dave's wibblings

1: dave in Melbourne

February 10, 2004 11:45 AM

I should point out that I renamed the computer after the upgrade. It's now Large, Heavy, Grey with a lot of data retention. It's known as olifaunt.

2: Waider

February 10, 2004 11:25 PM

I found that in order to get my IrDA port working under Linux (Compaq laptop with a SMCC IrDA chipset) I had to use setserial to set /dev/ttyS2's IRQ correctly: /bin/setserial /dev/ttyS2 irq 3 Apparently ACPI config does a far better job of doing this right on my laptop, but there are a whole other set of issues with that.

3: dave in Melbourne

February 12, 2004 03:00 PM

OK, I'll try that.

If I run lspnp on the Tosh, it shows device 16 as the inactive FIR device, and no amount of setpnp poking seems to work. Any ideas?

4: cOqUe

March 12, 2004 08:32 AM

Hey! I also have a Large, Heavy, Grey Toshiba Laptop. A 335CS, witha a 4.1GB hard disk and ad 266MHz Pentium processor. I want to upgrade the hard drive (maybe to 20 or 30 GB). It has it's last bios update installed.

Does anyone here think it would work fine??

5: dave

March 16, 2004 10:26 AM

It will probably work, but I can't find that model number anywhere. The closest I can find is a Satellite 335 CDS, which does have large hard disks available for it. See http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshiba-satellite-335cds--parts-storage.html

I think it's quite likely that a larger hard drive would work.

6: paul yoon

May 25, 2004 06:02 PM

I don't suppose you're able to boot from a CD, are you? My 510cdt shows BIOS version 6.70 and doesn't seem to want to boot from anything except a FD or HD.

Here's to big, grey, and slow.

7: dave

May 25, 2004 11:11 PM

Paul,

Mine has bios 6.90, which I got from the Toshiba website. It appears to boot off a WinXP install CD, but it won't actually install XP. (The install procedure hangs up when detecting devices.)

I've never seen it boot up from Linux (or Knoppix, or FreeBSD) CD.

I normally keep iso images of the operating system on a separate hard drive partition, so that I can boot from a floppy and specify that the install images are on the local disk and install that way. Much quicker! I'm not sure if you can do that with Windows. Windows 98 was such a frustrating experience when compared to XP or Linux, that I just nuked the Win partition.

Also, Linux geekery-wise, I've found that the PCMCIA in the 2.6 kernel doesn't recognise my PCMCIA cards. I use the latest standalone pcmcia-cs-3.2.7 and the latest 2.4 kernel and it's fine.

8: Nick

May 31, 2004 03:39 AM

My name is Nick in CA.

I have a (indestructable)510 CDT.

Can anyone tell me how to get the front IR port working again?

I have W98 SE installed and all i can get is the rear IR port to function....is it software (98)?

i reinstalled 740fir98.exe (IR driver), but nothing!

Any help anyone?

9: ciber

July 21, 2004 12:07 PM

Hi: I also hava an indestructible 510CDT. It was given to me some time ago and I need now to repair it. It seems to have a problem in teh hard disk that prevents it from booting Win95, which is the OS it ahs installed. I don't have a floppy drive, and can't set it to boot from cd rom. It doesn't even recognize it has one attached! SO I'm with an incomunicable computer and need deperately to fix it. The rest of the hardware seems to be in working order...Please help, any advice will be of great help! :-)

10: Aaron in Texas

July 22, 2004 03:29 PM

I also have a grey, heavy, and slow. I had to reformat a couple of weeks ago, and now I can't get my floppy drive to save files. It's tells me to replace the network connection or replace the floppy. After several frustrating attempts to get this working I'm coming to the end of the rope. I love this old pos as my wife got it for me to write with, but it's a real pain to have to e-mail all my files to myself so I can get to them on my desktop computer. I didn't install the toshiba control panel when I reformatted. So I thought maybe this was the problem, but the access panel refuses to initialize. If anybody can help I would appreciate it. thank you.

11: Felipe Sologuren

August 17, 2004 11:06 PM

Hello all. Trackback, could you tell us the model of your toshiba HDD 30GB? please, I'm having compatibility troubles and want to have a more extended list of posibilities. Thank you very much for all.

