Stillman Real Consulting LLC

This page is a recipe for taking a Toshiba A205-5800 laptop (also known as a model PSAF3U) loaded from the factory with Windows Vista Home Basic Edition and reimaging it with Windows XP Professional SP2.  "Don't install Vista. The End."  So here we go.  Recipe...

1. This link was just amazing.  Without it I'd be toast.  Extreme thanks to "zofod" who put together a download-able archive of drivers.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/744154.html

2. Here is where you can download my base set of drivers.  This file has all the drivers you need to run all the hardware on a Toshiba A205-S5800 running Windows XP.  To install them follow the instructions on this webpage (see installing drivers section).  Instructions to install the ethernet driver is at the end of the installation of windows xp section of this webpage.

http://www.thecomingstorm.us/toshiba_A205-S5800_drivers/XP-base-set.zip

3. Here is where you can download the SATA Controller drivers which you will need to unzip from this download and put on a floppy disk (or you can slipstream them) but I used a floppy drive and an external floppy drive.

http://www.thecomingstorm.us/toshiba_A205-S5800_drivers/iastor-sata-drivers.zip

Hardware

The first thing is to (1) plugin a USB external floppy drive and (2) a USB mouse and (3) a live ethernet cable with active internet connectivity.  Also, be sure you are running on wallpower and preferably that your battery is charged up in case you have a power failure during any phase of this Vista rip-out and XP SP2 install.   If you don't have a wired ethernet, but instead have wireless, that should could be ok because you can enable the wireless card driver so that you can download windows updates after install (wired or wireless doesn't matter but you need to have an internet connection that the laptop can use).

Plasticware

You will need a

(1) CD with the required XP drivers for the various onboard toshiba chipsets, modem, wireless and ethernet chipsets, etc.  Download them all using the links shown above to a system with a CD burner and write them to CD.  If you intend to download the driver files please use the link in the previous links section for the XP-base-set.zip file.  You will also need

(2) a Windows XP Professional installation CD.  It can be a CD you have used for another install, by the way, but you will probably have to get ahold of a valid license key within 30 days of the install because when you go to activate the XP install it will probably detect you've installed on that license key before.  But your old XP cd will get you installed and up and running with a perfectly imaged Toshiba running XP.  Finally, you will need

(3) a floppy disk with the SATA controller drivers which you will use at the "F6" stage during the Windows XP install.

If you've got all these items mentioned above now, you are ready to go...  

Microsoft is allowing free so-called "downgrades" to XP to certain levels of Vista license holders, including Vista Business and one other Vista release.  Incredibly, Microsoft is not allowing free so-called "downgrades" to XP to Vista "Basic" licenses.  But, if you have Vista Business, be aware you can simply contact Microsoft for a replacement license key.  Be aware your Vista license key won't work for your XP install as far as I have found in my testing.  You can complete the following install with a previously used XP install CD but Windows will probably detect it's being used again when you download updates and you'll probably have to register (purchase) a new license key within 30 days.

With my installation, when I was done I followed the procedure at this site to activate windows over the phone and it worked perfectly for me, all automated, and my windows was activated.  Not sure why this worked but it did.  I was expecting to have to pay something but it just activated it and that was that.  Follow this procedure and see if it works for you.

http://windowsxpprofessional.windowsreinstall.com/activate/phone/index.htm

If you've already installed XP, or already know how to install XP, you can skip this section (except for the very last bit which tells how to install the driver for the onboard ethernet card).  This section is to help step-by-step people who aren't sure how to reinstall XP on their laptop.

If you just took the machine out of it's shipping carton, you can get XP on without ever having to look at Vista load up even once.  Since the CDRW won't open up until you power up the machine, you can do the following.  Power up the machine and when it displays the Toshiba splash screen (mine was in red letters) press F12 several times while it's loading to get the boot menu.  It will hold up at that point in its bootup so you can then open up the CDRW drive and put in the XP SP2 install CD.  Close it up and then arrow down to "CD/DVD" to boot from the CD/DVD drive.  Before you press Enter to boot from CD/DVD be aware that in just a few seconds you'll need to "press any key" to continue to boot from the CD/DVD (it will prompt you at the top of the screen to press any key to continue - be ready) and then just a few seconds after that, you'll need to press "F6" next when the Windows XP installer "blue screen" appears (it will say "press F6 if you need to install a third-party blah blah blah..." at the bottom of the blue screen).  So be ready to watch for thpse two steps and be ready to press "F6".  BTW I usually press F6 several times also (like 3 or 4 times and I suppose once should suffice) but I find multiple "F12" and "F6" button pushes seem to be more reliable for getting the desired results.  Also, this "F6" key sets up the Windows XP SP2 installer to later prompt you to install the SATA controller drivers from the floppy disk drive.

