Modify BIOS on Toshiba r835 machine to support SATA III

Discussion in 'BIOS Mods' started by wel51x, Aug 15, 2012.

  1. wel51x

    wel51x MDL Novice

    Aug 4, 2010
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    Hi,

    I posted this Amazon review:
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    I have recently upgraded from a Fujitsu Lifebook lh531 to a brand-spanking new Toshiba Portege r835-p89 machine.
    I installed a Corsair GT240 ssd on the Fujitsu and saw my ATTO Disk Benchmark go from roughly 80K R/W (roughly!) to roughly 525K. What a screamer!!
    Imagine my SHOCK then when I did the same to the Portege and saw it go from 80K to ONLY 225K.
    I also copied roughly 42gb from c: to d:. It took ~5 mins wall clock time on the Fujitsu and ~12 mins on the Portege.
    Does anyone have any idea as to how I might rectify this? Or am I hosed (eh)?

    I received the following reply:

    I'm sorry to say this, but you're pretty much hosed. I have a Portege R835-p81 (literally identical to your machine) and the problem is the BIOS. It does not support SATA III. Only SATA II (which limits the speed of the SSD), even though the chipset supports SATA III. Toshiba disabled the SATA III functionality (I don't understand why companies do such things - go figure :rolleyes:)
    **********

    So the question is: Is anyone aware of any BIOS hack that would allow me to achieve the desired SATA-III speed?
    My understanding is that the machine has a "Mobile Intel HM65 Express Chipset".

    I'm a relatively knowledgeable Java/C/C++/FORTRAN IV (yes!) programmer, but have never even thought about doing something like this and would be fairly nervous to try as you might imagine.
    I really appreciate any insight.