Windows Vista Toshiba M45-S269 and Win Vista

Just ran the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to determine if my Toshiba Satellite M45-S269 can handle Windows Vista. Final analysis says I can run Vista with a few "minor" changes.

Toshiba ConfigFree, Bluetooth Stack for Wondows by Toshiba and DVD-RAM Driver must be uninstalled before installing Vista and can not be reinstalled after unless there's an upgrade available from the manufacturer. Then there's the "caution" section which lists several items which "MIGHT have MINOR compatibility issues" after installing Vista.

I don't have a problem changing those items which must be changed including my video card in order to take advantage to the new Windows Aero which comes with the Home Premium Edition. I'm stuck with trying to decided whether to take a chance with the items under the "caution" section which says they "MIGHT have MINOR compability issues ".

Has anyone with my system or a similar one upgraded to Windows Vista without having to make many changes?

 

Hi Ace,

Unless I'm not reading carefully, what are those "minor" issues?

On the Video card issue - that might go away after the driver update.

Just as a side note - so far I'm underwhelmed by Aero. It might be a tweaking issue But w/o Aero the 3D features are absent.

From what I've read so far, the recomendation for Latops is to run Vista Standard which is a combination of Vista basic and Aero, but needs the same hardware as Aero. Full Aero is slower than Vista Standard on a Laptop.

For the road, Vista basic. Anything else is a battery drainer.

Regards - Charles

 

Well, when it comes to drivers, make sure there's an update available. I know first hand that there is no driver available for a Sound Blaster Live sound card and Creative does not plan on writing one for it. Well, that's not quite true. I was able to get a driver from Microsoft's update site that does work for the most part but the microphone is useless (I use and rely on it a lot). All apps see it but it doesn't work. I haven't found anything on the net to fix it. Seems like everybody has experienced the same.

Anyway, my point is, depending on how old your video card/chip is, don't assume they're going to have an update for it. Check their website first. If you don't, be prepared to have to change the card to get the full benefit of Vista's features related to it.

 

FWIW - the beta versions of Vista around mid-June of last year worked fine on my M45 laptop. Due to the anemic qualities of the video card, I disabled the Aero interface as soon as I loaded it. Then, I set the display resolution and color depth as low as possible. Finally, I optimized the system for "Best Performance" in the Performance settings section of System in Control Panel.

It ran quite well after that, and I used it for a week during that time.

 

Vista Driver problems

I had the same problem with a Toshiba Tecra M2 Lap Top. I had uninstalled the DVD-RAM through my control panels Add / Remove programs. However, I still had to go to the folder on my C:\ to "delete ". The rest of the install went smooth.
HOWEVER, I get an ERROR on every boot up that a Toshiba ACPI-Compliant driver is not compatible. I click the message which takes me to Toshiba's web site. I attempted to download the drivers. Yet I could not find any ACPI-Compliant drivers (what are they?).
I have the Nvidia drivers on my system, and attempted to upgrade those drivers, but the install stops & tells me they are not compatible. I called Toshiba, but they refused to help me since my warranty only covers the lap-top with the "original" OS. Toshiba tells me since I upgraded to Vista (Business) my warranty is no longer valid, unless I re-install the original OS. Toshiba suggest I call Microsoft. I called Microsoft and was told they can not help and I need to call Toshiba. Does anyone have any ideas?