Regards, Felipe

12: dave

August 18, 2004 12:25 AM

Felipe: it's a Toshiba brand disk, identified as MK3018GAS. It just worked for me with no troubles at all. I've had both Windows 95/98 and Linux on this machine with this disk and not had any problems with it.

Ciber: I've had the Tosh boot from CD with Windows95 install CDs, but never with Linux/BSD/etc installers. With Windows 2000, I had a make a pile of boot disks, but it wouldn't complete the install procedure anyway. Nor for XP. Hardly surprising, if you can imagine Windows XP on a Pentium 133...

Nick: the Toshiba software is for Win95, not 98. I've not managed to get the front IR working under 98, or any of the IR working under Linux. The IR chip is a completely proprietary chip exclusive to Toshiba, so third-party drivers are unlikely.

Aaron, I use my Tosh for writing too, although I run Linux on it and have no problems with the network connections. I have a wireless card (Bluetake) which connects to my wireless Linksys hub with no worries. Check your network drivers and re-install them. Perhaps your network settings need work?

Sorry for the delay guys, I've been back down in Australia (with my Tosh!) on work. It works down under too, on both wired and wireless connections.

13: Dean

September 22, 2004 01:59 AM

Hello My Name Is Dean,

I just Bought A Toshiba Tecra 510 CDT

I would love to know how much in Australian Dollars Is that fantastic 30 Gig Hard drive To Purchase from Toshiba Dave And. Is the toshiba a good mp3 player? I want to put my mp3 collection on there and take it instead of taking my cd's as 2.1 gigabytes is not much to work with. And could you send me a link to the site how do you get the old pc from pentium 133 to the best it can go? Thanks for any advice you may give. does anyone also know how to use the internet on 2 computers using a network and primary pc as a server. (Laptop And Desctop)?

14: dave

September 22, 2004 09:29 AM

Dean,

I paid about HK$700 for the drive from a shop in Hong Kong, which would be about A$130 or so at the moment. I didn't get it from a Toshiba dealer, though.

I've tried upgrading the processor - it can't be done, as far as I can see. It's soldered to the motherboard with a heatsink firmly fixed to it.

As for sharing your internet connection - Windows 2000 should be able to do that for you. Looking under Properties in your network connections control panel.

15: Dean

September 26, 2004 11:43 PM

Thanks Dave,

I only have windows 98 se on the laptop i dont think i should put any newer ones on there as i recon it would drag the speed down too much. Is it faster then Many other pentium 133's being toshiba.

My Pc the One I have Been using to ask you these questions is a pentium 4 processor 2.4 gigaherts and its one from HP) Hewlet Packard.

Its Current Operating System Is Windows XP Home Edition.

98 se should be good enough for a network.

Do you know if the tecra can play age of empires and total annilation they are old ones.

Also i was looking info up on linking 2 computers together and they keep saying to buy a hub u don't need a hub if you are only connecting one computer up to the laptop as a network i want to be able to dial up using both computers. Do you know much about ethernet cables. Thankyou for any advice

16: Bob

November 29, 2004 01:07 AM

Hey Dave:

I'm running a REALLY minimal install of Linux on a Tecra 510CDT, but seem to be running into a problem with the modem and sound card. The sound card doesn't bother me much; I can live without it (can always boot Windows if I want to play MP3's), but, as I am trying to understand Linux better, it would be really, like, EDUCATIONAL for me to learn how to do it. Any tips would be appreciated.

Now, the built-in 288 whatever modem in the Tecra works good. BUT, I also have a USR 56K Sportster external faxmodem (5686-03) that I would very much like to get up and running on the Tecra; I've looked at several websites (and the annoying speed of 288!) which indicate that the modem "is compatible" with Linux. Every time I try to use it, though, I just get 3 lights and no dialing (works good with Windoze). This one is really frustrating. I also tried it a few years back with a Red Hat distro I found in the back of a Linux for Dummies book, and had no luck with that either. Again, any hints would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

17: Bob

November 29, 2004 01:09 AM

Hey Dave:

I'm running a REALLY minimal install of Linux on a Tecra 510CDT, but seem to be running into a problem with the modem and sound card. The sound card doesn't bother me much; I can live without it (can always boot Windows if I want to play MP3's), but, as I am trying to understand Linux better, it would be really, like, EDUCATIONAL for me to learn how to do it. Any tips would be appreciated.

