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Toshiba Satellite Pro 430CDT

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Reply 60 of 71, by Zinn123@gmx.de

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Unter welchen link sind die downloadbar?

Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-08-31, 12:48:
Welcome to the forum :) […]
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ono wrote on 2023-08-21, 16:09:

Hi all,

This is my first post on Vogons, despite I signed up many years ago 😀

Welcome to the forum 😀

Thanks to this thread and also excellent resources on minuszerodegrees.net I managed to restore an old Toshiba 430CDT bought off […]
Show full quote

Thanks to this thread and also excellent resources on minuszerodegrees.net I managed to restore an old Toshiba 430CDT bought off eBay for around 80 dollars imported from US into Switzerland for extra 50 dollars. The device looks and works great, so I think this was a good deal. It was booting absolutely fine with the original HDD, but I swapped it with SD to PATA IDE and now it is absolutely silent. I tested the fan, it works, but it does not kick in at all, and computer gets just slightly warm after hours of usage.

The machine came unfortunately without an external floppy drive - just the main unit. So I decided to buy old Toshiba external floppy that was visually compatible to install GoTek/Flashfloppy emulator. (see below for details) The external cable/plug turned to be indeed compatible, unfortunately the internally it uses different/smaller connector. Therefore it cannot be put directly into the main laptop body, i.e. swapping it with CD drive. Fortunately CD drive that came with the device works well, so having external floppy and internal CD is good enough for me playing some Retro games. Note that the floppy unit I bought has 1mm pitch flex cable, but I think original older unit shipped with 430CDT used 1.25mm pitch flex cable.

430CDT_9577.jpeg

I managed to install fresh Windows 98 SE copy without any problem. I am into Win98SE DOS to play DOS games. The only catch is that Windows apparently does not support any hard drive (Ultra?) DMA on 430CFT using FC1307A SD to PATA adapter, that is relatively slow providing only <1MB/s. Windows Device Manager does not show any DMA checkbox at all, but HWInfo for DOS says both SD to PATA adapter and CD drive support Ultra DMA. But not sure if CPU/mainboard does. Anybody knows?

Maybe I miss some drivers? I found only TSETUP.EXE for DOS utility and Win98 W95UT430.EXE tools, but they did not provide anything else than otherwise can be achieved by holding ESC during boot and entering bios via F1. I know there exists 6.50 BIOS B430CDT.EXE file, but this file is nowhere to be found.

I may try installing CF card with built-in ATA controller and simple 44-pin PATA adapter, but not sure if it is worth to spend additional $15 for an adapter and a CF card that will bring no performance benefit.

I think some of the files that were on the support.dynabook.com site have started falling off. The internet archive has lots and I put together a personal archive with working links that I should really put online at some point. Here's the list of files for the 430 laptops, you might be able to find them by searching for the filenames:
Screenshot 2023-08-31 at 13-38-51 Toshiba File Archive.png

My 430CDT came with discharged but otherwise working Li-Ion (laptop still can work for around 40-60min!) and two completely dead zero-volt Ni-MH batteries, but no leak onto electronics. I removed both NiHM batteries as recommended. I put Li-Ion half-charged aside, as I don't trust 25 year old batteries 😉 I only replaced the BIOS battery with similar specs 20mAh 3.6V NiMH. I bought for around 10 dollars. I simply swapped the plastic plug enclosures. I think there are some sites selling "original" Toshiba batteries, but I don't see point of paying 40 dollars for such thing.

Yeah, the proper type of RTC batteries are going to have the same problem. I've had recently bought 3.6v nimh battery packs leaking just in storage before they've ever been used, it's likely many of these are old stock and will fail just like the original cells did and on a similar timeline. One thing that might help to avoid future problems is to use solid core wire at some point, it seems like electrolyte can wick through multi-strand wires over time.
If reusing the original plug wires, give them a bath in some vinegar or lemon juice and wash them to make sure there's nothing corrosive left in the cable that could do damage.

Personally I think that two diodes and a CR2032 or two are the way to go but I haven't tried that on my Satellite 400 to 430 laptops yet.

Now I want to write a bit more about GoTek/Flashfloppy fitting into Toshiba enclosure. This took some effort but it was fun and […]
Show full quote

Now I want to write a bit more about GoTek/Flashfloppy fitting into Toshiba enclosure. This took some effort but it was fun and it was worth it! Despite the whole procedure was only partially documented in "FF with 26-pin header Gotek Floppy" project issue and some other Flashfloppy wiki entries, I managed to successfully mod SFRM72-DU26 720K (much cheaper than 1.44MB model that only differs in firmware) I got for around 23 dollars. I fitted small OLED display and additional rotary encoder I had lying around. With 1mm FFC PFC extension board I managed to connect everything without straining Toshiba enclosure flat cable.

