Toshiba A135-S2246

Last week I purchased the A135-S2246 with Vista pre-loaded.
Yesterday I wanted to install Windows XP on it, since Vista just runs way too slow on this machine.
Formatted the HDD, and installed XP pro on it, no problem there.

There is however a problem with finding drivers, when I check the Toshiba website, it only has drivers for Vista. The only drivers for XP are the modem drivers.
I found out that this machine has a ATI mobile Radeon Xpress 200M, so I went to the ATI website and downloaded the XP driver. When I did that, it still would not recognize the graphics card.

I did manage to install the Vista audio driver on XP.
That's about it.

Does anyone know how to install XP on this machine?
Can I use drivers from a similar machine?
Or am I stuck with Vista....?

 

I think the Toshiba Satellite A105 is the closest machine to that and the predecessor -- maybe check out drivers for that. However, since this was released as a Vista only machine it is true that Toshiba will not be offering support for XP on it so if they update drivers on the machine going forward you'll be out of luck.

It looks like that machine has 512MB of RAM, you *really* need to upgrade to 1GB and it'll make a world of difference within Vista. 2GB would be the sweet spot. I'd recommend checking out Crucial.com or NewEgg.com and getting some RAM, it'll cost $50 or so but worth it.

 

Thanks, you were right, I looked around in the A105 models and found some drivers that I can use.
The only things that I so far do not yet have are:
- SM Bus Controller
- Unknown device
- Unknown device

The laptop seems to be working fine, boots up a lot faster, and the general performance is better.
We are still going to upgrade to 1 GB RAM, probably next week. That should solve every performance issue we might have.

Thanks for the help, and if it's useful I can post the exact driver versions which I have used now.

 

I'm having a similar problem with my brother's Satellite A135-2306. Would you mind sharing which driver versions you used to get some of your devices working with XP?

 

the ati southbridge driver took care of the sm bus, but it is located in integrated/motherboard section. Radeon Xpress 200m is the m board, and the catalyst doesnt work. you have to download the southbridge driver from the individual driver download link. find the link after selecting m board.
still not able to get others to load! vista, in my opinion is crap! why toshiba made drvers only for it is beyond me.

 

there are some versions of the A135 that come with XP IIRC. Check all of the different versions of the A135 on Toshibas website.

If that doesnt fix your problem, send me a PM and I will go hunt down the drivers for you guys.

 

I've got the same laptop (A135-S2246) and the same problem.

Please list which drivers you used to get this working. It's driving me crazy.

So far all I've managed is to get the wireless adapter working (from one of the A105 drivers).

Thanks in advance.

 

Modem Driver

Video And Chipset Driver

LAN Driver

Audio Driver

Wireless LAN Driver

Touchpad Driver

All of these Drivers SHOULD work, but let me know if they dont. I should point out that this is for the NON centrino A105s. The Video/Chipset Driver and Wireless LAN driver will not work for Centrino setups, but the others should work.

 

When I try to install that video driver I get this error:

I tried booting into VGA mode, but I get the same thing.

This is different from the error I get when I try to install the drivers from ATI, which is:

 

The error was essentially the same, just that Toshiba rewrote the installer so that it gives their own error messages

I looked it up and it appears that both of those laptops use the same chipset. (the one i linked to the drive from and your A135) Its odd that it doesnt work.

you can try this driver but its just the display driver and not the chipset driver
http://downloads.guru3d.com/downloadget.php?id=1553&file=4&evp=a2d977245ec94d5353c0f134e4c7ad9d

select "agree" to download and then follow the installer. You dont need to instal ATI tray tools or MultiRes. just install the driver.

 

Omega drivers worked great. Thank you.

And the chipset driver from ATI worked.

 

Glad I was able to help. Enjoy XP!

 

Thanks for the information, but I have a problem with a sound driver. Please help.

Fixed the problem with a sound driver today. Took the driver from www.realtek.com.tw
I still have problems with a modem device on high definition audio bus, sm bus controller and two unknown devices.
I have Windows XP pro sp2 right now.

 

Unknown device
- Unknown device
I downloaded Omega driver for ATI Xpress 200M from this website : http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1817

I still need the two unknown device drivers though.

Can anybody help please.

 

I have one of these units. I originally had a 512Mb memory module (original from factory), I upgraded to 2 Gb (2 of 1 Gb module PC4200).
I tried going to XP but gave up, I kept getting dead end on reboot (It stayed on hibernation/sleep mode or standby mode).
I thought that going back to Vista would cure the problem.
I had everything up and running then suddenly this problem on reboot reappeared, Tried everything but still no luck.
I went back to 512Mb on the top memory slot.
The problem went away, I tried the same memory module to the bottom slot.
IT was having problem rebooting again.
I tried the 1Gb module in the top slot, no luck , problem rebooting again.
I have Bios V1.40 latest which is supposed to cure the issues with rebooting issues password issues etc.

What is going on here???
It just does not make sense.

I would like to increase the memory on this laptop to make it a bit faster, I might have to keep it at 512Mb.

I don't see any options in the bios that would affect the memory slots.

I will try cleaning the contacts on both the memory modules and slots.

I have also noticed that the BIOS does not report 512Mb but 4XX Mb ??
Is this correct for this BIOS to report something other than the size of the module plugged in?? It didn't matter which module I put in it always reported it lower (1 Gb was 8XX mb)
Vista reports it OK

Any help appreciated, it just drives me crazy

 

may i ask you a question about the 135-2246
i also bought this laptop for a disabled child and it has crashed i called toshiba and they said i have to buy the restore cd from them .
did you get a restore cd with your laptop? i really cant afford to pay 49.00 plus s&h to get this cd so i am wondering if it should have come with the laptop?

respectfully,
tish

 

MAxxRacer...
I am having the same difficulty with my Toshiba Satellite A135-S2246 (video controller). Can you specify which driver to use when I get to http://downloads.guru3d.com/download...c0f134e4c7ad9d? I get 'lost' at this link...

Thanks in advance!
magraham

 

I'm setting up my girlfriends 135-2246 on XP and ran into these same issues talked about above. All I have left is PCI Device, and two Unknown Devices

PCI Device shows up as
Toshiba America Information Systems Rage LT Pro AGP 2x
Chip: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB450 High Definition Audio Controller

Ive tried countless RealTek drivers for this but no prevail.
Has anyone been able to get one to work?

One of the Unknown Devices is
PCI standard ISA bridge
Chip: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge

Ive spent countless hours going through forums trying to find an answer, but the people who say they got it to work, only say they did, but did not say which one they used or how they installed it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Newbie here I got a Toshiba A135-S2246 that my ex gave to me and it appears that she has lost the recovery and applications/drivers disk 2. Would any of you gentlemen be able to assist me?

Oh yeah it's running vista home edition...

 

According to Toshiba's specs it's Vista Home Basic. You can try googling for "Toshiba recovery restore disk". There use to be a couple of sites that sold them for $15 to $20. Make sure you order the right version of Vista for your laptop.
I had the same problem and Toshiba doesn't sell them any more, they tell you to contact Microsoft. Microsoft tells you to contact Toshiba. ???????