Portégé Laptops

[#1]

Hello everyone !

A friend of mine gave me an old M200 laptop. Note the hard disk is empty, but he did give me a docking station with a DVD drive in it.

At the back of the tablet is a Product key (I am guessing it's for Windows XP Tablet PC), and the Toshiba sticker has the following details -

Portege M200

PM725 12+ 512M 40 WLb

Part No: PPM21U-02SPV4

Serial No: X4057335H

There are also 2 CDs that say "Toshiba Recovery Disks" (Part 1 and 2) and that they contain software already installed on the PC.

Now here's my dilemma. I don't have Windows XP Tablet edition, but I do have a fully legal copy of Windows XP Professional (with the license key ..) that I would like to run on this machine. Additionally, my friend said he had updated the memory to 2GB. Also, the hard disk is currently empty.

What is the next thing I should do? Here are my questions -

1. Should I go ahead with the installation of Windows XP professional? Or should I try and get a copy of Windows XP Tablet PC edition from somewhere, since I have the license key for it (the one pasted behind the laptop?)

2. Where do I get the drivers from? The homepage has 2 models for M200, M200-S218TD and M200-S838. I do not know which one mine falls under

I am able to boot into the PC and go into BIOS mode by pressing Escape. I am guessing it's an old BIOS, since it looks ancient and says its version is 1.81

Any suggestions? Thank you! (And to note, I am really excited .. this is the first time I am using a Tablet PC!)

[#2]

I would suggest that the first thing to do is to boot the system from the recovery disk, probably number one and follow the prompts to restore the system to factory shipped condition.  You will end up with Windows XP Tablet edition and all of the appropriate drivers and utilties.  Then when you get it working you can decide if you want to install XP Pro.  The downside of that is that you'll lose support of the tablet functions.

[#3]

Really? I didn't know the recovery disk actually had Windows XP Tablet Edition and was bootable, I just thought it would have a list of drivers I could install off of once I installed an operating system.

Good to know I will try it out today after I get back home. Thank you!

Additionally, any word on which of the 2 links on the web match my model?

[#4]

The recovery disk should be bootable or if not it may need to be booted from a special diskette using the USB floppy drive.  Unfortunately I don't have that kind of detailed information on that model.  If you go into the BIOS and there is an option to boot from CD, then that's how it is done.  If not, then the system would need to be booted from a floppy and the recovery run from the CD.  The disk doesn't actually have the operating system on it.  It has the binary image of the hard drive as it was when it shipped from the factory.  When that image is restored, the hard drive will look exactly like a new one with the operating system and drivers in place.  As far as which model fits yours, it depends on the model variant.  There are three US versions of the M200:

M200  - Part Number PPM21U-021YD4

M200-S218TD - Part Number PPM21U-1953K4

M200-S838 - Part Number PPM21U-16FXK4

There should be a label on the bottom with the model number, part number and a serial number.  If the label is missing or unreadable, you can download Belarc Advisor and run it.  That will give you all sorts of information about the system and installed software including the model and part number.

[#5]

I'm in a similar situation, except its a little worse. 

This past weekend I got an M200 with port replicator and a blank drive. No CD, and no recovery partion on the hard drive and no restore CDs.  I also got an HP CD Writer Plus with a SCSI PCMCIA card...

To get it up and running I had to put the drive in my desktop, boot from a floppy, fdisk, format /s, copy over a Win95 flat, copy over a Win98 Upgrade flat, copy over the CD burner drivers, and then boot the M200 into DOS and run Win98 Setup.  Since this was an upgrade, I had to point Setup to the Win95 flat....

After I got 98 installed I installed the CD burner driver and then ran XP Pro setup from the CD.

I have the system up and running, but there are problems.  I have some tablet functionality, but some things don't run at all, like the Diagnostics, The SD card Utilities,  and there is no cooling fan speed control.  The fan problem started after I updated the BIOS to 1.8.  To flash the BIOS I used a spare drive that boots to DOS, just cpoied the files to it, boot and Boom....done.

Before the BIOS update the fans would run and cycle, but now they don't  At this point I am using SpeedFan to force the fans to high speed...  And Speed Fan does not have any automatic functionality, and few the the options windows are populated....

In the mean time, is it true about Toshiba support being less than helpful?  I've read several threads else where about some of the problems, particularly with obtaining installation media to reinstall XP Tablet...

the SD card reader works, sorta.  I can read SD cards, but I cannot format or make them bootable, and when I do have an SD card that is bootable, I cannot get the Tablet to boot from it....  Yet with the same card I can boot my desktop (Home built AMD Dual Core running Vista 64 bit) off of my video camera...go figure....

[#6]

I don't have any opinion about the helpfulness of Toshiba support but based on experiences with several other companies I'll guess that it can be challenging at times.  I have usually had to exercise great patience and perserverance, sometimes having to escalate the problem to a higher level tech.  In your case, though, you should be able to call (800) 457-7777 and order replacement recovery media.  They will want your serial number and a credit card to cover shipping and handling.  Last I looked it was $24.95 standard, $29.95 overnight.

[#7]

Chris:

Thanks for the info...I'll make the call today..

Cliff

[#8]

XP Tablet Edition is XP Pro with added functionality to support a Tablet PC.  When you install XP Tablet 'clean', the CD key you enter detemines which version of Xp (Tablet or Media Center) is actually installed....

[#9]

I have some real good news!  My M200 is up and running Xp Tablet Edition 2005 SP3!

I don't' have an external DVD, so I had to resort to using a PXE boot.  I set my main PC (Dual Core Athlon 2.7gHz running Vista Home Premium 64-bit) as a PXE boot server. 

I could boot the tablet to the network, but Vista security would not let me access the file share.  After fussing with Vista for a while I decided to bring an XP laptop on line.  With the contents fo the Restore DVD copied, and a folder shared, the tablet had no trouble connecting and running the restore.

Following instructions I found on the net (TabletBuzz), I set the restore up to just restore the OS, so I didn't get all of the "bloatware"....  One thing I did want to use was MS Onenote, but when I ran setup I got prompted for a CD Key.  I dug through the restore DVD and found nothing, so I guess I need to call Toshiba again....

BTW:  Getting a restore DVD was a piece of cake.  Give them your system serial #, answer a few questions, give 'em a credit card # to cover the $24.95 "shipping fee", and you're good to go.  My DVD was shipped from Asheville NC, and in three days I had it.

So, for those of you looking to do a restore and you don't have a bootable DVD ROOM drive, a PXE boot works....

[#10]

I just downloaded Windows 7 Home Premium to my M200 and it runs perfectly and I also downloaded Microsoft's new Security Essentials for free.