Who Is Running W7?

I loaded W7 RC onto 1 of my HDD a couple of weeks ago. I got all the proper drivers loaded and everything works great. Except for ONE thing, the screen brightness will not adjust. It is stuck on 100%. It will pop up on the screen with the Fn keys, if you go into the power option it shows the same thing, you can move the slider down and it doesnt do anything.
If somebody has W7 loaded and they have the screen bightness working let me know. Panasonic says it's the one thng they are having problems with themselves. If someone wants to troubleshoot have at it. You could make someone at Panny very happy! Including myself...

I have the W7 RTM final release on a DVD that I want to install and use full time but at night it's pretty bad not being able to reduce the brightness. You can't see very well at 100% at night.

Thanks as always!

 

OK I think Rob might have figured that out

I could not, and I gave up trying to get the hotkey program installed properly and was stuck with full 1000 nit brigtness, during beta testing on w7

Here is a easy way to reduce the brightness
You have a setting in the bios on your cf-30 mk-2 touchscreen
Its on the second tab called screen brightness, you have two available settings
Use the lower setting for now

Alex

 

Mine is not Touch My next one sure as hell is going to be!

Maybe Rob will chime in if he found a fix. I am getting tired of swapping out my caddies when it gets dark. I wonder if there is a chance it might work on the RTM?

 

I had Win7 RC loaded and now have Win7 RTM on my CF-19. The buttons all work correctly on my device. DId you install the drivers for the buttons in the correct order? And are you using the signed driver that Win7 installs from Windows Update or did you replace it with the original one?

 

*BUMP*

Has anyone done more with this? I'm considering loading Win 7 RTM on my CF-18, and want to make sure this isn't going to just be a waste of my time. I'm hoping for full functionality, but should know better with MicroSloth!!

Thanks,

K1SFD

 

If your cf-18 is the newer type mk-4 or mk-5 using ddr-2 ram , Panasonic has updated Vista drivers available in the downloads area , which would be similar to what is needed in W7, so I might be worth a try

If you have a mk1,2or 3 no driver support other than the std xp drivers so there will be some issues


Alex

 

I have not really worked on it lately. I loaded the drivers from Panny. I actually got Panny Tech on the phone and he walked me thru loading the drivers in the proper order. He didnt know I was loading them on 7, he thought it was Vista. He did say that they are aware of this problem and are working on it. I am really stumped by this, It's hard to imagine that this is the only thing that doesn't work properly? I keep thinking it's something I did wrong, or can fix.

 

If it helps, I have not been able to find a hotkey driver to work in my CF-M34 running Vista. I adjust the screen brightness in the bios screen before Vista loads, using the Fn plus F1 or F2 keys. As far as I know you can do this on all the toughbook models, not as convenient as using the hotkeys but sure beats having to swap out the HDD.

 

So far Windows 7 RC works ok on my cf-19 mk-1
Microsoft must have put in better driver support for the tablet models
I had issues before with the beta version

I just installed it and everything seems to work correctly


It was a fresh load and I did not have to install a single panasonic driver yet
But I have three unknown devices to track down later in the device manager
And I will have to install a couple of panasonic applications


Windows update installed a updated video card driver only



Alex

 

I took another hard drive and installed the Windows 7 RTM on my CF-18 "early" mk1. After the installation completed, Device Manager showed a number of devices with driver problems; however, after running the system through Windows Update, the only driver issues left were two "unknown devices" and the video controller.

By cross-referencing with Panasonic's "Install Instructions" PDF guide, I would expect that those unknown devices are the following:
* Hotkey Manager
* Panasonic Tablet PC Buttons

As you probably already know from that, none of the hotkeys or Tablet PC buttons function. Are these devices fairly standard across the Toughbook models? In other words, are there hotkey and Tablet PC button drivers from more recent models that would still work on this CF-18?

Additionally, the touchpad is just a generic PS/2 mouse; the Panasonic touchpad drives adds some features that make the touchpad more user friendly. Might a touchpad driver from a more recent model work here, also?


Thank you,
Matthew

 

I think I've finally found a method of hacking an Intel 82852/82855 video driver install that will not only install but will remain installed after more that a couple reboots. As I've seen posted elsewhere and have experienced firsthand, even if a driver actually installs fine (which couldn't be said for all the drivers I tried) and even if it appears to be working great after the first reboot, Windows 7 may magically decide on a subsequent reboot that it no longer likes your driver and removes it.

I have yet to find any single existing driver install hack method that works with my CF-18; however, I have to give credit to postings on the Microsoft Technet Forum and the Windows Seven Forums for suggestions that seem to have provided key pieces to the puzzle. So, without further ado, here goes....

