Windows 7 Ultimate on Toshiba A35-S159 Successful

[shadovvarrior]

I just had to post with the fact that I have successfully installed Windows 7 Ultimate on the following system:

Toshiba A35-S159
50 GB Hard drive
Pentium IV 2.3GHz
512MB RAM!!!

I have to say I was impressed. The minimum requirement posted for Windows 7 was 1 GB of RAM so I didn't even expect the install to complete.

It actually seems to have increased in performance which is not what I expected at all.

This system has a Intel 852 Integrated Graphics Adapter and there are many threads beginning to form about the incompatibilities or the tricks people used to force it to work. I, however, chose to just use the default setup by windows which allowed me a 1024 x 768 resolution, which is perfectly fine for this laptop.

 

[MadMaxData]

It actually seems to have increased in performance which is not what I expected at all.

Increased from what? Vista?

 

[shadovvarrior]

MadMaxData,

I should have clarified, but I was running Windows XP Pro before on my laptop.

 

[oceanboy]

shadovvarrior

Would you be so kind as to send me the drivers from your Toshiba laptop. I have the same model and would like to run 7 on it

Let me know

 

[gregrocker]

OB since this post is over a year old, you may not hear back from OP.

Win7 is mostly driver-complete, with newer arriving quickly via optional Windows Updates as soon as you get online.

As there are Vista drivers for that model on its Support Downloads webpage it should be no problem to find any drivers missing after install and optional Updates. Put the Vista wireless driver found here on a stick to get online fast: Model Content Page

You'll also want to upgrade to at least a gig of RAM, up to the max 2gb for that model's two slots. Looks like a second 512mb stick is around $20 - just google the model + RAM.

 

[oceanboy]

Hi

Thanks for the info...greatly appreciated. I have 1.25 GB of ram in it so I should be good to go

Thanks again for all your help. Off to the Win 7 races.

Peace out

 

[oceanboy]

Install went well except the "Video Controller " in device manager has an exclamation point over it. Cant seem to find it anywhere. Any thoughts

Thanks

Steven

 

[gregrocker]

Have you checked optional Windows Updates after a few restarts to see if it delivers a new Display adapter?

What is currently installed, Standard VGA adapter? This is a placeholder driver which needs replacement by researching the exact device then googling to find its Vista or Win7 driver.

Edit: Your model appears to have Intel 852GM chipset which does not support Vista or Win7. However in order to get Sleep and Hibernate to work and better quality graphics, you may be able to install the XP driver downloaded from here, if necessary by running it's .exe and then it's extracted Setup in Win7 Compatibility Mode:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=10099&ProdId=922&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%20XP%20Home%20Edition*&DownloadType=

This is what I do with a laptop which has 855GM and it works fine for everything except Aero glass, sleeps and hibernates.

 

[oceanboy]

Hi gregrocker

Thanks for the advice and I did download that driver and installed it using compatibility mode but no success.

yes my video adapter is listed as "Standard VGA vies adapter"

Any other thoughts please?

Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Have you maximized the screen res on Standard VGA? Is it satisfactory (except that Sleep might not work)?

Keep searching for a driver via Google, post up again in Drivers sub-forum with exactly what you need (Vista/Win7 driver for Toshiba A35-S159) in title to see if someone knows of one.

 

[oceanboy]

Yes I've maxed the screen resolution and it ends up at 1024 x 768 which is acceptable on a 15 inch screen.

I wonder what the user who started this post did to find all his drivers.

Also, funny thing.I shut the computer down using the start/shut down button and then close the lid. When I open the lid the machine starts up automatically

Maybe I should go back to XP.

 

[gregrocker]

You may have the start button programmed to Sleep or Hibernate in Power Options, then the lid is one which will resume when opened. I would frankly like to have a lid like that.

If you're happy with the Display for now I'd keep testing it until you know for sure, while trying to find a newer driver.

Did you try the XP driver both by running the .exe normally and then in Compat Mode for XP SP3? Now browse to where it unzipped the drivers, find the Setup, rightclick>Properties and set Compatibility there to XP SP3 for all users, then run Setup.

I only did a cursory check for the latest driver so look for more recent by searching the chipset + display video driver. Then add Vista Windows 7. Then use XP.

 

[oceanboy]

gregrocker

Hey..thanks sooo much for all your help. Even though I didn't find a way to make the video controller icon go away in devise manager, everything else was good. I even discovered the sound problem which was a small round dial (who ever heard of such a thing) on the side of the machine. It was turned down thus the reason for no sound.


Anyway after all that, some dude shows up and said he wanted to install Linux on it and didn't care about windows...ha!

Thanks again!!!

 

[gregrocker]

Glad to help anytime OB.

The real value here is the learning, anyway.