CF-29/XP/Driver Problems

Hi All,
I've recently done a 'fresh' install of XP on my trusty CF-29CTKGZDE, then installed all the service pack/updates that Windoze Update could throw at me.

This seems to have stopped both the audio and video drivers from working.

I've tried downloading the 'latest' drivers from here: https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pc/itn/drivers/d_menu_en.html#CF-29
but to no avail (also I notice that they are labelled up as 'XP SP 1')

Anyone had similar problems/know of a solution/location of compatible drivers??

A pint of beer to the person who can help- its driving me barmy!!
Cheers
nick

 

AHHHHHHHHHH, THAT DREADED PROBLEM!!!! Unless Rick or Ron, or anyone else here can shed any more info, you may be doing another wipe/reload... I did that once on my CF-29 (back in the day of coarse) and I did exactly what you did, and no madder what I did I couldn't get the damn windows drivers out that windoze update put on and ended up just wiping and reloading... after the 2nd time I used the Panasonic drivers and all was well... then when I did the windoze updates, i just made sure I DIDN'T CHECK the option for those 2 drivers!

Wish I had a better explanation, but that's just my 2 cents.

Good luck!!

 

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the quick reply (though it definitely sounds like bad news to me....)
I'm really loath to reinstall again, so might keep that option back until a few more folk have told me that I'm doomed (or better yet come up with a Magic Solution!).
Thanks again for your help,
n

 

I have not had this problem but could you run in safe mode and delete the XP drivers from there respective folders then reboot and try to install the pana drivers?

Maybe get in the safe mode goto device manager and try to manually update the drivers from there?

When you try to load windows normally does the screen just go blank?


-James

 

Ninjad00d...... you could try what James is saying in regards to going into safe mode and uninstalling the drivers from device manager and then installing the panasonic ones.... hopefully that would work

 

James/Rob,
Thank you for your suggestions.

I've tried deleting the device and then reinstalling it both in 'normal' and 'safe' mode.

The sequence of events on a reinstall of the driver is that the driver (details below) seemingly installs fine, but the device still has the dreaded yellow '!' next to it in device manager.
On restart the 'Found New Hardware Wizard' pops up and has a go at finding the drivers. Warning notice about 'Driver has not passed Windows compatibility...blah...blah'...pops up.
I ignore this, as you do.
There is a brief pause....then a B.S.O.D. and restart, 'Found New Hardware' pops up again, and around the loop we go until I tell the 'Wizard' to cancel, at which point the usual 'New Hardware May not work Properly' message is displayed.

I'm using the driver 'sound_29_1_d030461' which seems to be the latest available ftom the Panasonic site for this lap-top (unless anyone knows otherwise....). As I've said the worrying thing is that this is labelled on the Toughbook site as 'for XP/SP1'.

Apart from that (and the Touchscreen which I never use anyway) everything else is working fine.
Cheers
n

 

Did I hear that correctly!?!?! shame on you lol!!!

 

The touchscreen is a manual install.. the driver comes as a .INF and .SYS file, not an executable install. Simply right-click the unknown device in Device Manager, update driver.. and manually select the Touchscreen driver directory.

(I know this because I got stumped on the touchscreen too, I don't have the restore discs!). The Windows Update files works for the sound chip on the CF-29 mk4.

 

Maybe only I'm this odd.. but... after using the CF-29 touchscreen, whenever I use another Windows'd lappy, I start poking the screen until I realize it's not my Toughbook! Much to the ire of the other owner as now I have fingerprints on their screen!!!

 

Once again! shame on you for getting another persons craptop mixed up with a toughbook! shame on u LOL!

 

Gents,
Thanks for Touchscreen info. Relatively new to this lark, so when you say 'manually select the Touchscreen driver directory' how do I do that and where is it hidden?

Still no joy with producing sweet, sweet music from the sound card....
Much as I'd hate to test the ruggidity (?!) of this beast by hoofing it out of the window the temptation is steadily growing.

