Toshiba A135-S4666: The Raw Deal on the XP Up/Downgrade

This post addresses

a) what the deal is with the toshiba a135-s4666 laptop, and
b) how to up/downgrade it to windows xp if you've bought it

a) the laptop, noted for being on the cheaper end of laptops, often accompanied with discounts through office depot and who have you, is fairly decent. unfortunately, the consensus seems to be that its coming prepackaged with windows vista is more a curse than a blessing, and so people usually opt to install xp. also, the battery life is something around 70-90 minutes or so.

b) the problem with opting for xp is that toshiba doesn't provide the right drivers because microsoft's fine print dictated toshiba sell its soul to it, and so even though the masses cry for the xp drivers, toshiba will kindly respond to your phone calls by saying they have none. i read a rumor in one of these forums that they'd come out with them some time in the future, but that was just a rumor.

User rickgtx suggested you download the drivers listed at the end of this email from the following site:
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/download_drivers_bios.jsp?service=UK
Entering: Satellite Pro, A Series, A 100 (PSAAP), Windows XP

I did as he suggested, restarting my computer after every installation, and not only did they work, but they got rid of a nasty mouse and screen freeze / hang / stall problem that my version of RealTek Audio gave me (btw, you will note that my referenced version of ReakTek Audio is different from his, which did not work for me). After 68, you don't really need to do the rest unless you want to. Note also that the Fn-F6 and Fn-F7 buttons (brightness/dimness) probably won't work for you.

 

I got the main hardware drivers to work, although it took a few tries for some items. I never could get some of the toshiba utilities working, such as the power saver or hot keys, but in general it's working well. For the lack of screen dimming, I just close the cover when I'm not looking at it to save power- but it seems that there must be a way to activate the hot keys in XP- can this model me that much different than others?

 

On my X205 Sli3, I got everything working just fine except for the HD-DVD software. The F-key system kept crashing even in Vista, so I didn't install it in XP. You can simply adjust the screen brightness by going into the Nvidia control panel.

My system, again an X205, runs a LOT faster in XP. I never tried a clean Vista setup, but the Toshiba Vista install was ridiculously slow, impossible for gaming, and a nuisance in every way. Long Live XP!

 

I just discovered that the F6/F7 screen brightness controls work fine if you're in Bios setup, or anytime before XP boots up. Apparently these keys are controlled in the Bios, but XP somehow takes away the function. Go figure!

 

Hey guys I had to make an account to get some help. I installed all other drivers fine but I cant get the audio drivers to install. I downloaded the newest drivers and extracted them what do I have to do here this is driving me nuts.

 

you have to install the KB888111 update from Microsoft to get XP to recognize the HD Audio bus. It, like SATA, wasn't available when XP shipped, and it won't recognize your audio or modem until you do the hotfix

 

Y2k I downloaded the hotfix but when I ran it, it says the service pack im running is newer. I used a windows xp SP3 slipstream disk to install windows. I first tried downloading the audio drivers, extracted them and went into device manager and and updated the drivers manually like I always do but it gives me 10 or so realtek devices to choose from and none of them work. After I tried that I ran the realtek installation method and that didnt work either. Im usually not the person to have to ask for help with this kind of thing but this is pissing me off.

 

My apologies If this question has already been answered—haven't had the best of luck with the search function of the forum software. I am wanting to install XP Pro onto a Toshiba Satellite A135-S4666 that was pre-loaded with Vista Home Basic but not given enough RAM to be able to get out of it's own way. However, I'm not able to locate any SATA drivers to F6 on the install. I have found my way to the Toshiba Europe site and followed along with the info at http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=179754, but I am not seeing a driver for the hard drive controller. Can someone please help me to locate this file for my slipstreamed XP disc?

Thanks so much!,
~D~

 

Can anyone share the working sound driver for A135-S4666 to use on XP? I tried many drivers from Realtek site and from Toshiba UK site without success...

 

I'm using the Realtek driver ver 5.10.0.5345 with good results.

 

Did you find all driver for WinXP?
Can I have list of them if you found?

 

Microsoft has not released HD-Audio Bus hotfix for SP3.....My slipstream has SP2, then I add SP3 after installing the audio/modem drivers.

 

Then I can install winXP ?