| Author |
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tiktak
Guest
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 Posted:
Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:25 am Post subject:
question installing xp on laptops |
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hello, suppose there is a situation where one needs to reinstall xp on a
toshiba a20/a30 laptop, without having the original recovery cds etc, is it
possible to just do it all with winxp installation cd from scratch, or at
some point or other, would the recovery cds be actually REQUIRED. logic
says no, but I'm thinking more along the lines of needing them for proper
drivers installations specific to the laptop hardware etc.. things that a
standard xp installation cd may not have built in or be able to find on the
net for that matter.
thank you for your help.
remove spam if emailing me please. |
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Mike S.
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:25 am Post subject:
Re: question installing xp on laptops |
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In article <11ml9c8fr6gbs88@corp.supernews.com>,
Joel Kolstad <JKolstad71HatesSpam@yahoo.com> wrote:
| Quote: | "tiktak" <hikoryERASETHISPART@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:N%waf.8676$1T3.167750@weber.videotron.net...
hello, suppose there is a situation where one needs to reinstall xp on a
toshiba a20/a30 laptop, without having the original recovery cds etc, is it
possible to just do it all with winxp installation cd from scratch, or at
some point or other, would the recovery cds be actually REQUIRED. logic
says no, but I'm thinking more along the lines of needing them for proper
drivers installations specific to the laptop hardware etc.. things that a
standard xp installation cd may not have built in or be able to find on the
net for that matter.
If the current installation is still alive, run device manager (devmgmt.msc)
and see if there are only specialized devices that need drivers from Toshiba
(e.g., extra buttons for MP3 players, built-in webcams, etc.). If so, make a
fast trip over to Toshiba's web site to see if they're available for download!
In any case, as you've deduced, installing XP from scratch will work fine, and
for anything where the drivers aren't included with XP itself, there's about
a, oh, say, 25% chance that Windows Update will have them and about a 90%
chance you'll be able to find them on the Internet somewhere.
I don't know how Toshiba is, but Sony used to make it very difficult to just
download drivers for VAIO laptops (i.e., they just wouldn't let you do it!).
Happily that's changed in the past few years...
|
It is VERY easy to download drivers for any Toshiba machine from their
support web site ... even for operating systems that were not yet shipping at
the time the model was being sold. |
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Joel Kolstad
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:02 am Post subject:
Re: question installing xp on laptops |
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"tiktak" <hikoryERASETHISPART@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:N%waf.8676$1T3.167750@weber.videotron.net...
| Quote: | hello, suppose there is a situation where one needs to reinstall xp on a
toshiba a20/a30 laptop, without having the original recovery cds etc, is it
possible to just do it all with winxp installation cd from scratch, or at
some point or other, would the recovery cds be actually REQUIRED. logic
says no, but I'm thinking more along the lines of needing them for proper
drivers installations specific to the laptop hardware etc.. things that a
standard xp installation cd may not have built in or be able to find on the
net for that matter.
|
If the current installation is still alive, run device manager (devmgmt.msc)
and see if there are only specialized devices that need drivers from Toshiba
(e.g., extra buttons for MP3 players, built-in webcams, etc.). If so, make a
fast trip over to Toshiba's web site to see if they're available for download!
In any case, as you've deduced, installing XP from scratch will work fine, and
for anything where the drivers aren't included with XP itself, there's about
a, oh, say, 25% chance that Windows Update will have them and about a 90%
chance you'll be able to find them on the Internet somewhere.
I don't know how Toshiba is, but Sony used to make it very difficult to just
download drivers for VAIO laptops (i.e., they just wouldn't let you do it!).