Now, the built-in 288 whatever modem in the Tecra works good. BUT, I also have a USR 56K Sportster external faxmodem (5686-03) that I would very much like to get up and running on the Tecra; I've looked at several websites (and the annoying speed of 288!) which indicate that the modem "is compatible" with Linux. Every time I try to use it, though, I just get 3 lights and no dialing (works good with Windoze). This one is really frustrating. I also tried it a few years back with a Red Hat distro I found in the back of a Linux for Dummies book, and had no luck with that either. Again, any hints would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

18: dave

December 2, 2004 09:38 PM

Bob,

It's probably a winmodem, i.e. a modem with all of the processing done in software. They don't work at all with Linux, as far as I know.

With regard to the soundcard, I've managed to get it working by selecting CS4232 as the sound card when compiling the kernel. The basic trick is to compile all of the soundcard drivers as modules and try and load them all in one by one to see what works. There also used to be a sndconfig utility which was pretty good at figure out which card you had. You should make a careful note of the sound card parameters from the bios screen (press esc-f1-f2 repeatedly when booting up), as you will probably need to pass these to the sound card.

19: Callum

December 12, 2004 11:33 AM

Howdy all.

I'm in Canada, eh?

Just curious. Reading the first handful of posts, you can get a 30GB hard drive in this beast of a laptop? ..how can it be done? BIOS does support it and all? ..my orignal 2.1GB drive is crapping out.. so I should guess I can just remove it from the caddy and put the 30GB'r in the caddy and plug it in. Should work.. right? I'm a MP3 enthusiast as well, and would like to try to load Windows XP on it.. I've upgraded from 16MB to a 64MB total, and looking to go to the max she can take.. by putting her up to 144MB. Letme know if it sounds good to you guys. Yayy! :)

Evenin' all.

--Callum

20: Alane Nebbia

December 13, 2004 08:45 PM

I have an old Toshiba Tecra 510CDT that originally had Win95 on it. I updgraded it to Win2000 when my husband needed it to travel with for work. Now he's got himself a Dell and I'd like to let the kids use this laptop for games. Unfortunately, many of their games are not compatible with Win2K so I'd like to bump the Toshiba back down to Win95. I can't seem to use my Win95 installation CD cuz the BIOS doesn't have a "boot from CD" option....any advice out there? Thank you!

21: Heinz

December 15, 2004 08:31 AM

Hi all, could someone please let me know if this grey machine has an ethernet connection? I can buy one very cheap and would like to use it just for internet browsing, but I am not sure if it would work with my ASL line. thanks for your advice and help

22: dave

December 15, 2004 02:29 PM

Callum, a 30Gb drive will work and the BIOS will support it. It certainly works with Linux on mine. I've never been able to get XP to install, however. Windows 95 may not support drives greater than 2GB ubless you have FAT32 installed (Win98 should be ok). If you don't have FAT32, you'll end up with 15 2GB drives, C: to Q:!

Alane, There should be a program to make a boot floppy diskette on the Win95 CD. See if there's a directory called 'extras' or something like that.

Heinz, my tosh doesn't have an ethernet connection, but PCMCIA network cards are pretty cheap.

23: Callum

December 19, 2004 04:26 AM

Howdy all again.

Anyone know where I can find a memory upgrade for this beast? A 128 stick perhaps? Anyone got one just lying around or have one wanting to get of? :P

Thanks.. Callum

24: Callum

December 22, 2004 03:37 AM

Hey all again! lol.

Will a 40GB'r work with it? You would think it would eh...

Thanks, Callum

25: dave

December 22, 2004 10:50 AM

Callum, I'm not sure where you can get RAM upgrades. Check your local RAM dealer for EDO Laptop RAM. It might be quite difficult to get the 128MB stick.

