Windows Vista & Windows XP

[emmerc]

Yesterday I got a brand new WD SATA HDD 250GB and a brand new CD of Windows XP Home SP3 and I swap the HD of my P305-S8832 and began the odyssey of installing WinXP. I had all my data on another HD so no risks. Vista Installation and Data are safe in other disks which I will not touch for this procedure. I began the installation by setting the HDD to compatibility mode and proceeded.Why did I tried this? Because I had the opportunity to do so and do the try!

Once the installation ended, I went to http://downloadcenter.intel.com and looked for those XP drivers I could not get from toshiba download center (almost all of them I got from Toshiba). Namely video and wireless. Sound driver was the most difficult (Conexant Smart Audio 221), which I got from HP download center after a long google search. Yes search first at the model page in Toshiba. For those driver not available at toshiba, I got the exact name of every driver from the dvd installer of the machine and then searched for everyone either at Toshiba Downloads, Intel Download or finally Google.

Then I did all the updating process, installed AVG free antivirus, Firefox 3.5, Thunderbird, Office, Nero, etc....

Now the evaluation:

1. Almost everything works. Only the FM Radio does not work. I was not able to find any XP driver for it. All the Fn keys work, keyboard illumination, etc.

2. As the sata HDD is working on compatibility mode, it is a little bit slow. I tried all: defragmenting, setting off search indexing, moved the page file to the secondary HD. Still a little bit slow for applications as burning a DVD on nero.

3. Applications work very well although they seem to hold a little bit before starting: Office 2003, Bible Works 6 and 7, Libronix 3 (8.5 GB of databases)

4. I am looking for an external floppy drive to try to install the sata drivers and then activate the sata mode of the HDD but I have the sata drivers in Windows version. I think I need them in DOS version and I have not gotten them so far. This could make the HDD faster I think.

5. Huge amount of memory free (Machine has 3GB of DDR2 667). When Vista Home Premium starts has already swallowed 1.3 GB while XP takes only 450Mb after starting. Well, I hope this might be useful for somebody. I welcome suggestions.

[cee_64 · Accepted solution]

You can install the SATA drivers and enable AHCI without a Floppy Drive by following the following guide.  Since you've already installed other drivers you might have some problems using this method to enable AHCI.  Some people have and others have not with other drivers installed.  If not, you'll either need to start over or live with the performance hit.

You also need to install the drivers in a specific order as outlined below for them to all work properly.  If you installed them already I can't tell if this is causing any of your problems or not. 

The European Support Site has ALL of the required XP drivers and Utilities.  Use the model number P300 with the short model name of PSPC0E.

--------------------8<------------------- <snip> ------------------

Switching back to AHCI (Runs a little faster than ATA mode)

 - First step is to install the basic Motherboard Chipset Driver and ONLY this driver. Do

not install anything else prior to installing the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver as

outlined below.

- Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101

- Once you download the file, run it with the -a switch:
    iata89_enu.exe -a

This will NOT install the Matrix Storage Manager. What this will do is run the installer, and

ONLY EXTRACT the files to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Again, this

does NOT install anything.

- Your drivers are now located in C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager. They

will be found in either \Driver, or \Driver64, depending on whether you're running a 32-bit

or 64-bit OS.

- Go to Device Manager --> IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Double-click on the Intel ICH8M 3-port

SATA Controller - 2828... remember, *ONLY* click on the device that ends with 2828.

- Go to Driver tab, and choose to Update Driver.

- Tell the Wizard prompts:
- No, not this time
- Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)
- Don't Search. I will choose the driver to install.
- Click the "Have Disk" button. Point it to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage

Manager\Driver (or Driver64).
- Choose the driver you want to install....
- After you install the driver and click OK out of every menu, reboot the laptop.

-) During reboot, go into BIOS and turn on AHCI mode
--------------------8<------------------- <snip> ------------------

Install your drivers in this order.
Restart after each driver and take the time to test between drivers.
Some will apply and some won't.

Chipset software
Display driver
Sound driver
Modem Driver
If your machine has the internal WiFi card, then install the WLAN and/or WiFi driver
ACPI Common Modules (required for Power management tools to function)
Toshiba Console
Display Hotkey utility
Touchpad Driver
Touchpad enable/disable utility
Toshiba Network Device Switch utility
Toshiba Power Saver Utility
Toshiba Controls
Toshiba Utilities

--------------------8<------------------- <snip> ------------------

You can follow this guide to integrate your SATA drivers into your XP Install Disk.  DO yourself a huge favor and use the SATA drivers that they provide.  You can integrate your Service Packs during this proceedure as well.  This option gives you a Bootable disk that will allow access to a Recovery Console without having to switch back and forth between AHCI and Compatability Mode.

[emmerc]

cee_64:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

I am writing this replay from a Toshiba P305-S8832 running a full legal WinXP Home SP3 fully updated and fully supporting my two SATA HDD in AHCI mode. Your solution worked just fine in the fisrt option. Blessings for you and yours!!!

[cee_64]

Way to go.  You are gonna love that system with XP on it.  I was amazed how much better my L305-S5933 runs with XP than it does with Vista or Se7en.   

[emmerc]

Yes cee_64,

After more than a month ussing this machine with WinXP I may tell you that this is the machine I wanted. It behaves as I wish. No surprices at all. With Vista, after every update, I will have problems with the language bar, with the external speakers and with who knows what. Now the machine just works. The OS is almost transparent and once it has loaded, I still have lots of ram to use with my applications. I plan to stick with Vista XP SP3 on this machine. It is fully updated, fully functional and everything runs smoothly. Now I am able to do my work without having to waste time dealing with a OS that misbehaves. 

Once again, THANKS A LOT, for your help in providng me the workaround for the AHCI mode of the SATA HDD,

All the best for you and yours!!!

[cee_64]

Good deal.  Glad it's working out for you.