430CDT_9556.jpeg

Finally I also got network and Internet working great under Windows 98 SE with PCMPC100 bought off eBay for around 20 dollars. This one should also work in DOS, but I haven't tried it yet. The good thing about this model is that RJ45 port can be unplugged, so there's nothing sticking out of the laptop. Also there's enough room to put another PC card, e.g. SD to PC card, but not a sound card, since ESS688+OPL3 built-in 430CDT work great as a drop-in Sound Blaster replacement for all the games a tried so far.

Overall I am really happy with Toshiba 430CDT and impressed how well this computer was designed back in 1997. It does not need any external AC/DC brick, has built-in HW scaler if you want to upscale to 800x600, if not then it does pixel perfect scaling. Overall I think this is best mid-90ties model to play some Retro PC games.

If you have any questions or comments on my build here, please let me know.

Wow that Toshiba caddied flashfloppy looks superb. I've got that same SFRM72-DU26 but it's not mounted in anything, I might try it in an external caddy - I really like your idea of using a 26pin 1mm flex cable extender to get around the different connector/cable positions inside the caddy 😀

The caddy you've got is from a Tecra (500 to 750 models) or later satellite laptops (440 to 490) which has the right connector. Sometimes those have direct drive floppy drives in them or you can use the direct drive floppy from a darker grey tecra 8000 series in its place. Good to know that a regular flashfloppy can work with no special requirements with Toshiba laptops, thank you for sharing your findings with this.

Reply 61 of 71, by Thermalwrong

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Zinn123@gmx.de wrote on 2023-08-31, 13:34:

Unter welchen link sind die downloadbar?

Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-08-31, 12:48:
Welcome to the forum :) […]
Show full quote
ono wrote on 2023-08-21, 16:09:

Hi all,

This is my first post on Vogons, despite I signed up many years ago 😀

Welcome to the forum 😀

Thanks to this thread and also excellent resources on minuszerodegrees.net I managed to restore an old Toshiba 430CDT bought off […]
Show full quote

Thanks to this thread and also excellent resources on minuszerodegrees.net I managed to restore an old Toshiba 430CDT bought off eBay for around 80 dollars imported from US into Switzerland for extra 50 dollars. The device looks and works great, so I think this was a good deal. It was booting absolutely fine with the original HDD, but I swapped it with SD to PATA IDE and now it is absolutely silent. I tested the fan, it works, but it does not kick in at all, and computer gets just slightly warm after hours of usage.

The machine came unfortunately without an external floppy drive - just the main unit. So I decided to buy old Toshiba external floppy that was visually compatible to install GoTek/Flashfloppy emulator. (see below for details) The external cable/plug turned to be indeed compatible, unfortunately the internally it uses different/smaller connector. Therefore it cannot be put directly into the main laptop body, i.e. swapping it with CD drive. Fortunately CD drive that came with the device works well, so having external floppy and internal CD is good enough for me playing some Retro games. Note that the floppy unit I bought has 1mm pitch flex cable, but I think original older unit shipped with 430CDT used 1.25mm pitch flex cable.

430CDT_9577.jpeg

I managed to install fresh Windows 98 SE copy without any problem. I am into Win98SE DOS to play DOS games. The only catch is that Windows apparently does not support any hard drive (Ultra?) DMA on 430CFT using FC1307A SD to PATA adapter, that is relatively slow providing only <1MB/s. Windows Device Manager does not show any DMA checkbox at all, but HWInfo for DOS says both SD to PATA adapter and CD drive support Ultra DMA. But not sure if CPU/mainboard does. Anybody knows?

Maybe I miss some drivers? I found only TSETUP.EXE for DOS utility and Win98 W95UT430.EXE tools, but they did not provide anything else than otherwise can be achieved by holding ESC during boot and entering bios via F1. I know there exists 6.50 BIOS B430CDT.EXE file, but this file is nowhere to be found.

I may try installing CF card with built-in ATA controller and simple 44-pin PATA adapter, but not sure if it is worth to spend additional $15 for an adapter and a CF card that will bring no performance benefit.