As for the 40GB disk, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work, although your OS may not support it. If you have win98 or higher, you should be ok.

26: Callum

December 22, 2004 02:32 PM

Hey again.

Well, I've located a 128MB base stick (that replaces the base 16MB of RAM that comes with the Tosh in the first place. Now, how do I get the 16 out and the 128 in? :D

27: dave

December 22, 2004 03:22 PM

There's a panel on the bottom of the Tosh which you can unscrew. The RAM should slot in there.

28: Callum

December 24, 2004 07:14 AM

Do you know how to remove the whole bottom panel soI can access the motherboard?

29: dave

December 26, 2004 11:23 AM

You can lever the bottom panel off , but it basically involved disassembling the entire laptop. I wouldn't recommend it, as I don't think there's anyhing you can change on the motherboard. The processor is soldered on, not socketed, so an upgrade that way isn't an option.

30: Eric

January 2, 2005 03:18 AM

Hello,

I recently re-installed Win95 [from 13 floppies - lol], but I can't get the screen resolution to display properly. I've basically got 640x480 w/ 16 colors and black space all around the viewable area. I'd like to set the resoltion so it uses the entire screen at 800x600 at a decent color depth. Any ideas [I've tried changing the res in the control panel, but it doesn't seem to work]. Thanks for any pointers.

31: dave

January 2, 2005 10:15 PM

Eric, you need to install the drivers from here [toshiba.com]

32: Eric

January 5, 2005 06:39 AM

Hi Dave,

Thanks very much! Worked like a charm. I appreciate the help.

33: Callum

January 9, 2005 02:11 AM

Anyone know what kind of RAM this bad boy takes? PC66? It's an EDO SoDIMM obviously.. I found an IBM PC66 stick of 128MB.. so I wanted to see if it worked :)

34: jesse

January 17, 2005 01:28 PM

Hi all, i just wanted to let you guys know i have both a 32 and 64 meg stick for a 510 cdt if anyone is interested. I upgraded mine to 84mb of ram, and i just got a 10gb hard drive ordered, and i upgraded the cd drive to a 24x toshiba drive. If anyone would be willing to do a partial trade for one of the sticks of ram for a floppy drive that works in the 510, contact me.

35: Callum

January 23, 2005 10:22 AM

Hey Jesse! I've got a floppy drive for the Tosh if you'd like to make a trade for a 64MB stick.. I've got a 48MB stick in her presently.. what do you say?

36: Callum

January 24, 2005 08:01 AM

Hey Jesse.. me again.. haha.. you can email me at troubleshooting_man@sympatico.ca and we can arrange for a deal per chance??

37: Jesse

January 27, 2005 03:47 AM

Callum, email sent. And riddle me this, why is it that my 12gb travelstar drive with a lock goes right to the password prompt, but the brand new 10gb toshiba drive just freezes at the post? I tried both standard and enhanced ide, and the drive is partitioned and formatted, and i know it is working fine. I also flashed ot the new bios version, but to no avail.

38: bill

February 6, 2005 02:52 AM

Hi Guys,

apologies in advance for ignorance, but can anyone tell me what the pop-out lever above the "On" button on the Tecra 510 does?

Any advice on replacing a keyboard or help sources for info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Bill.

39: Callum

February 8, 2005 06:14 AM

The little lever is to pop out the internal CD-ROM drive or floppy drive so you can switch between those two. Replacing the keyboard would involve pretty much completely disassembling the laptop. Believe me, there is ALOT of screws, and I mean alot. Close to 100.. and you have to remember where all of them go. Really sucks.

40: Rota

February 9, 2005 02:42 PM

I was given a 510cdt and actually like it but it has been a pesky thing. I've got 32 ram and put a clean install of windows 98se on it. I bought two different 32bit Lan Cards and got them loaded and everything looks good in network and system properties but when I go to winipconfig it isn't recognised there so will not draw an IP address.

Before I was given the laptap a 16 bit lan card worked fine in it. I'm trying to figure out if by doing the clean install I took out some driver I need or if I just need to get a 16 bit card. Anyone have any advice?