OK, after quite some time trying to upgrade the BIOS I finally succeed. For other people that might find this information useful, this is how I finally did it, using FreeDOS and an usb drive.
1. Install unetbootin: apt-get install unetbootin 2. connect the USB drive 3. umount it if it was automatically mounted, make a linux16 partition on it (I've used fdisk), mark the partition as booteable 4. open unetbootin and select FreeDOS as the distribution, select the USB drive partition you just formatted (it has to be mounted) and write it 5. Instead of downloading the BIOS update from the Toshiba Europe website that only offers a Windows executblae, go to the US website and download the update from any Portage Z830 (I've used the one for the BT8300 model), which is zip file disguised as a Windows executable. I downloaded this file precisely: http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/t224v180.exe 6. Unzip the file contents in the USB drive with FreeDOS 7. Reboot from your USB drive 8. Select safe mode from the boot menu 9. go to the C: drive: C: 10. run: CHGBIOSF C:\BIO0081T.COM Now I need to play with different kernel booting option to see if I can get the CPU frequency properly working without breaking other stuff. I just realized I never commented here how I partially fixed this problem. Here it is: http://www.llucax.com.ar/blog/blog/post/-31ba9e5e The issue I have now is the brightness control gets broken after the first suspend-resume. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/987531 Title: [Toshiba Satellite -10J] cpufreq is not working properly Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: I'm trying Ubuntu 12.04 beta2 and I'm having a problem with cpufreq. The default governor is ondemand and it's not working properly, the frequency is stuck at the lowest one, which makes the notebook really annoying to use. I've tried the performance governor and it looks like the CPU goes to the maximum frequency, but when querying with cpufreq- info, I still see the minimum freq, but in the statistics about the frequencies used, I see the maximum frequency getting more and more percentage of use. Finally I tried the convervative governor, and it really look like it behaves like the ondeman should. The frequency is rapidily increased as needed and dropped down again when is not needed anymore. This is the only governor that seems to be changing the frequency in a way cpufreq-info can really see it, as I see the frequency going up and down when using that governor. The userspace governor also seems to be working as expected. Another strange this is that among the supported frequencies, I get 1.60GHz (the maximum frequency supported) listed twice. Here is an example run of cpufreq-info: cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009 Report errors and bugs to cpuf...@vger.kernel.org, please. analyzing CPU 0: driver: acpi-cpufreq CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3 CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 maximum transition latency: 10.0 us. hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.60 GHz available frequency steps: 1.60 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.30 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.10 GHz, 1000 MHz, 900 MHz, 800 MHz available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.60 GHz. The governor "conservative" may decide which speed to use within this range. current CPU frequency is 800 MHz. cpufreq stats: 1.60 GHz:6.40%, 1.60 GHz:0.01%, 1.50 GHz:0.02%, 1.40 GHz:0.02%, 1.30 GHz:0.02%, 1.20 GHz:0.06%, 1.10 GHz:0.03%, 1000 MHz:0.04%, 900 MHz:0.07%, 800 MHz:93.33% (795) analyzing CPU 1: driver: acpi-cpufreq CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3 CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1 maximum transition latency: 10.0 us. hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.60 GHz available frequency steps: 1.60 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.30 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.10 GHz, 1000 MHz, 900 MHz, 800 MHz available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.60 GHz. The governor "conservative" may decide which speed to use within this range. current CPU frequency is 800 MHz. cpufreq stats: 1.60 GHz:20.97%, 1.60 GHz:0.02%, 1.50 GHz:0.06%, 1.40 GHz:0.07%, 1.30 GHz:0.10%, 1.20 GHz:0.18%, 1.10 GHz:0.10%, 1000 MHz:0.15%, 900 MHz:0.19%, 800 MHz:78.16% (424) analyzing CPU 2: driver: acpi-cpufreq CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3 CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 2 maximum transition latency: 10.0 us. hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.60 GHz available frequency steps: 1.60 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.30 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.10 GHz, 1000 MHz, 900 MHz, 800 MHz available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.60 GHz. The governor "conservative" may decide which speed to use within this range. current CPU frequency is 800 MHz. cpufreq stats: 1.60 GHz:20.95%, 1.60 GHz:0.02%, 1.50 GHz:0.11%, 1.40 GHz:0.10%, 1.30 GHz:0.12%, 1.20 GHz:0.32%, 1.10 GHz:0.24%, 1000 MHz:0.25%, 900 MHz:0.38%, 800 MHz:77.51% (622) analyzing CPU 3: driver: acpi-cpufreq CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3 CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 3 maximum transition latency: 10.0 us. hardware limits: 800 MHz - 1.60 GHz available frequency steps: 1.60 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.30 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1.10 GHz, 1000 MHz, 900 MHz, 800 MHz available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.60 GHz. The governor "conservative" may decide which speed to use within this range. current CPU frequency is 800 MHz. cpufreq stats: 1.60 GHz:20.89%, 1.60 GHz:0.03%, 1.50 GHz:0.09%, 1.40 GHz:0.11%, 1.30 GHz:0.11%, 1.20 GHz:0.19%, 1.10 GHz:0.15%, 1000 MHz:0.13%, 900 MHz:0.14%, 800 MHz:78.15% (451) My notebook is a Toshiba Z830, I guess all the proper information has been submitted to the bug already, otherwise please let me know what other information do you need. It would be nice if the final Precise release goes out without this issue, as it really will get people a very bad impression about Ubuntu because their notebooks will seem to be too slow! Thanks. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04 Package: linux-image (not installed) ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14 Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64 AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24. ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 ArecordDevices: **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices **** card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC269VB Analog [ALC269VB Analog] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 AudioDevicesInUse: USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /dev/snd/controlC0: luca 24968 F.... pulseaudio Card0.Amixer.info: Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xc0720000 irq 50' Mixer name : 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI' Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,1179063e,00100100 HDA:80862805,11790001,00100000' Controls : 24 Simple ctrls : 11 Date: Mon Apr 23 23:13:07 2012 EcryptfsInUse: Yes InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120328) MachineType: TOSHIBA SATELLITE Z830 ProcEnviron: TERM=xterm PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=0e8db42e-d125-4bd5-bd3a-2181d1fa3301 ro rootflags=subvol=@ quiet splash vt.handoff=7 RelatedPackageVersions: linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A linux-firmware 1.79 SourcePackage: linux StagingDrivers: mei UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) dmi.bios.date: 02/08/2012 dmi.bios.vendor: TOSHIBA dmi.bios.version: Version 1.60 dmi.board.asset.tag: 0000000000 dmi.board.name: Portable PC dmi.board.vendor: TOSHIBA dmi.board.version: Version A0 dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0000000000 dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: TOSHIBA dmi.chassis.version: Version 1.0 dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnTOSHIBA:bvrVersion1.60:bd02/08/2012:svnTOSHIBA:pnSATELLITEZ830:pvrPT22LE-00300GGR:rvnTOSHIBA:rnPortablePC:rvrVersionA0:cvnTOSHIBA:ct10:cvrVersion1.0: dmi.product.name: SATELLITE Z830 dmi.product.version: PT22LE-00300GGR dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/987531/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages Post to : kernel-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