I think some of the files that were on the support.dynabook.com site have started falling off. The internet archive has lots and I put together a personal archive with working links that I should really put online at some point. Here's the list of files for the 430 laptops, you might be able to find them by searching for the filenames:
Screenshot 2023-08-31 at 13-38-51 Toshiba File Archive.png

My 430CDT came with discharged but otherwise working Li-Ion (laptop still can work for around 40-60min!) and two completely dead zero-volt Ni-MH batteries, but no leak onto electronics. I removed both NiHM batteries as recommended. I put Li-Ion half-charged aside, as I don't trust 25 year old batteries 😉 I only replaced the BIOS battery with similar specs 20mAh 3.6V NiMH. I bought for around 10 dollars. I simply swapped the plastic plug enclosures. I think there are some sites selling "original" Toshiba batteries, but I don't see point of paying 40 dollars for such thing.

Yeah, the proper type of RTC batteries are going to have the same problem. I've had recently bought 3.6v nimh battery packs leaking just in storage before they've ever been used, it's likely many of these are old stock and will fail just like the original cells did and on a similar timeline. One thing that might help to avoid future problems is to use solid core wire at some point, it seems like electrolyte can wick through multi-strand wires over time.
If reusing the original plug wires, give them a bath in some vinegar or lemon juice and wash them to make sure there's nothing corrosive left in the cable that could do damage.

Personally I think that two diodes and a CR2032 or two are the way to go but I haven't tried that on my Satellite 400 to 430 laptops yet.

Now I want to write a bit more about GoTek/Flashfloppy fitting into Toshiba enclosure. This took some effort but it was fun and […]
Show full quote

Now I want to write a bit more about GoTek/Flashfloppy fitting into Toshiba enclosure. This took some effort but it was fun and it was worth it! Despite the whole procedure was only partially documented in "FF with 26-pin header Gotek Floppy" project issue and some other Flashfloppy wiki entries, I managed to successfully mod SFRM72-DU26 720K (much cheaper than 1.44MB model that only differs in firmware) I got for around 23 dollars. I fitted small OLED display and additional rotary encoder I had lying around. With 1mm FFC PFC extension board I managed to connect everything without straining Toshiba enclosure flat cable.

430CDT_9556.jpeg

Finally I also got network and Internet working great under Windows 98 SE with PCMPC100 bought off eBay for around 20 dollars. This one should also work in DOS, but I haven't tried it yet. The good thing about this model is that RJ45 port can be unplugged, so there's nothing sticking out of the laptop. Also there's enough room to put another PC card, e.g. SD to PC card, but not a sound card, since ESS688+OPL3 built-in 430CDT work great as a drop-in Sound Blaster replacement for all the games a tried so far.

Overall I am really happy with Toshiba 430CDT and impressed how well this computer was designed back in 1997. It does not need any external AC/DC brick, has built-in HW scaler if you want to upscale to 800x600, if not then it does pixel perfect scaling. Overall I think this is best mid-90ties model to play some Retro PC games.

If you have any questions or comments on my build here, please let me know.

Wow that Toshiba caddied flashfloppy looks superb. I've got that same SFRM72-DU26 but it's not mounted in anything, I might try it in an external caddy - I really like your idea of using a 26pin 1mm flex cable extender to get around the different connector/cable positions inside the caddy 😀

The caddy you've got is from a Tecra (500 to 750 models) or later satellite laptops (440 to 490) which has the right connector. Sometimes those have direct drive floppy drives in them or you can use the direct drive floppy from a darker grey tecra 8000 series in its place. Good to know that a regular flashfloppy can work with no special requirements with Toshiba laptops, thank you for sharing your findings with this.

Well, you can use this link to search for each one of those files - while the version I have isn't shared presently, this site has the same files without the metadata: https://www.retrospace.net/toshiba/
I think it came from the internet archive which is where I got that html from, but it's not working for me right now: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://209.167. … pport/Download/*

BTW, the CD-ROM drives I have in my Toshibas that fit the Satellite 4xx series are:
XM-1202B - oldest, manufactured November 1995 - special connector, taller than 12.5mm, makes cool sounds. pickup sled rail needed moving/cleaning before it would work reliably
XM-1402B - middlest, manufactured August 1996 - special connector, taller than 12.5mm
XM-1502B - newest, manufactured June 1997 - this is a regular 12.5mm drive in the Toshiba caddy. Meaning if one of these is bad you can swap it for a regular slimline CD-ROM drive.

Reply 62 of 71, by GrzesiekOpowiada

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Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-08-31, 16:11:
BTW, the CD-ROM drives I have in my Toshibas that fit the Satellite 4xx series are: XM-1202B - oldest, manufactured November 199 […]
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BTW, the CD-ROM drives I have in my Toshibas that fit the Satellite 4xx series are:
XM-1202B - oldest, manufactured November 1995 - special connector, taller than 12.5mm, makes cool sounds. pickup sled rail needed moving/cleaning before it would work reliably
XM-1402B - middlest, manufactured August 1996 - special connector, taller than 12.5mm
XM-1502B - newest, manufactured June 1997 - this is a regular 12.5mm drive in the Toshiba caddy. Meaning if one of these is bad you can swap it for a regular slimline CD-ROM drive.

