Toshiba Satellite L450D Slow POST

I have a PSLY5C-02501U
Downloads are here
http://support.toshiba.ca/support/isg/center/en/index.a...


User had a problem getting it booted, disassembled the unit, cleaned it, checked all internal connections.
Removed the hard drive
Reset BIOS to defaults
Disabled USB legacy support
Disabled onboard LAN
Set HDD to boot first
Enabled wireless NIC

Symptom:
Unit powers on, goes to the POST screen, displays Toshiba logo and Phoenix BIOS logo in the lower right. Across the bottom is press F2 for Setup and press F12 for boot manager.

Stays on this screen for more than 5 minutes, timed it but gave up after 5. If you wait it will eventually boot off the HDD or a bootable DVD (tested when HDD removed).

So it does the same thing regardless of if the HDD is plugged in.

There is no FDD (although FDD cannot be disabled in BIOS), LAN or USB booting going on. I originally thought it may be trying to boot off the LAN and that was timing out and causing the delay, but with the internal LAN disabled this should not be the case.

I downloaded the BIOS flash utility, however the unit BIOS is already at that version number so the windows utility will not allow me to overwrite it or force flash it. I figured it must be some sort of strange BIOS glitch. Since I can't flash it and the windows utility is the only one provided I am stuck. I could try a DOS based flash with a bootable USB stick

So, seems to be a BIOS setting, glitch or a motherboard issue. I am open to all suggestions.

My next track might be to find an alternate BIOS file, but I don't want to brick the thing either. This BIOS is very rudimentary so If I haven't listed an option, it's probably not there (or not accessible via BIOS menu)  

Cheers