Preparation

1. Be sure there are no other video drivers installed (you will want to start out with just the standard VGA driver)
2. Download the latest 82852/82855 drivers from Intel's website
3. Extract the drivers somewhere, but do not install anything

Turn Off Digital Driver Signing Check

1. Create a shortcut on the desktop to cmd.exe
2. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Run as administrator"
3. When the command window opens, execute the following commands:
   1. bcdedit /set nointegritychecks ON
   2. bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
4. Reboot

Install the Video Driver

1. Open the Device Manager
2. On the menu, go to Action > Add Legacy Hardware
3. Acknowledge the initial dialog screen
4. Select "Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)"
5. Click Next
6. Select "Display Adapters" and click Next
7. Click the "Have Disk..." button
8. Navigate to the path where you extracted the Intel drivers. The *.inf file will be in the Win2000 folder
9. IMPORTANT: Do not select the 82852/82855 GM/GME drivers, select the 945GM driver (yes, this is counter-intuitive)
10. If prompted to reboot, DO NOT REBOOT
11. "Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controllers" and a "Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family" devices should now be listed under "Display Adapers
12. Disable the 945GM device
13. Reboot

Verification

1. Upon rebooting, Windows 7 may roll back one or more of your display devices to Standard VGA
2. Open Device Manager
3. Check the Display Adapters
4. If there is only one 82852/82855 GM/GME device, precisely repeat the above driver installation section (include the instructions for disabling the 945GM device)
5. When everything is working, you should have "Graphics Properties" and "Graphics Options" menu items in the pop-up menu when you right-click on the desktop
6. The "Graphics Option" item should have sub-items for display rotation
7. Reboot and verify that Windows 7 no longer rolls back your display drivers after rebooting

Finally (if everything seems to have stabilized)

1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update
2. Windows will likely tell you that an important update is available
3. Click the "important update is available" link (do NOT click "Install updates")
4. Right-click on the "Intel Corporation - Display - Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family" update
5. Click "Hide update" from the context menu

If the display driver gets updated to what is currently on Windows Update, you will lose this display driver install hack.

When using a driver install hack different from the method described here, I have read reports that a system might Blue Screen when using Windows Media Player to play DVD's; however, alternate media players, such as VLC, reportedly do not exhibit this issue. I do not know if this method will have this same problem, but I thought I would mention this workaround in case someone does experience this issue.

With this hack, only the following items remain unresolved:

• Hotkey Manager
• Panasonic Tablet PC Buttons
• Backlight intensity control (since neither the hotkey manager nor the Tablet PC buttons are functional)
• Touchpad advanced functionality

Well, have fun folks!
Matthew

 

Well, I think there is a way to address most of the remaining outstanding issues for installing Windows 7 on a CF-18.

I decided to go ahead and try using Panasonic's Vista drivers and applications to see if they would address the remaining outstanding issues I've experienced when installing Windows 7 on a CF-18. As the Panasonic US support site seemed to be down today, I pulled these drivers from toughbookdrivers.com. Since there aren't even Vista drivers listed on that site for the mk5 CF-18, nor on panasonic.ca (though I thought the Panasonic US support site had a few CF-18 Vista drivers), I decided to try the latest CF-19 mk2 downloads posted here.

You can use 7-zip to extract the files from the self-extracting executable (SFX) if the SFX does not extract the files when you run it.

I have downloaded and installed the following Vista drivers:

1. Panasonic Common Components (pcommon)
2. Tablet Buttons Driver (meitbtn)
3. Touchpad Driver (mouse)
4. Hotkey Driver (hotkey)
5. Hotkey Settings Application (hkeyset)
6. Hotkey Appendix Application (hkeyapp)
7. Tablet Button Manager (meitbman)
8. DMI Viewer (dmi)

I was not able to install the Vista versions of the Display Rotation Tool or the Panasonic Notification Application because they both require the "misc" driver, and I'm not sure what on the CF-18 would correspond to those "misc" devices. The XP version of the display rotation tool installs without a problem, but it doesn't work. At least, though, display rotation works through the Intel video driver.

The Function Hotkeys appear to be fully functional--backlight intensity can be increased or decreased; volume can be raised, lowered, or muted; battery level will be displayed;scroll lock, home, end keys, etc. work.

The Tablet PC buttons are only partially functional--backlight intensity can be increased or decreased and the Key button does a proper Control-Alt-Delete; but the Tablet Input Panel, enter, and screen rotation button have not produced any observable actions.

Flipping from notebook mode to slate mode does not trigger the optional automatic display rotation.

Of the few remaining items that don't work, I don't really need the Tablet Input Panel button, as I can easily access the TIP with the pen when I need it; and the enter button is only of marginal value to me and is not a show-stopper. It would be nice to quickly, handily, and easily, change the display rotation with the Tablet PC button, and it would be nice if the auto-rotation functionality worked, but at least the Intel driver utility in the system tray provides access to the display rotation features.

I think this is close enough, though, that I am going to call Windows 7 a go on my CF-18 "early" mk1. Further suggestions for improvement will be most welcome.


Matthew

 

OK--the Panasonic US support website is back up, and I was able to download the Vista drivers in question for the CF-18 mk4; however, the end result was the same as with the drivers used from the CF-19 mk2. At least all the drivers from the CF-19 were signed, so I'll probably stick with those.

 

*SNICKERS*

You know, the first time I saw the heading for this thread, I thought it was "Who's running W7?" as like "Who's running this chickensh!t outfit?"... Of course, now that it think of it... it IS still a M$ product.

mnem<~~~Not running ANYTHING~~~<<<

 

Mnem, you be nice!

