Wanting a nice challenge on top of life’s normal challenges, I recently agreed to hubby’s suggestion of installing Vista onto the new hard drive of my Toshiba M200 tablet. For those not familiar with the Toshiba M200, let me give you a bit of context.
The Toshiba M200 has no inbuilt DVD/CD drive or floppy drive. This was our first show stopper. How do you install a new operating system without being able to boot from a CD or to install a boot disk? I even had trouble trying to get to the BIOS setup. In some frustration, I handed it over to hubby who did a bit of research and discovered the very excellent blog post about installing Vista on to the M200.
Hubby followed through the instructions but it still took about a bit of trial and error to get Vista installing. When hubby got it up and running, it was time for all my software installations and the Windows updates (quite a few Important Updates that had to be downloaded, installed and rebooted multiple times). That took a while.
Next thing I tackled was the driver and specific Toshiba tablet functionality issues. I probably should have done this straight after the Windows Updates had been completed.
On the bottom of the Installing Vista on your Toshiba M200, there were some links about downloading various packages to get the tablet functionality working properly (functions like screen rotation, etc). Unfortunately, the links on the source website had been moved. So here’s the updated links and instructions. Download and install the following:
- nVidia GeForce driver - locate the M200 downloads page. It states that this display driver is for Windows XP but it works on my M200 running Vista. Download and install this first. If you don’t, the rotation facility just won’t work until you have a working display driver to support it. You’ll need the pm200sp2vidx.exe file from the pm200sp2vidx.exe page.
- Toshiba Value Added Package V1.1.3 for Windows Vista (v1.1.3; 09-07-2007; 38.79M) - this it the Toshiba Utility. It’s for the M400 but will work on the M200. Get it from the M400 util_tvap_os2007252a.exe page.
- TOSHIBA Tablet PC Extension for Windows Vista (v1.0.0.1; 12-08-2006; 12.89M) - this helps to specify what the Tablet buttons do, i.e. the rotation facility and accelerometer functions. Get it from the M400 util_tablet_extension_25334D.exe page.
So far so good. I haven’t tested the accelerometer function yet but rotation is definitely working. Sound and wireless are both working. I’m also running dual monitors which is great. Response from the tablet has been good too with not too many sluggish waits when running applications. Admittedly, I haven’t been running full blown with my applications, but things are looking well!
Update 2 February 2008: You may want to check out Ryan Adam’s post How to Boot From the Network (PXE Boot) with TFTP And Windows PE, where he has posted simplified instructions for booting from the network and has provided a zip file containing the files needed.
Update 18 April 2008: You may find that your bluetooth device does not work very well. If that’s the case, download the Bluetooth Monitor for Windows Vista and the Bluetooth Stack for Windows Vista. You may also want to download the BlueSoleil bluetooth stack, especially if you are going to use your wiimote with powerpoint.
16 comments ↓
“accelerometer function”?
Does that make it go faster? Does it come in red?
M
An accelerometer measures the relative orientation of your tablet (in simplest terms). …
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerometer for for more info… I did not know my tablet had one built in because it was originally broken… 2MONTHS of repairs FINALLY fixed it… no one on the toshiba technical staff seems to know what one is… incompetance at its best!
@micah - thanks for the explanation of the accelerometer.
Thanks for the info. I followed the link to the PXE booting instructions you posted. I’ve since simplified the instructions and combined all the files needed into one zip file. Check it out: http://personal.ryantadams.com/2008/02/01/how-to-boot-from-the-network-pxe-boot-with-tftp-and-windows-pe/
If you think it is worthwhile, perhaps you could add the link into your article?
Thanks for the comment Ryan. That’s a very useful post that you wrote. I’ve updated my post with a link to your post. Cheers!
Fantastic - thanks! Most of my M200 is working with Vista now.
Has anyone managed to get the four tap-buttons on the screen working? It’s the only thing that isn’t working for me. The software is installed on my M200 (I can see it in Program Files\TapButton) and it appears to be running, but nothing happens when I hover/tap the buttons.
@Russell Newman Unfortunately I’m unsure how to get that working! Please let me know if you do find out. :)
[…] bothered me, and reminds me a lot of Ubuntu). Anyway, after reading some key posts on the subject, I decided I would give it a […]
the US Toshiba site basically has no support for M200 Vista drivers. However, the Swedish site has loads of drivers made by Toshiba for the M200 with Vista. I don’t know a lick of Swedish and it was quite easy to navigate.
the link for Ryan Adams that is in this blog is now here
http://blog.ryantadams.com/2008/02/01/how-to-boot-from-the-network-pxe-boot-with-tftp-and-windows-pe/
Hi.
Thank you for your excellent leadership but I have problems with the wireless toshiba m200. I did not recognize it from using windows Vista drivers indicated.
Hi! Im Trying to use tftp32boot as Ryan Adams says on hes blog, but Im getting the message “The Workstation service is not running” when I try to map the shared cdrom using “net use y: \\192.168.1.5″
I cant see any solution here neither.
Please, I need help!!!
Thank you! I have found this website useful. I just emailed Ezyscrap and see if they are willing to take unwanted electrical products from our place. Will let you know what happens.
Recycling is such a problem in Canberra. Other states have free pick up services for computers and white goods. Wish Canberra would follow suit. This would definitely prevent illegal dumping. I live in an apartment complex and often I see people using the garbage bins for everything from lamps to mattresses. I can’t say I blame them… not everyone has trucks or trailers in their garage that they could use to transport items to the Recycling centres.
Oops I mistakenly posted on the wrong article. Please delete! Thank you
***when using VISTA type only the folowing MAKE SURE THAT THE ACCOUNT U USE tftp on, HAS PASSWORD ON IT!!!***
i used vista as tftp server, and have a router attached to the internet modem from comcast. all settings were default in the router(dynamic setting not static). have kaspersky 2010 antivirus prog with firewall turned on for kaspersky and off for microsoft.
set up the tftp as stated in the post from RyanTAdams.com
ran tftp32.exe
turned on m200 and booted up with F12.
at command line typed the following which worked for me on 3 different m200:
net use y: \\(computer name without parenthesis. sample: HOME-PC)\(name the cd/dvd drive as “cd” without parenthesis. sample: cd
so its, without quotes:
“net use y: \HOME-PC\cd”
ENTER
it will say “Enter the user name for ‘HOME-PC’:
Type: HOME-PC(NAME OF COMPUTER)\HOME(USER NAME USING THE TFTP SERVER)
SO ITS, WITHOUT QUOTES:
“HOME-PC\HOME”
ENTER
it will say “Enter the password for HOME-PC:
Type: 6595(current password used for the account that tftp was set up on)
SO ITS, WITHOUT QUOTES:
“6595″
ENTER
it will say “The command completed successfully.
you know the rest.
i can confirm this method worked for me 3 times, for i had 3 m200 2.0Ghz. which now are sold.
PS to RYAN T ADAMS:
test it yourself, and give me credit for sharing this with you on RyanTAdams.com and this forum here.
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