Happily that's changed in the past few years... |
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Barry Watzman
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:49 am Post subject:
Re: question installing xp on laptops |
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No, it's no problem to use a generic XP and do an install like a
desktop. You WILL need the factory drivers to complete the install
properly, and there are a lot more of them for most laptops than for a
desktop (it's not unusual to need more than a dozen drivers), but for
the major mfgrs. (and definitely for Toshiba) all of the drivers for all
models are available on their web site for download (best to get these
ALL on another computer before even starting and burn all of them to a CD).
tiktak wrote:
| Quote: | hello, suppose there is a situation where one needs to reinstall xp on a
toshiba a20/a30 laptop, without having the original recovery cds etc, is it
possible to just do it all with winxp installation cd from scratch, or at
some point or other, would the recovery cds be actually REQUIRED. logic
says no, but I'm thinking more along the lines of needing them for proper
drivers installations specific to the laptop hardware etc.. things that a
standard xp installation cd may not have built in or be able to find on the
net for that matter.
thank you for your help.
remove spam if emailing me please.
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bxf
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:40 pm Post subject:
Re: question installing xp on laptops |
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If your system is still useable, you will probably find a folder
somewhere that contains all/most of the drivers used to create the
original configuration. Keep this folder, and, if after installing
Windows you find that a device driver is missing (yellow question mark
on Device Manager), you can install the device by pointing to this
saved folder. This should make all the devices on your system useable
immediately after installation, but does not prevent you from updating
to later versions of the drivers should they be available for download
somewhere. This is what I did with my laptop, and in fact I needed to
use a couple of delivered drivers that Widows does not include. |
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Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Nov 05, 2005 5:27 am Post subject:
Re: question installing xp on laptops |
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On 4 Nov 2005 00:40:54 -0800, bxf wrote:
| Quote: | If your system is still useable, you will probably find a folder
somewhere that contains all/most of the drivers used to
create the original configuration.
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And what is the name of this folder?
If there is indeed such a folder I don't think it is
"probably" or that it could be found "somewhere".
Personally I don't have either Toshiba or XP so
I do not know, but only guess and hope that there
would be a system to it all.
Lars
Stockholm |
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Barry Watzman
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Nov 05, 2005 6:30 am Post subject:
Re: question installing xp on laptops |
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If the reinstallation files exist they are in an "I386" folder and the
setup program is Winnt.exe (dos mode setup) or Winnt32.exe (Windows mode
setup). Sometimes the folder is present but the setup files are not
present (which makes it useless for a reinstallation). The I386 folder,
if present, could be anywhere but the most likely places are:
\I386
\Windows\I386
\Windows\Options\Cabs\I386
The size should be in the neighborhood of 400 to 600 megabytes.
IF YOU HAVE THIS FOLDER, CREATE A TEXT FILE CALLED "PRODKEY.TXT"
CONTAINING THE PRODUCT KEY, THEN BURN THE ENTIRE FOLDER TO A CD.
This folder is almost as good as a Windows XP retail CD, if it exists
and is complete. It may or may not include the special drivers required
for that particular computer (in other words, you may still have to
download those drivers from the computer manufacturer's web site).
lars@fake.com wrote:
| Quote: | On 4 Nov 2005 00:40:54 -0800, bxf wrote:
If your system is still useable, you will probably find a folder
somewhere that contains all/most of the drivers used to
create the original configuration.
And what is the name of this folder?
If there is indeed such a folder I don't think it is
"probably" or that it could be found "somewhere".
Personally I don't have either Toshiba or XP so
I do not know, but only guess and hope that there
would be a system to it all.
Lars
Stockholm |
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bxf
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:12 pm Post subject:
Re: question installing xp on laptops |
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lars@fake.com wrote:
| Quote: | On 4 Nov 2005 00:40:54 -0800, bxf wrote:
If your system is still useable, you will probably find a folder
somewhere that contains all/most of the drivers used to
create the original configuration.
And what is the name of this folder?
If there is indeed such a folder I don't think it is
"probably" or that it could be found "somewhere".
|
I am not trying to state this as a universal truth, and perhaps I
should have said "possibly" rather than "probably". On my laptop I
found a whole bunch of files that were left over by the manufacturer.
Amongst these were folders containing drivers, registery updates, etc.
It may be worth your while to view all delivered folders (outside of
Windows, Documents and Settings, Program Files) and see if you are able
to identify the contents. |
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