On my CF30 MK2 running W7 I have everything working except the screen brightness control. However, since I got my MK3, it's not as big of a problem since I use it only indoors now.

Now, onto my MK3... I loaded W7 RTM, I was able to get everything working, even the screen control, except the GOBI. I have been working on it for 2 full days now and can't get it to work right. There is something going on with the Com Ports. I try to connect and it says that the port is already in use, or that it is dialing elseware. Here is my crazy thought. What if I put my HDD from my MK2 into my MK3? I am imagining that Windows will try to load the touch driver, if not I can do that. Then I can try to reinstall the Gobi application and see what happens. What are your thoughts on this? I am very, very close to just going back to Vista SP2 and just waiting a couple of months. I am gettting really tired of messin with this stuff. The bad part is that I love W7?????????I know that sounds crazy to some, Mnem, but it does have some very neat features that are very useful.

 

Well I finally got it all! I had loaded the Panny modem app and it was wreaking havoc.

Everything is working 100% finally! Now all I need is a stylus!

 

So what did you do? An uninstall and then install something else?

 

Haha! windows 7 was prolly like "Modem? what the heck is that?"

 

The last problem I was having was with the actual Verizon VZAccess. You run the setup that does all the configuring, mine had a pull down list of phones. Which is totally wrong. What I found was it was connecting thru the regular modem instead of the Qaulcomm/Gobi system. It still is doing something funky after I go from my homes wifi to my Verizon. This morning when I left the house and went to connect to my Verizon a window popped up that said " The modem is already dialing" I don't even remember what I did to make it connect though. Something is resetting and I don't know what it is. I have not disconnected all day so I don't know what's going to happen when I reconnect tommorow? I think I just have a setting that is not right. If it happens again I am going to call tech support and have them walk me thru to see what it's doing.

 

...and I got my Tablet PC buttons working! This is great!

The synopsis of the issue was that in the step to install the Tablet PC button driver, there is a batch file "standard.bat" to run. I should have run that batch file as administrator; when run normally, part of the batch file was failing, but I did not catch that at first because the command window closes quickly.

 

Does anybody have a list of exactly the proper order all the hotkey drivers need to be installed? I think this will be very useful for anybody that wants to load W7. More and more people are going to be doing this very soon. Maybe we can make a sticky to help others?

I just know that you have to install them in a specific order or they will not work. I sure as heck don't remember!

 

Me for one. I finally got around to trying it out on my 19 and either have them partially working, then not working at all. It's not a real problem, but I WOULD like to know it all will work correctly. I thought I remember someone eventually getting it to work, but can't seem to find the post or the exact process they used.

 

I'm running w7 on my cf-19 mk-1
The hotkeys work for screen brightness, thats the most important
And not all aplications and drivers are loaded yet
Most items like the digitizer panel worked from the w7 load,it loaded drivers for most normal items
Its just the panasonic only items like the front buttons that are not working..yet

Alex

 

Alex, do you remember the process in order to get the screen adj to work?

I was able to go in under the power options and manually lower it, but now that won't work anymore?

I loaded W7 on our HP TouchSmart at home last night, without loading 1 HP driver and everything works. Why did they have to make the Panny drivers so difficult.

 

Rob will know

My cf-19 worked without tweaking and I have not had the chance to put W7 on one of my cf-30's


Alex

 

w00t: http://www.toughbooktalk.com/public_downloads/index.php?dir=CF-30 Windows 7 Install/

BTW, Alex, I never managed to get the damn screen calibrated on Windows 7 on my CF-30

 

Rob, I can't get that last one to open up?

Did you unpack, then load the driver in the DM on the Touch Screen? Once you do all that, go to C/Util2/drivers/tscreen/CalTUwin to do the calibration. At least on mine it is....

 

What last one?? the word doc?? works fine for me... both opening it and saving it...

 

Yea, it was the last one. It finally opened up about 20 miles down the road. Must have been in a bad part of our countries wonderful tower systems!

 

is anyone running W7 with the cf-29 ? I have the Cf-29htM50BM MK3
Update tool says I can't run windows areo, do I need it to run W7?

Thanks

 

No it should run without , but the main issue is to be able to get the hotkeys working so that you can dim your screen

Alex

 

Ive found that you can adjust brightness on the CF-29/30 even without the hotkey drivers loaded. Try it in the BIOS it works.

 

Hello i try on my Cf-19 Mk1 when i buy new hard drive but i would like if it's possible find PANASONIC OEM logo use on Vista because i run XP and i don't have and impossible to find .
It's just because i like to have a OS like original OEM .

Thanks

 

mick...hi! are you near or from MONT SAINT AIGNAN, france? I ask coz I have one customer from there and he screwed me up his name is BINET Philippe. Lol, Sorry! to ask I just need somehow an answer why he done that for a couple of buck.


ohlip

 

No ohlip i'm in Saone et Loire there are just one Joncy in france
Just what is B.C. ? I don't understand

See you

I just find one or two picture .For other computer it's very easy but not for Panasonic

 

This is the only one that I have



Alex

 

B.C. = British Columbia

 

Stupid Canadians J/K paul! haha lol