Eventually after about 2-5 minutes I guess or so the Windows XP installer will halt at a screen which has a heading "Windows Setup" and which starts out with text that says "Setup could not determine the type of one or more mass storage devices installed in your system, blah blah blah..." and at the bottom of the screen will show "S=Specify Additional Device" plus the other usual options. 

Before pressing "S" (which is the option you want) be sure that the USB external floppy drive is connected and that you have prepared a floppy disk with the SATA controller drivers on it (these drivers are part of my zip file of drivers, but it is possible (although unlikely) you could have a SATA controller which might differ in the drivers it needs).  Models don't usually have variations like that but it's not entirely unheard of I guess.  Anyway, before pressing "S" be sure the floppy drive is attached and that the SATA controller driver files diskette is in the drive and that the floppy is ready for read.

Press "S" when ready.  Next you see a screen which says "Please insert the disk labeled Manufacturer-supplied hardware support disk, blah blah blah..".  If you've got the floppy in the drive already, just next press "ENTER" to continue (again, the choices are at the bottom of the blue screen).

Next it will show a screen which says "Windows Setup" at the top again, and the spiel below which says "You have chosen to configure a SCSI Adapter for use with Windows, blah blah blah...".  There should be 4 choices if you have used the SATA controller file I used, and you want to scroll to the choice which says "Intel(R) 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M)" (on my machine that was the third selection from the top).  Scroll down to that choice and press Enter.

"Setup is loading files IaStor.sys..." is what you will see at the bottom next, for a few seconds, and then you get a screen with the usual "Windows Setup" header which says, "Setup will load support for the following mass storage device(s):... blah blah blah".  Press Enter to accept "Intel(R) 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M)".

Now you can rest for a little while (a few minutes anyway) while Windows Setup loads some files up.

In about 3-5 minutes the installer holds up at a screen with a header "Windows XP Professional Setup".  You want to press "Enter" at this screen which is the first choice which says,  "To set up Windows XP now, press Enter". 

It will briefly say something at the bottom about "examining" some disk (your harddrive) and then will next display the "Windows XP Licensing Agreement".  Press "F8" to agree to the license.  You can skip reading the part which says "You agree to never install a crappy OS like Vista again"  and just press "F8" to agree and move on.

Now if there happens to be a previous copy of Windows XP on the drive (normally there won't be - you are deinstalling Vista after all!) then the installer will detect you have a previous XP install and wil ask if you want to repair or install a fresh copy of Windows XP.   So if you are reinstalling Windows XP press "ESC" to install "without repairing".   If you don't get this screen (i.e there was no previous Windows XP installed on this drive, only Vista), then just proceed on to the next step below.

You should see a screen with a header which says "Windows XP Professional Setup" and at the bottom some information in a box about the existing partitions on the laptop.  Leave the "(TOSHIBA SYS) [NTFS]" partition (probably shown as the "E:" drive) alone.  Don't delete that one.  However, the other partition, which should be your "C:" partition2 with a size of about 112957 (107790 MB free) (that was the size on my laptop I suppose yours could vary) is the one you want to delete.  Arrow down to the C: Partition2 and press "D" to delete it.  Next you will get a screen which says "The partition you tried to delete is a system partition. blah blah blah".  Go ahead and press Enter to continue to delete the partition.  You need to delete it.  Next yet another screen comes up which says "You asked Setup to delete the partition C: Partition 2 [NTFS]...blah blah blah" and asks you to press "L" to delete it.  Go ahead and press "L" to delete it (can be upper- or lower-case L by the way).

