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Any recommendations for a really knowledgeable laptop forum

 
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Elaine Benes




Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1416



PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:55 pm    Post subject: Any recommendations for a really knowledgeable laptop forum Reply with quote


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I just bought myself an old Toshiba Tecra 9100 laptop. Its nothing to write home about, but I bought it for less than the processor alone in any of my desktops cost, so there's not a lot invested.

I've got quite a few questions piled up though, and was wondering if anyone knows of an active forum for laptop information ?

This thing wouldn't take ANY OS except an OEM VISTA Premium disc I had. WinXP installation failed every time, Vista was the only thing I could get to go onto it. Also, I can't find ANYWHERE that has the "recovery" discs for it posted so I can properly partition the hard drive (which is why XP wouldn't go on it, I think...).

Laptops are a LOT more of a pita than desktops...

So, anyone know of any good laptop forums ??

Thanks.
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have you tried removing the Hard Drive and installing XP on a desktop machine?
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garyfritz




Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 12024
Location: Fort Collins, CO


PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My wife had a couple of Tecras years ago. If I remember right, they had a lot of vendor-specific drivers in them. I'm amazed Vista works on it at all.
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Brooklyn




Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 494
Location: Morgan Hill, CA


PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can use a CD called "Hiren's boot CD" to partition the drive, and run other diagnostics if you need to. It is typically only available through a torrent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiren%27s_boot_CD
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MikeEby




Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Posts: 5238
Location: Osceola, Indiana


PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:09 pm    Post subject: Re: Any recommendations for a really knowledgeable laptop fo Reply with quote

Elaine Benes wrote:
I just bought myself an old Toshiba Tecra 9100 laptop. Its nothing to write home about, but I bought it for less than the processor alone in any of my desktops cost, so there's not a lot invested.

I've got quite a few questions piled up though, and was wondering if anyone knows of an active forum for laptop information ?

This thing wouldn't take ANY OS except an OEM VISTA Premium disc I had. WinXP installation failed every time, Vista was the only thing I could get to go onto it. Also, I can't find ANYWHERE that has the "recovery" discs for it posted so I can properly partition the hard drive (which is why XP wouldn't go on it, I think...).

Laptops are a LOT more of a pita than desktops...

So, anyone know of any good laptop forums ??

Thanks.


Where does it fail during the XP setup?....During the text based file copy or the graphical part after the reboot? You should be able to delete the partition from the XP setup. If all else fails boot with a DOS CD that has fdisk on it then run: fdisk /mbr. That should zap the master boot record.

Mike

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Elaine Benes




Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1416



PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for all the specific recommendations, I've tried pretty much all of them. Hirem's boot cd allowed me to verify the hard drive was fine, and working IN the computer(which eliminated the possibility of an IDE controller or other hardware issue). I formatted the drive via Swissknife when hooked up via USB to IDE cable on another computer, but it made no difference on the WinXP installation. I'm fairly sure the "vendor-specific" drivers are the culprit. The installation would fail upon reaching the "Starting Windows" step, the stop error indicated an inability to locate the hard drive, which makes me think some specific IDE controller driver, or a specific hard drive firmware is needed and normally installed by the Toshiba recovery discs(which aren't available ANYWHERE !!!!).

I'm not sure how Vista managed to power through it, but I've noticed that Vista seems to have much more robust "problem solving" routine compared to XP. I've got several different USB to IDE cables, for example, and some just won't connect to XP, but Vista has no problem sorting them out...
I tried rewriting the MBR a few times, and reformatting, writing zero's to the entire drive via the Hard Drive Guru's very powerful boot cd, and there was no question the drive is working, and formatted correctly.

While Vista was loading, there was an error regarding not being able to read the disc because of the drive not being available. I popped the disc drawer out and back and it auto ran and continued the installation. I'm thinking maybe there is a combination of proprietary driver and power management issues...but I don't know.

This experience has made me very wary about trying to get XP installed on it at all... Although Vista is not the ideal OS for the laptop, a working one is better than a none working one.

I need Vista drivers for the Toshiba wireless LAN though, and they don't look to exist...
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garyfritz




Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 12024
Location: Fort Collins, CO


PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

With a 1.7Ghz Pentium 4M, and what, 256 or 512MB of RAM?, it may be stretching the definition of "working" if you try to run Vista on it.
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Elaine Benes




Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1416



PostLink    Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garyfritz wrote:
With a 1.7Ghz Pentium 4M, and what, 256 or 512MB of RAM?, it may be stretching the definition of "working" if you try to run Vista on it.

Yes, you are correct, I'm seeing that now as I test it.

I'll have to attempt an XP install again...

You don't have any Toshiba Tecra 9100 System Recovery cd's laying around at home you could post up somewhere do you ?
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garyfritz




Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 12024
Location: Fort Collins, CO


PostLink    Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nope. Her Tecras's were a 5500CDT and something even older.
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macgyver655




Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508



PostLink    Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How many times have you used the XP disc your trying. I have had quite a few stop working properly after some time. I usually make copies of the disc when its new. I can show you about 4 disc's that use to work fine including the original and they no longer do, but a copy of it still does.

If you format with software other then the operating disc it maybe whats giving you the unable to find harddrive.

When you get an XP disc that will partition the drive, I would suggest multiple partitions, 1st partition for your operating system, another for your valuable info. This way if your operating system fails beyond repairing it, you can reinstall a fresh operating system and your info on the other partition is still safe.
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the_avguy




Joined: 16 Mar 2007
Posts: 91
Location: Edmonton, Alberta


PostLink    Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Any particular reason you want to run windows on it?
Here is one site that lists all of the hardware.
http://www.genunix.org/wiki/index.php/Toshiba_Tecra_9100
It is a howto site for solaris but at least lists all of the hardware.

You should be able to download all of the updated drivers from the toshiba site.

Does the xp install finish and then hang on reboot?
You "might" be able to botch together an xp install by putting the drive into another machine as the primary drive.
(notebook ide to ide adapter)
Then install xp
Set the display and ide drivers to generic and then move the laptop drive back into the Tecra.
But I would just install a version of Linux.
I would give Ubuntu a shot.

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Elaine Benes




Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1416



PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 12:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

macgyver655 wrote:
How many times have you used the XP disc your trying. I have had quite a few stop working properly after some time. I usually make copies of the disc when its new. I can show you about 4 disc's that use to work fine including the original and they no longer do, but a copy of it still does.

If you format with software other then the operating disc it maybe whats giving you the unable to find harddrive.

When you get an XP disc that will partition the drive, I would suggest multiple partitions, 1st partition for your operating system, another for your valuable info. This way if your operating system fails beyond repairing it, you can reinstall a fresh operating system and your info on the other partition is still safe.


I think you nailed it....

Just for fun, last night I made a copy of my small version of XP on a CD. I copied it at a slow speed, and burned it at the slowest speed possible. It worked like a charm, didn't even hesitate....

Quite a frustrating lesson learned on this one !

As for Linux, I used a live CD of Knoppix to verify that everything worked fine, but I'm not independent minded enough to search and read and search and read every time I want to do something that isn't already included in a Linux distro. There are just too many people using and making stuff for Windows to abandon it(just yet anyway...).

Thanks very much for all the suggestions, this forum turned out to be just right for a laptop problem...kinda funny...
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