I have been given a Toshiba Satelite M40 laptop with XP Home Edition on it. It is working fine, but I would like to set it up as though it had just come from the factory.
I do not have any restore disks for it, but I have managed using a program on the laptop to create a drivers and tools disk.
The laptop has a COA on the bottom of it.
What I would like to know is this. Is it possible to use a standard XP Installation disk using the COA number on the bottom and then just install all the drivers from the disk I created.
"the_constructor" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
Sometimes yes, but rarely.
The key on the COA will indicate to the install that it's an OEM key, and usually that key will be rejected by a generic MS install CD. You'd need a Tosh OEM CD.
My experience has been that any OEM XP disc will do ( other versions, such as retail etc. won't accept the COA key ) and that you'll probably have to call the registration line to get your final code ( possibly because OEM discs are linked to specific brands ).
Have you checked for a hidden restore partition on the laptop?
I'd be inclined to get a copy of a corporate / oem XP on CD from a trustworthy source. If you know anyone working in IT in a large organisation, they can probably lay their hands on one. You then use that with your COA key and you're away. There definately are branded CDs around though, as my Dell CD would go nowhere on a HP computer that had a valid COA on the top for XP and 2000...
I've got a Tosh Sat A60, and I couldn't get either of my normal XP installers to work properly on it for some reason - it'd just hang early in the installation.
My mate happened to have a copy of XP that worked on it though :-}
There are plenty of utilities that can examine the partition structure of your hard drive - but I'd recommend one that doesn't have the ability to make any changes ( just in case! ). Try Aida32 ( freeware )
formatting link
's a general system properties utility, quite handy to have anyway.
Install ( you can install to a usb key if you wish - and use it on any machine ) and run it and select the physical drive properties...it will show a list in this fashion:
In my case partition #2 is showing as Active...in other words that's the partition I'm currently booted from ( C: ). #3 shows a hidden partition of 4Gb ( it's another OS installation ) and #1 shows a hidden partition of just 15Mb...which is a boot manager.
What you'll be hoping to see is a list showing at least one partition marked as Unknown, probably of around 2 to 5 Gb. This will most likely be the partition that contains a compressed 'image' of the original OS+drivers and software as supplied with the machine from new. The problem then is finding a copy of the 'recovery disk' that contains the program that restore the working partition from the hidden one ( in some case it's accessed by pressing a key on boot up ). Best bet in that instance would be to scour the various support forums related to your machine.
If you don't see any hidden partitions then you don't have a recovery partition.
By the by, I'd recommend getting hold of a disk imaging backup program....something from Paragon or Acronis will be ideal, and older but nonetheless fully functional versions often turn up on computer mag cover disks.
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