Hello, I have a weird problem after replacing TEAC CD-220EA, XM-1502B and XM-1602B with more modern ATAPI devices. All these drive came to me with Toshiba laptop.

I have tried various more modern drives in satellite 490xcdt, 470cdt and tecra 530cdt and computer just do not starts and
- hangs after testing memory or
- just displays the couple of lines before testing ram.

I have tested the following "more modern" ATAPI drivers:
CD-ROMs
- HL GCR-8245B - April 2005
- TEAC CD-224E - March 2008
DVD-recorders
- Lite-On SS-8515S - October 2006
- Panasonic UJ-850 - March 2008
- Quanta Storage SDW-041 - July 2004
- Philips/Benq DS-8A1P - December 2007
DVD+CDRW combos
- HL GCC-T10N - November 2007
-Toshiba TS-L462 - 2006
DVD-ROM
- TORISAN DRD-U824 - September 2001
HD-DVD+DVDRW combo
- Toshiba TS-L802A - September 2007

As you see I have tested a bunch of drives (various kinds)... and I do not know what is wrong?
- Is the ATAPI interface used by Toshiba different than standard one?
- Are the drives somehow locked or changed to be compatible with Toshiba (it is weird that I have one TEAC CD-220EA drive from 490xcdt that also works, however I have get it with that Toshiba..)?
- I have also tested other "more modern" Toshiba branded drives (on the list) and they also do not work?
- Maybe these drives are too fast? The slowest was 24x..
- Maybe IDE detection fails for some reason? I do not know however what?

Any ideas?

Reply 63 of 71, by milliectl

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GrzesiekOpowiada wrote on 2023-09-11, 09:18:
Hello, I have a weird problem after replacing TEAC CD-220EA, XM-1502B and XM-1602B with more modern ATAPI devices. All these dri […]
Show full quote
Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-08-31, 16:11:
BTW, the CD-ROM drives I have in my Toshibas that fit the Satellite 4xx series are: XM-1202B - oldest, manufactured November 199 […]
Show full quote

BTW, the CD-ROM drives I have in my Toshibas that fit the Satellite 4xx series are:
XM-1202B - oldest, manufactured November 1995 - special connector, taller than 12.5mm, makes cool sounds. pickup sled rail needed moving/cleaning before it would work reliably
XM-1402B - middlest, manufactured August 1996 - special connector, taller than 12.5mm
XM-1502B - newest, manufactured June 1997 - this is a regular 12.5mm drive in the Toshiba caddy. Meaning if one of these is bad you can swap it for a regular slimline CD-ROM drive.

Hello, I have a weird problem after replacing TEAC CD-220EA, XM-1502B and XM-1602B with more modern ATAPI devices. All these drive came to me with Toshiba laptop.

I have tried various more modern drives in satellite 490xcdt, 470cdt and tecra 530cdt and computer just do not starts and
- hangs after testing memory or
- just displays the couple of lines before testing ram.

I have tested the following "more modern" ATAPI drivers:
CD-ROMs
- HL GCR-8245B - April 2005
- TEAC CD-224E - March 2008
DVD-recorders
- Lite-On SS-8515S - October 2006
- Panasonic UJ-850 - March 2008
- Quanta Storage SDW-041 - July 2004
- Philips/Benq DS-8A1P - December 2007
DVD+CDRW combos
- HL GCC-T10N - November 2007
-Toshiba TS-L462 - 2006
DVD-ROM
- TORISAN DRD-U824 - September 2001
HD-DVD+DVDRW combo
- Toshiba TS-L802A - September 2007

As you see I have tested a bunch of drives (various kinds)... and I do not know what is wrong?
- Is the ATAPI interface used by Toshiba different than standard one?
- Are the drives somehow locked or changed to be compatible with Toshiba (it is weird that I have one TEAC CD-220EA drive from 490xcdt that also works, however I have get it with that Toshiba..)?
- I have also tested other "more modern" Toshiba branded drives (on the list) and they also do not work?
- Maybe these drives are too fast? The slowest was 24x..
- Maybe IDE detection fails for some reason? I do not know however what?

Any ideas?

I've had the same issue with a Toshiba 440CDX and it appears to be that the IDE controller expects the optical drive to be configured as Master and most drives are set to Cable-Select/Slave. IIRC there's something about the onboard controller that makes it not make use of Cable-Select and just freaks out.

