ok this might get a little complicating... my girlfriend was on her laptop and it was freezing so she tried to hit control alt delete to restart, it wasnt working so she just turned the computer off with the button.. when she tried to turn the computer back on it would say toshiba then it would just be a black screen for about 3 minutes then it would say resuming windows and stop less than halfway through and said there were errors or something lie that and to put in the original setup disk... i dont really know what the original setup disk is the only disk that came with the computer are restore disks.. so i thought maybe repair with a XP disk, well that didnt work and now after i tried that the computer boots up, says toshiba then over and over again it says this..

intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

For Realtek RTL8139(A/B/C)/RTL8130 PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.12 (010425)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.

ok, the ethernet controller is where the network wire gets plugged in.. but we havent had a wire plugged into that in months, we been getting internet with a aircard, no wire is ever plugged in there anymore... but anyway i plugged a wire in and started the computer and its pretty much the same message just says something a little bit different...

ok, and i can hit f2 when the computer is starting and i get to the PhoenixBIOS Setup.. and in there it says i have no hard disk...

a couple problems that are really aggravating.. any help is much appreciated

i forgot to mention... i do not have a xp disk i borrowed one from a friend... we do have restore disks, so i tried to restore and the disks dont work...

"...so i thought maybe repair with a XP disk, well that didnt work...."

"....so i tried to restore and the disks dont work."

That's useless information on it's own -
you need to tell us the details of what you did and what happened.

I don't think your problem has anything to do with the ethernet adapter. I think it just happened to be the last thing recognized before the PXE-E61 error.

When I search with:
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable

I get lots of "hits".

This one is more helpful than most:

http://www.dellcommunity.com/suppor...

Going by your other symptoms, if the suggestions at that link don't help, you probably either have a poor connection to the hard drive, or the hard drive is failing.

To rule out a poor connection to the hard drive, such as from the laptop being jarred or dropped...
- remove the AC adapter and the main battery
- open the access to where the hard drive is, and make sure it's connection to the computer is okay and is properly seated. If you can see the make and model of the hard drive write it down.
- while you're at it, open the access to where the ram is and make sure the ram is properly seated in it's slot(s).
- install the main battery, and the AC adapter if you like
- try the computer.

If there is no change in the laptop's behavior, the hard drive may be failing.

The following only applies if you DO NOT have a Toshiba hard drive (there are no manufacturer's diagnostics for them):

Check your hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostics.
See the latter part of response 1 in this:
http://www.computing.net/windows95/...

(thanks to Dan Penny for this link:)
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm...

If you don't have a floppy drive, you can get a CD image diagnostic utility from most hard drive manufacturer's web sites, but obviously you would need to make a burned CD, preferably a CD-R for best compatibilty, on another computer if you need to.
.....

The single Recovery CD that may have come with the computer is probably useless if the hard drive is defective - the second partition on the hard drive must have the data on it as it was when she first got the computer - unchanged, intact, and undamaged - and the Recovery CD must be able to access it.
If she or you made a set of Recovery CDs like you're supposed to when the computer was working fine, you can restore all the original software that came with the computer to a properly working hard drive.

The ethernet prompt is because the system does not see a hard drive install or bootable cd in the drive so the next boot device is the network adapter. Toshiba laptops typically have the ethernet in the boot by default, but you do not see it listed since the first thing it looks for and normally finds is the hard drive. Depending on the model you need to select the boot device when starting since the DVD drive is not the first device (another default setting).

Knowing the model would help since I spend most of the day working on different Toshiba models.

Richard

satellite 1115-s103...

and my restore disks dont work, they dont look damaged but they act like they are, i cant get past the 2nd step, it restarts itself

The hard drive might have died. Run the Recovery Console from the XP install CD that you have and try chkdsk.

when i run the windows cd i get to where it says press (r) to repair... i press (r) and it says i have problems with my hard drive and it cannot continue. .

I think you better get a diagnostic from the hard drive manufacturer's web site, and check to see if it's still in warranty.

so if the hard drive is fixed the other problems will fix also? im trying to open then computer to see if the hard drive is connected tightly but i cant figure out how to open this thing, i took all the screws out but it wont open, i dont want to break it...

"so if the hard drive is fixed the other problems will fix also?"

Probably.

"im trying to open then computer to see if the hard drive is connected tightly but i cant figure out how to open this thing, i took all the screws out but it wont open, i dont want to break it..."

The Users guide is here, but i don't see any info about that in it:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...

rrylon / Richard, or another Toshiba user, should be able to help you about that.

It does have....
Memory slot cover page 47
How to properly remove and install ram - the following pages
T-shooting memory problems page 176

Replacement / Upgrade of hard disk drives.....
(not much help):
http://askiris.toshiba.com/ToshibaS...

Nic217

Try this link, found it via google search "change HDD TYoshiba 1115 s-103"
Other hits also but this has good pictures..

http://dimension6.googlepages.com/t...

Looks like Toshiba likes to make things difficult. My Satellite Pro requires less than 5 minutes to change HDD's..Guess that's progress??

There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.