Now you are landed back at the screen which says "The following list shows the existing partitions and...blah blah blah".  It should show the "E: Partition1 (TOSHIBA SYS)" and below that "Unpartitioned space 112970 MB" (your exact disk space could possibly vary depending on manufacture details and what size hard drive your unit shipped with).  Mainly just be sure you have the E: partition still and the rest is Unpartitioned space.

Now be sure to scroll down to the "Unpartitioned space" so that it is highlighted and then press "Enter" which will "...set up Windows XP on the selected item...".   Then press Enter once you have scrolled down to the "Unpartitioned space" selection.

Now a window comes up which says "A new partition for Windows XP has been created on...blah blah".  If the computer is just fresh out-of-the-box or you feel pretty sure the hard drive is fine with no errors or bad disk sectors, i.e relatively new or known to be in good condition, then choose the "(Quick)" NTFS partition format choice.  If for some reason you want the disk to be chkdsk'd during the partition (takes much longer doesn't buy you much of anything) you can take the second choice. 

Now you get a screen which shows the progress of the formatting (no user input required) and then next you will see a screen which shows setup copying files to the "Windows installation folders..."

Then it will reboot when all of that is done and then it will do some more installing, and then it will prompt for localizations and language support questions, the installation key (5 fields) and the computer name and administrator password, and setting of time and date.  Then it will do some more installing for awhile (copying files..., installing network..., etc.).  Once all of that is finished it reboots.  Keep an eye on it because it asks you to click on a couple of things related to video resolution and then it gives you the "Welcome to Microsoft Windows" screen and you have to work through 3 or 4 setup screent, no big deal.  I recommend accepting "Help protect my PC by turning on Automatic Updates now", and then next you put in your name and then you are "ready to go!"  Click "Finish" and the laptop loads into Windows XP!  You're partway there.  Now you just have to install some updates and some drivers and maybe some anti-virus software and adware and then you will be done (of course you may also have to obtain a valid Windows XP licence key within 30 days of this install!).

This is a good point to go into the Control Panel and go to "Display" and go to the "Setting" tab and set your screen resolution to 1280 x 800 pixels.  You'll need all the resolution you can get until we get the the High Definition graphics driver installed.  By the way, notice how the display is kind of grainy looking -- low-resolution.  Later towards the end of this article we will be installing the Intel High-Definition video drivers and you'll see a huge improvement in the screen resolution - really amazing - but not yet.

INSTALLING THE ETHERNET CARD DRIVER

Next step is we'd like to have ethernet service so let's configure our ethernet driver first so we can then get Windows updates.  Click on "Start->My Computer, then right-click and select "Manage" from the pop-up menu.  Maximize the "Computer Management" screen and then click on "Device Manager" in the left-hand pane.  Once all the devices are shown, expand the "+"'s to see all your install devices.  Devices which have a driver problem will have a yellow "?" next to them, and some devices which were present under Vista are "gone" (for the moment - that will be corrected later as you go along below) for example, no sign of the toshiba "Modem" anymore under Devices -- but it will be there later.

Once you've expanded all the hardware devices so you can see each device it's time to put the "XP Drivers" CD (the driver files for all the various devices) in the CD/DVD drive and copy the driver zip file onto the C: drive of the laptop.  This will create a directory called "C:\XP-base-set" where all the drivers you will need for configuring your Toshiba A205-S5800 will be located now.  Once the copy is done go to the XP-base-set directory on the laptop C: drive and unzip the drivers file (right-click, "Extract All", Next, and then change extraction destination directory to be "C:\XP-base-set", then "Next".).  When the extraction is done, click uncheck "Show extracted file" and then click "Finish".

Now go back to the "Device Manager" view in the "Computer Management" page where we were before to look at hardware and drivers.  Find "Ethernet Controller" under "Other devices" and double-click on it.   Click on "reinstall driver".  The "Welcome to the Hardware Update Wizard" opens.  Choose the radio button "No, not this time".  Click Next.  Choose the radio button "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)".  Click "Next".  Click "Browse" and navigate to "C:\XP-base-set\Ethernet Controller"  and uncheck "Search removable media (floppy, CD-ROM...) and uncheck "Don't search.  I will choose the driver to install."  If all goes normally as expected you will get message "Completing the Hardware Update Wizard.  The wizard has finished installing teh software for:  Marvell Yukon 88E8039 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller".  Now click finish to close the wizard.  The driver information pop-up with 4 tabs should show Device Status for the Marvell Yukon now as "This device is working properly."  Close this page too.

