I have a Toshiba M60 Laptop (Model PSM60C-CD600E) that came with Windows XP Home pre-loaded. This article outlines the steps and the outcome of trying to upgrade to Windows XP Pro SP2 using the Toshiba drivers available at the Toshiba Canada web site. Using this procedure, I was able to get a working Windows XP Pro installation with only a few warnings.

Back-up some system folders

Back up the following folders in your Windows XP Home install.

• C:\DRIVERS\
• C:\SUPPORT\
• C:\TOSHIBA\
• C:\VALUEADD\

There are a few things in there that are not available at the Toshiba web site, notably Configfree. The recovery disk that ships with your laptop has archived files that prevent you from just copying out specific folders. Copy them now while they are there.

Upgrade the BIOS

The first step was to upgrade the BIOS to the latest version (1.60). This can be done within your current Windows XP Home installation before you upgrade to Windows XP Pro. Since the laptop did not come with a floppy drive, Toshiba has a windows installer that changes your BIOS without requiring you to boot into a floppy disk.

Install Windows XP Pro SP2

After you back-up your data, insert your Windows XP Pro CD-ROM into the DVD-RW/CD-R superdrive and reboot the computer. At the Toshiba splash screen click the F12 key to select a boot device. Select the CD-ROM boot device and boot to your Windows XP Pro disk.

I chose to delete the system partition and reformat the drive. Then I installed Windows using the defaults. After a good amount of time, Windows will boot into a desktop which is set to 800×600 resolution (this will be adjusted later).

Install an antivirus

Install anti-virus software. I installed Symantec Anti-Virus Corporate Edition. Allow your AV software to update its virus signatures to the latest version.

Windows update

Windows update was running in the background throughout this install. I installed the Toshiba drivers only when the Windows update service wasn’t installing anything.

Intel Chipset Driver

Download the Intel Chipset driver onto the desktop and install it. Reboot your computer.

nVidia VGA Driver

The laptop comes with a nice nVidia GeForce 6600 Go video adapter with a good amount of dedicated memory. Select the nVidia NV43 Display Driver and download it to your desktop. Install it and reboot your system. This will reset your screen size to 1440×900 after the reboot.

Realtek audio driver

Next install the Realtek ACL250 Sound Driver. Download it, install it and reboot. On start-up you will hear the Windows start-up sound if all went well.

Realtek LAN driver

Install the Realtek RTL8100CL local area network driver. Download it, install it and reboot.

Modem?

I didn’t install the modem driver. Why? The Internal v.92 Modem Driver installer will cough up an error and only partially install the modem driver. Furthermore, on boot the Modem on Hold app will announce a system stop beep every time you boot up. Its very annoying and you can’t uninstall it without doing a system restore so I didn’t bother to install it. I never use the modem anyway. I am not aware of a workaround if you do need the modem.

Touch Pad driver

I had a bit of trouble with the touchpad driver, but it does install and work. If you view your event viewer you will see a few warnings after you install this driver. The warnings complain about a service binding to the Windows registry because its running under Local System and then not being able to save the registry when you shut-down. I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of this yet. If you like the touchpad disable applet in the system tray then you will have to install this. To do so, download the ALPS Touchpad Driver, install it and reboot.

Wireless

The wireless radio is next. Download the Wireless LAN Driver / Utility (Intel Pro/Wireless). It is a big file. Right click to unzip the archive. Open the folder and click ‘setup.exe’ to install it. Reboot.

Configfree

If you want to run configfree, you will have to load it off the recovery disk. For some reason the Toshiba web site provides a dead link to the configfree utility. In your backup, go to c:\DRIVERS\CONFIG FREE\ and install Config free from there if you need it.

5-in-1 Card Reader

I actually don’t use this, but I installed it. Download the ENE PCMCIA Driver to your desktop, install it and reboot.

Power saver

You will need to install two files, a driver and the controller. Download the Toshiba Power Saver Driver, install it and reboot. Download the Toshiba Power Saver, install it and reboot.

Touchpad On/Off Utility

I always hit the touchpad by mistake when I’m typing, so I really like this applet. Download the Touchpad On/Off utility, install it and reboot.

Toshiba controls

The Toshiba controls needs a driver and a controller. Download the Toshiba Controls Driver, install it and reboot. Download the Toshiba Controls, install it and reboot.

Toshiba HW Setup

Download the Toshiba HW Setup file, install it and reboot.

Fn-esse

Download the Toshiba Fn-esse Utility, install it and reboot.

Outcome

View the event viewer to confirm that nothing unusual has happened. There should be a lot of information messages and maybe a warning or two if you installed the touchpad driver.

I was reading on some forums that the SD-card reader doesn’t work in XP Pro, but I don’t use them so I can’t test that. The system now is functional and you should be able to load your applications.

Tags: satellite m60, toshiba, windows xp pro