Hoping someone can save me from Toughbook-icide,
n

 

Thats where the CF-30 prevails (errr for the best it can be for a waterproof speaker)... the cf-29 speaker SUCKS!!!! + it doesn't help that it's on the bottom of the laptop... I remember I made my self what I called a "hoot hoot box" for my toughbook, which consisted of a pair of crappy $4 speakers padded up and crammed into a usps postal service box where I cut holes for the front of the speakers and the back where the power cord was and used a networking cable as a handle lol... it worked great but needed external power (which i usually had)... I threw it out when i got rid of the cf-29 for the cf-30. Maybe I shoulda sold it on ebay, might have gotten a pretty penny for an ugly speaker box

 

For the Touchscreen drivers just goto the device manager and then to mouse and other pointing devices and then right click hit update driver then browse to where you saved the drivers usually in the C drive under util2 or something after that the touchscreen is installed and u can use it.

As for the sound drivers they should work. I guess you could goto device manager in safe mode under sound devices and uninstall the sound controller then reboot. Cancel the windows promps when they come up. After that goto the sound driver EXE and run it see if that changes anything. You might be able to do the same for the video driver as well.


-James

 

It is too bad the speaker is on the bottom it makes the sound crappy but i dont use it that much so i dont really care. I have a little speaker thing i got for free for an ipod that takes batteries works pretty good if i really need it.

 

Hello

ok what you need to do is uninstall the drivers and then re-install them...what happenes when you do a SP update it messes them up ...go on the panasonic site and just download and re-install...

A quick question for you mate how do u get the touch screen to work i have downloaded the correct driver but it wont install....TA

 

You have to Right click on my computer then hit properties then hit the hardware tab then hit device manager. Once you are there hit the + box next to Mice and Other Pointing Devices then what ever is under there right click on it and select update driver. Select install from a list or specific location. Next check the box Include this location in the search. Hit the browse button then goto the folder that the drivers where extracted too (usually C:/util2) then select the folder for the touchscreen and there ya go the drivers will install.


-James

 

One quirk with some cf’s in regard to sound.
I have found problems just doing a restart.
The sound card shows up properly if you do a full shutdown and then start up windows.


Alex

 

Gents,
Thanks for all the suggestions. I got nowhere deleting/reinstalling the 'Toughbook approved' drivers in either safe or 'normal' mode.

The suggested driver from Realtek (WDM_A404) was a disaster with numerous B.S.O.D./forced restarts.

Eventually downloaded a free application called 'RadarSync' which pointed me at suitable drivers and now have sound! Joy.

However.....still no luck with the Touchscreen.
I've downloaded the file 'mouse_29_1_d030178' from Panasonic, and as suggested by Zippy-Man it seems to extract itself into C:/Util when opened.

In device manager I have the following weirdnesses:
Under 'Mice and other pointing devices' I have 'HID-compliant mouse' and 'PS/2 compliant mouse' both of which are shown as working.

Under 'Other Devices' (which is obscured by a '?') I have 'Unknown Device' (again obscured by a '?' but with the added bonus of a '!')

So......which of these is the Touchscreen driver, and how exactly do I get it to reinstall (assuming I've downloaded the correct file....)

Hope you can help.
Cheers
n

 

Apologies....please ignore the 'touchscreen' bit of the last post....

I've just re-read Zippy-Man's post (thanks mate!) and followed his instructions properly this time instead of c**king them up.
Touchscreen-A-Go-Go!!!

Mind you, if anyone can tell me what the Unknown Device is I'd love to know....
cheers
n

 

Its the hotkey driver that is showing up as unknown
hotkey_29_1_d030475.exe(428‚036 bytes)
is the file you need
after you download and install,go to device manager click on update driver and select the location when you downloaded it. Usally its c/utilitys/drivers/hotkey.

Alex

 

Alex,
That's worked a treat, thank you very much!

Cheers
n

 

Goes to show the level of knowledge and expertise that's in this sub-forum. Have fun with your 29. Can't wait to get my hands on one!

 

TN,
I have only owned the 29, so I'm no expert. However, I've had a lot of pride of ownership and confidence in my Mark 2. It does everything that I need to do plus some.

From the description of the CF-30 owners, they sound super terrific. As soon as I know enough (and save enough money) to realize what I can do with a 30 that I can't do with my 29; I'll probably buy one.

For now, I'm thrilled with my 29.