Now open up internet explorer (if you have a wired ethernet cable plugged in to the ethernet port) and see if you have internet.  If you do, click on the red shield at the lower right and get Microsoft updates next.  When the Windows Security Center pops up click on "check for the latest updates from Windows Update" at the second from top of the upper left "Resources" pane.  I choose "Express" for "high-priority updates".

Next choose "Download and Install Now" button at bottom of screen when update displays ready to update screen.  Now screen "The updates are being downloaded and installed" appears and shows status of updates.  After the updates are done you will see the "Installation complete You must restart your computer for the updates to take effect" screen.  Before restarting, can remove the CD from the CD/DVD drive which has the drivers on it.  Now Click on "Restart Now".  Windows shuts down and restarts.

You may want to just let the desktop sit for awhile at this point and go get a cool drink, bite to eat, or walk around the block.  At some point in the next 10 or 15 minutes about 90 or so updates will be installed by Microsoft.  The "Automatic Updates" window will open (a balloon at the lower right corner will let you know updates are ready to be installed) and it will show about 90 updates being installed.  Let's wait for that to finish before doing the rest of the drivers.  Also, you may have to answer some prompts when it gets to the "Genuine Microsoft Software" update or something like that ( some screens will popup) so if the updates installer seems halted at some point, that's probably the cause.  Just answer prompts and then eventually the rest of the 90 or so updates will install.  Internet Explorer 7 will install, answer the license agreement, Next...  Eventually windows tells that the "Installation complete" and asks to restart again. "Restart Now".

Now open up windows explorer again, and also open up the Device Manager window as before.  Now we are going to do one of the more tricky parts.  We are going to get the driver working for the (1) Modem and for the (2) Realtek Audio Drivers.  But before we do that we first have to install the following exe file from Microsoft:  kb888111.exe file.  For information on what this is, you can check at these links.

The main thing from an installation viewpoint is you must run this exe file first before you do the modem or Realtek Sound Drivers.  To install this executable just click on it and follow the prompts.  Double-click on "C:\XP-base-set\kb888111.exe" and follow the prompts.   The "Windows XP KB888111WXPSP2 Setup Wizard" dialog box appears.  Click "Next".  Select radio button "I agree".  The Wizard window changes to "Completing the Windows XP KB888111WXPSP2 Setup Wizard".  Gives message (hopefully if all went well) "You have successfully completed the KB888111WXPSP2 Setup Wizard".  Click Finish. 

Running the above patch opens up a new "Found New Hardware Wizard".  Under "Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?" select  radio button "Yes, this time only."  Next screen says "This wizard helps you install software for "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus".  Then it says "If your hardware came with an installation CD or floppy disk, insert it now."

At this point, go to the drivers directory in Windows Explorer again and leave this pop window open.  Navigate to C:\XP-base-set\Sound Driver-Realtek-5.10.0.5433\Setup.exe and double-click setup.exe.  By the way, you will notice that Other devices in the "Device Manager" now shows two new devices with yellow "?" for drivers -- "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus" and "Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus".

Partway through Realtek, the "Found New Hardware Wizard" will appear again and also a dialogue "bubble" will appear along the task bar showing "Found New Hardware, Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus".  In the background the Realtek High Definition Audio Driver Setup will show "Install Wizard Complete" and "Yes, I want to restart my computer now." radio button active.  Just leave this window alone for now in the background, don't click "Finish" yet.

Go to the "Found New Hardware Wizard" and click radio button "No, not this time". click "Next".  Shows "This wizard helps you install software for Modem on High Definition Audio Bus".  and shows in bold "If you hardware came with an installation CD or floppy disk, insert it now."  Select radio button "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)" and click "Next".  Then click "Browse" and navigate to "C:\XP-base-set\Modem Driver-SM2177ALD04" and then click "Next".  If all goes well, you see some brief thrilling activity of your TOSHIBA modem being configured, and then the Found New Hardward Wizard shows a few seconds later "Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard" and "The wizard has finished installing the software for:   TOSHIBA Software Modem" with a thrilling little graphic next to that profound dialogue.  Click "Finish" to close the wizard.

