, contact Toshiba. They should know.

quote Originally posted by Taijiguy: If it's working now.....

My thought, too. If it's working, what's the problem?

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 06-25-2013).]

quote Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: I've never encountered a BIOS that was operating system dependent or not backwards compatible...

The page repeatedly says "This BIOS is for Windows Vista ONLY." ( http://support.toshiba.com/...lts?freeText=1372979 )
Rare but can happen.
One change in 5.xx BIOS is Intel Micro-code for CPU/Chipset but Most code update are backward compatible.
They may deleted XP SLP/Slic, Mean no OE copy of XP will self-activate.
BIOS may default/force to use AHCI... If so... XP installer needs IDE/Legacy HD controller OR ACHI/RAID drivers (using F6) to see HD. Check BIOS if has option for Legacy/IDE or Enhance mode. Enhance=AHCI. Switch to Legacy HD OR Tosh/Intel have ACHI drivers. ( Support.intel.com you need chipset #s. get pcwizard or cpuid from www.cpuid.com )

Tell you to use 2.xx etc for XP

Google: toshiba bios downgrade

"Use search w/ search hidden and system folders ON"
Likely Need to have hidden/system folders ON in win explorer too to find bak file

Why not upgrade it to Windows 7?

XP is all but dead, Jim. (star trek reference)

I have a legal copy of XP and all the drivers.

Problem is what version of bak file? Reading version history Any 5.xx is Vista only...
Likely Means the bak file doesn't help running XP

Try disk update...
Disk program will be different and maybe doesn't care about version
USB floppy should work

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 06-25-2013).]