I've found that shorting pins 47 & 45 will configure the optical drive to use Master and will work flawlessly in a 440CDX. Since I didn't have a soldering iron on hand I used tweezers and lifted the two pins and I've stuck a tiny piece of tin foil in the space and pressed the pins as hard as I could onto the tin foil. After that I've stuck in that interposer piece from the original drive and reassembled everything together. Unfortunately the front trim piece won't fit and the original one won't fit either so it's just bare for now.

It works! It even boots up off of it no problem!

I didn't have any other drive than the MATSHITA UJ-220S... which happens to be an IDE Blu-Ray burner. Kind of overkill, but you know how it is. 😉

Reply 64 of 71, by cgyed.cgyed

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Hello,

ono wrote on 2023-08-21, 16:09:

Now I want to write a bit more about GoTek/Flashfloppy fitting into Toshiba enclosure. This took some effort but it was fun and it was worth it! Despite the whole procedure was only partially documented in "FF with 26-pin header Gotek Floppy" project issue and some other Flashfloppy wiki entries, I managed to successfully mod SFRM72-DU26 720K (much cheaper than 1.44MB model that only differs in firmware) I got for around 23 dollars. I fitted small OLED display and additional rotary encoder I had lying around. With 1mm FFC PFC extension board I managed to connect everything without straining Toshiba enclosure flat cable.

Could you give us the contents of configuraton file use for Flash floppy (ff.cfg ?)
What is the mod you had to do ?

Thanks !

Reply 65 of 71, by vorob

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Guys, I bought another 430CDT. It's in really good condition except for a buzzing speaker and a dead CD drive and floppy drive. I know that for the floppy drive you typically need to replace the belt, but I have no idea what to do about the CD drive.

When I click the eject button, the light blinks but nothing happens. If I open it with a pin and place a disc inside, it doesn't even try to spin it.

Maybe it’s a common thing and you got the advice 😀

Ps know the size of floppy belt?

Reply 66 of 71, by vorob

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To my surprise cd drive started working by itself 😱 But now it’s not closing 😂

Only floppy needs to be fixed.

Reply 67 of 71, by Thermalwrong

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Yay, that's good that it's mostly working. I found taking the bottom metal plate off the CD-ROM drive and lubricating that little motor setup that runs the eject function usually helps, or at least rotate the worm gear around so that's in the lock position instead of eject and it usually works right after that.

For the floppy though, I didn't see that console 5 stopped offering their one, I can print them: Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?
But it requires a quite accurate setup for printing TPU belts, perhaps I should make some available? I've got a lifetime supply right now since last time I made up about 40 of them and that's lasting a while.
Is it an EME278 or an EME279 that you've got with your one? I ask because the EME279 uses different belts and is way easier to fix.

Reply 68 of 71, by vorob

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Yep, you’re right. I moved the metal piece responsible for the lid closing, and now the CD-ROM is fully working! 😀

giphy-downsized-large.gif

I'll check the model of the floppy drive I have, but it's a bit challenging to order specific parts to Russia right now. I stand a better chance by buying a pack of generic belts from AliExpress.

Reply 69 of 71, by Hamby

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So I guess nobody's figured out how to boot from the CDROM of a 430CDT?

Reply 70 of 71, by gattilorenz

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You could try installing the plop boot manager to your hard drive (https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/startmodes.html) and booting to the CD via there.

Unfortunately I don’t have a CD drive for my Toshiba, so you’ll have to test for yourself if that works.

Reply 71 of 71, by Thermalwrong

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Hamby wrote on 2024-09-07, 08:46:

So I guess nobody's figured out how to boot from the CDROM of a 430CDT?

I'm fairly sure its BIOS doesn't support it, that was a new feature with the MMX platform laptops like the 440CDT.

vorob wrote on 2024-08-12, 20:29:
Yep, you’re right. I moved the metal piece responsible for the lid closing, and now the CD-ROM is fully working! :) […]
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Yep, you’re right. I moved the metal piece responsible for the lid closing, and now the CD-ROM is fully working! 😀

giphy-downsized-large.gif

I'll check the model of the floppy drive I have, but it's a bit challenging to order specific parts to Russia right now. I stand a better chance by buying a pack of generic belts from AliExpress.

I just came across this the other day on *another* drive! But I wasn't in the mood to turn it all off so I found an in-situ fix if the latch won't work on the CD drive so it just pops out instead.

My solution was to physically hold the drive closed so it would spin up and read the CD, hold it in place for a bit then while doing that press the Eject button, that cycles the gear so should unstick the latch arm. Maybe try doing that a couple of times and once it starts latching, push it in and then eject some more times to free it all up. By doing that I was able to get the drive to close like normal without even turning it off 😀