Now go back to the "Device Manager" window in the "Computer Management" screen.  Expand things again and see how far you have traveled already.  There are just a few remaining drivers needed under "Other devices".  You may also notice this screen refreshing quite a bit.  If it's doing that then wait a few minutes and take a break.

When it seems quiet enough, and the screen is not refreshing, double-click on RTL8187B_WLAN_Adapter and then on the "General" tab click on "Reinstall Driver". and when the Hardware Update Wizard appears, select "Yes, this time only" and "Next". 

Now go to Windows Explorer and double click on "C:\XP-base-set\driver_wifi_intel_os2007223a.exe" which will launch a self-extracting file.  Accept all the defaults (such as the extraction location) and allow the self-extracting file to finish.  Wait about a minute or two after it is done to be sure it's completely finished extracting.

Now go back to the Hardware Update Wizard for the RTL8187B_WLAN_Adapter and click on "Install the software automatically (Recommended) then "Yes, connect and search for the software on the internet".  If all goes well, the wizard will pause for 10 or 15 seconds while it searches, and then it will configure the driver and finally stop at "The wizard has finished installing teh software for:  Realtek RTL8187B Wireless 802.11b/g 54Mbps USB 2.0 Network Adapter".  Click on "Finish" button.  You may see wireless networks in range bubble appear. 

Go back to the "Realtek High Definition Audio Driver Setup (2.34) R1.69" and make sure radio button "Yes, I want to restart my computer now" is selected and click "Finish" button at bottom.  Laptop reboots. Notice you hear the wonderful SOUND of windows closing.  When it reboots you get the usual sound which also sounds nice. 

When Windows is finished booting up go back to C:\XP-base-set directory and double-click on "win2k_xp1429.exe".  This file will fix the low-resolution quality of your display driver and will install the High-Definition Graphics Support.  You will notice an amazing difference after rebooting when this has installed.  This will show a self-extraction progress bar and then the "Intel Grahics Media Accelerator Driver" window will appear.  Click on "Next".  Click on "Yes" to accept the License Agreement.  You see next readme file information, and you are installing Graphics 6.14.10.4820 and HDMI Audio 5.10.0.1026.  Click "Next".  The "Setup Progress" window appears.  The display will go through some black outs and a "Found New Hardware Wizard" pop-up dialogue window will appear for a few seconds or maybe more -- don't do anything with it -- just wait -- it will disappear by itself automatically.  Inside the "Setup Progress" window at bottom you will see highlighted in blue "Installation has completed.  Click Next to Continue".  Click "Next".  The window now says "The setup of the Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator Driver is complete."  Leave "Yes, I want to restart this computer now" selected and click on "Finish".  Your laptop reboots to the sound of more windows music.

When Windows XP opens again, notice the super-crisp high-definition graphics.  Cool, eh?  Looks super-nice.  Give a good feeling.  Ok, back to "Device Manager" and let's see what we have left to do.  If you expand every single item in the Device Manager you should see everything has a driver except "Other devices" "SM Bus Controller" with a yellow "?".  Now we fix that.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to "C:\XP-base-set\driver_chipset_intel_25916A.exe".  Double-click on this file.  This opens the "WinZip Self-Extractor - driver_chipset_intel_25916A.exe" popup dialog.  Click on the "Setup" button.  A big splash window opens which shows "Installing Intel(R) Chipset Device Software - Please wait - DO NOT INTERRUPT!" and a graphic of a laptop with "TOSHIBA" on the screen.  You will hear several "chimes" while this is being installed.  This is normal.  When this utility is done, the splash screen will show "installation is complete" and "reboot your computer".  If you go to your "Device Manager" now you will see...Touchdown!  Every single device you had under Vista is installed under XP and every device has a driver and is working.  You are done, go have a diet caffeine free coke or a beer as suits your temperament!

Wait a minute or two before rebooting. Then restart windows.