Member Avatar for zhankfor

Hey everyone, first time here

I ahve a Canadian Toshiba M40 which has a corrupted "sptd.sys" file that's preventing the machine from booting into windows. I've gone to a couple places and a cople forums and they all say I need to reinstall windows, or somehow replace the file with an uncorrupted version, but I don't think I can do that unless I can get into windows. I have, as far as I know, a bootable Windows XP Home Edition CD in the drive, and I have, to the best of my knowledge, changed the boot order to check the CD drive first. A couple of problems here. First, the computer's internal CD drive is extremely finicky; basically, it decides when it wants to read CDs I put in it. Right now, it doesn't seem to want to. SO, the places I went to suggested I get an external DVD drive and try it through that, so I dropped a hundred bucks on one and it doesn't seem to work.

So basically, my questions are:

a) does anyone know if Toshiba M40 models can boot from external DVD drives?

b) does anyone have any other suggestions for what to do? A friend of mine has an Ubuntu boot CD... would it be worthwhile to try booting from that and then replacing the file that way?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Suspishio

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Short expert summary and next steps based on the thread: has a corrupted sptd.sys blocking Windows start, and the BIOS already shows "USB‑FDD Legacy" but the external DVD never appears as bootable. On the Toshiba M40 the documented one‑time boot key is F12 (hold at power‑on) and the boot menu will list the CD‑ROM device — confirming that selection is the simplest first test. (manualmachine.com)

Why an external USB DVD can be invisible: older BIOSes only recognize certain USB emulation types (USB‑FDD, ZIP or HDD). Some enclosures present as a device type the BIOS will not list, so even with USB legacy on the drive can be ignored. A reliable fallback is to boot from a USB stick (or use a boot manager that adds USB support on old BIOS). Note: Plop Boot Manager can help boot USB on machines whose BIOS lacks USB boot, but it does not reliably boot USB CD/DVD hardware — a USB stick is the safer option. (plop.at)

If a Live Linux approach is possible, replacing/renaming the driver from a live session is straightforward and safer than deleting it. Typical sequence (from an Ubuntu live session):

sudo mkdir /mnt/windows
sudo fdisk -l                # find the Windows partition (e.g. /dev/sda1)
sudo ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows
sudo mv /mnt/windows/Windows/System32/drivers/sptd.sys /mnt/windows/Windows/System32/drivers/sptd.sys.bak
sudo umount /mnt/windows

Use ntfs-3g so the NTFS partition mounts read/write; if the volume is flagged dirty the mount will fail and chkdsk from Windows will be required. (manpages.ubuntu.com)

Background and safe removal options: sptd.sys is the SPTD layer used by tools like DAEMON Tools / Alcohol; it can stop Windows from booting. Best practice is to disable the driver (Recovery Console disable sptd or set its Start value to prevent loading) or use the official SPTD uninstaller if available. If the driver prints a load message during boot many installers allow pressing ESC to skip loading SPTD so Safe Mode can be reached — that can let the uninstaller or a rename take place. Renaming to .bak keeps recovery simple. (pro.daemon-help.com)

Quick checklist: confirm F12 CD boot, try a USB stick Live distro, mount+rename sptd.sys (do not delete), try official SPTD uninstaller or Recovery Console disable, and only then consider physically removing or disabling the internal ODD if the external device is still ignored.

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Member Avatar for Suspishio

(a) They should be able to boot from external DVD drives if you've got the BIOS USB Legacy setting on. But I've never tried it so the answer's theoretical.

(b) If you can read the Ubuntu CD you can read the Windows CD although I appreciate that from your description the Windows CD might not hold up, whereas the Ubuntu CD won't be used much. So that's worth a try.

Member Avatar for zhankfor

I've got the USB Legacy Emulation setting on, and the boot priority has FDD listed first. Still not doing it. Is there anything else I have to do? Press a button on start-up, do a dance, anything?

Member Avatar for zhankfor

Upon further inspection FDD is not the setting it's supposed to be on, is it? The four choises are CD-ROM, FDD, HDD, and LAN. There's no USB... is there supposed to be?

Member Avatar for Suspishio

CD ROM will do. The Legacy BIOS should allow that through to see the CD ROM on boot.

Anyway, read this:

Member Avatar for zhankfor

Nothing doing yet, but thanks a lot for the help so far...

The BIOS option I have enabled is "USB-FDD Legacy." There isn't one that says "USB-CD-ROM." Maybe that means something...?

Member Avatar for Suspishio

Nothing doing yet, but thanks a lot for the help so far...

The BIOS option I have enabled is "USB-FDD Legacy." There isn't one that says "USB-CD-ROM." Maybe that means something...?

You've got the correct setting. And it is directly referenced in the Microsoft KB article which I hope you've digested.

Member Avatar for zhankfor

Yeah, OK, everything seems to be in order then. I guess the trouble is either with the CDs I'm using or it goes deeper than I've imagined.

Member Avatar for Suspishio

I suspect you might have to physically take out the internal CD drive or at least DISABLE it in Device Manager.

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