 

Pappy,
Probably not that much, but I needed to replace my old Dell Latitude D610 which I used for everything business related, and on the kitchen table at home for playing around. I bought a refurb. Dell D620 a couple of months ago and never really did much with it, hated the wide screen! I was going to take a loss and sell it on eBay. Then I started reading the CF-30 chit-chat and got to dreaming. Just when I spotted the $2000 CF-30 with warranty on eBay, they sent me $160 worth of coupons, one of the oil company guys I'm working with blew up his Toshiba laptop and offered me $1200 for the Dell if I could load it up for him overnight, and the rest as they say is history! I have found my first gripe with the CF-30. Before it even got here, I bought a couple of SDHC cards to store the pictures of our upcoming trip and stuff. The box gets here and the SD slot won't support HC cards. Come on Panasonic, the SDHC card readers cost about $4. It's not a motherboard issue, the machine sees and RW's the adaptor just fine. I probably would have bought and hacked a CF-29, but considering my age, this could well be the last high end computer I buy and I couldn't resist.
Cap

 

Cap,

What is the size of your high capacity sd cards.
I use a 4 gb SDHC in my cf-19 and it works fine.
I think it will support the 8 gb

Alex

 

Lappy?!? What is a lappy?

 

Alex,
The CF-30 has a SD card slot on the right side behind a door that covers a bunch of stuff. If I had read the book I would have known that the slot would not support HC cards. I was just so wound up waiting for the box to arrive I had to do something. It just plain won't see the 4gb SDHC card, it's like it's not there. I'm waiting for a plain SD card to see what happens. It does see both the 8gb and 4gb cards with the USB reader that came with one of the SDHC cards. Just thinking that Panasonic could have put an SDHC slot in something that cost this much money.
Cap

 

I'm told my CF-29 mk4 does up to 8GB SDHC cards. It works with my 4GB Sandisk Extreme III SDHC card... which is the biggest SDHC card I have.

 

I have an identical sandisk 4gb card, and it works in my cf-73mk-3,cf-18mk-5, and cf-19mk-1.
I have not tried a larger size card at this time.

Alex

 

Canuckcam, Alex,
Are these SD card slots installed? You have mentioned models I have never had my hands on. The one in the CF-30 is built in direct from the factory. I tried a non-HC card out of my wife's camera, went right in and the pictures popped right up! The manual very specifically states that SDHC cards are not supported. I loaded the new hard drive with the original factory restore disks. Help, am I missing something?
Cap

 

Cap

I guess some high capacity cards and sizes will work
All sd cards above 4gb are called hc
The sandisk in my earlier post will work as I've tried it on the models listed,and yes they are the same as yours, a built-in sd slot from panasonic.
Now I have not tryed a 8gb but if I needed it I would try it out at a store to make sure it works.
Let me know what size and brand is not working for future reference.

Alex

 

Alex,
Tried both cards again. Both are 4gb, one is "4" and one is a "6". I believe the numbers refer to maximum data transfer rates. I guess I'll have to live with the free adaptor that came with the SanDisk one but of course the USB ports on the CF-30 are set so deep in the case I have to use an extension cable to plug that in. I still love my new computer.
Cap

 

Even the rear ports? I know the one on the right side is pretty deep but I've never had a problem with fatty usb devices on the back two.

 

Zero,
Nope, the SanDisk adaptor is huge! I could probably get a smaller one but I can live with it. I'm glad you chimed in as I take it I'm not wrong about the lack of SBHC support! Thanks,
Cap

 

The mark 1s don't but the mark 2s do.

To quote the manuals,
On the mark 1: "Operation has been tested and confirmed using Panasonic SD Memory Cards with a capacity of up to 2 GB. The transfer rate using the SD Memory Card slot on this computer is 8 MB per second. (This is a theoretical value, and differs from actual speeds.) The transfer rate is 8 MB per second even if you use an SD Memory Card that supports high-speed transfer rates. Operation on other SD equipment is not guaranteed. This computer is not compatible with MultiMediaCards or SDHC Memory Cards. Do not insert these kinds of cards."

On the mark 2: "SD Memory Cards that support high-speed transfer rates can be used. Windows Ready Boost function is also supported. Operation
has been tested and confirmed using Panasonic SD Memory Cards and SDHC Memory Cards with a capacity of up to 8 GB. Operation on other SD equipment is not guaranteed. This computer is not compatible with MultiMediaCards. Do not insert this kind of cards."

 

Yes, they're factory-installed and are below the PC card slots, in the same door. My door has the "SD" symbol on it. Probably the factory install discs have older drivers on it. The new drivers on the Panasonic site lets you read SDHC cards. Again, at least on my CF-29 mk4.