Hi All, I have a new Toshiba laptop (C75D) that came with Win10x64, which I removed and installed Win7x64. I have everything working except my WiFi card which is a Broadcom (PCI&VEN_14E4&DEV_4365). I have 3 different drivers DL'ed from Toshiba's site and one from HP. Only the earliest Toshiba driver (ver.6.30) will successfully install, but the icon in the networking control panel cannot be enabled. I'd love to try the other drivers, but they all refuse to install even though I looked at the INF files and there are sections in each one for Win8 all the way back to XP! I used to be able to hack these files back in the Win9x days, but have forgotten. Anyone have a good tutorial on modding them? Here's a pic of the driver properties page after the successful but inoperable install. I *think* the right .SYS file should be 163A instead of 664. On the packages that refused to install, I caught the expanded install folder during the abort and was able to get the files from them. I can *almost* install from this folder using the "update driver". Get an error (2nd pic) that I've not seen before... BTW, Toshiba is of NO help whatsoever. Guess they didn't like me dumping Win10 and their crappy push-programs! Russ
No manufactures will help you if you remove their original operating system, so if by chance you formatted the whole drive and removed the recovery partition so goes your warranty if you ever need it. I don't get why buy a system if you don't like the OS on it. I think W10 is much better than 7, but each to their own.
I tried to like it. The interface looks like it was designed as a 3rd grade class project. Besides, I'm getting too old to learn useless new garbage every product cycle - just because something can be changed does not mean it should be... Now, how can I get my wireless working? Or diagnose whether if it's hardware, software, or both? Russ
That is a first, most members with a bit of knowledge backup there system or recovery partition and format the drive to get rid of all the bloatware. As for warranty if system removed or OS problems I would say for new users that is main problem and operator faults are not covered in warranty only hardware.
If you go with a different card, may need to make a change in the bios because some manufactures only allow one or maybe two wireless cards via hidden bios settings. Have you tried any software from toshiba for that card? I had one like that and it refused to work until I installed the software, I never used the software because I used windows wireless config, but the damn thing would not work without something that was in that software.
Just a thought, but have you installed the Toshiba utilities that come with that laptop? I've seen in the past where laptops that have on/off switches for Wireless via the keyboard etc. will not enable without either mucking around in the BIOS (and disabling wireless control options), or installing the manufacturer's software that enables/disables wireless.
I can understand not wanting all the crap the manufactures put on their products but to format the whole drive is nuts without a backup image. I usually do 2 things make a total backup image ( macrium reflect ) and on the safe side clone the drive as well. I had to get my Asus laptop repair once and I was told if I didn't have the recovery partition still intact they wouldn't help with warranty. And, it was for an hardware issue, the optical drive was dead. They told me they're going to do a full factory restore. Afterwards, I got a new optical and motherboard since it was a board problem
I'm rethinking this. I do remember trying to work with the Win10 install and the WiFi wouldn't work even then. But since I knew a format was in order, I didn't dwell on it. So something was off from the jump. OTOH, all the drivers install properly and the card (property sheet) shows it's working correctly. There are tons of threads all over Google about the "enabling" problem, and I've tried several to no avail. I may keep trying, but in the meantime I ordered a tiny little USB WiFi dongle for $15 from Amazon last night. There are no settings in this BIOS for wifi. In fact, this is the "skinniest" BIOS I've ever seen. There may be less than a dozen settings... I've been holding out on the TVAP cause I hate all the bloat that comes with it. But, I may just do it. I've gotten pretty good at dumping and reloading my C: partition lately! I've even though about doing an Ubuntu install just to see if getting away from Windows would allow it to work. Russ
Only other information I could find was some Linux folks having issues with these laptops, where wireless could be disabled and they couldn't turn it back on (no physical hardware switch). Supposedly (YMMV) the solution sounded essentially like they had cleared a CMOS battery/reset BIOS settings: 1.) Unplug + Remove Battery 2.) Hold Down Power Switch for 30+ seconds 3.) Replace Battery + Enter BIOS 4.) Boot and check if Wireless enabled.
So you would not have been covered on your warranty if the hard drive had failed and system and recovery partition is gone just kidding.
Well, that was unexpected! I remembered I had a USB wifi adapter on an old computer in the back bedroom. Dug out the install disk, installed it to the new laptop, and plugged in the adapter. Little taskbar network icon showed working... working... Hmm, taking to long. So I go to open "Network Connections" and as soon as I click it, BLUESCREEN! OK, reboot and see what happens. Nothing, 'puter says "insert bootable media and restart". Not believeing this, I try a few more times before sticking in my Acronis restore disc and rebooting. Still getting the no bootable media, so switch and try Partition Wizard and it boots fine. BIOS had defaulted to UEFI (during the bluescreen!), switched it back to CMP. Tried installing a fresh Win7 install, that's not happening. It goes thru all the copying... expanding... adding features... etc, but the first reboot kills it. Never sees a HDD to boot from and if I pull the disc out, the reboot just gives me a blinking cursur in the upper LH corner. Well, for a change, that's farther than I've been able to get before. Used to get a message stating "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition" right after clicking "Install". Burned a Win10 ISO and it won't even boot. Just for giggles, stuck in a Linux Mint disc and it boots up fine. Within 2 minutes, I've added the Broadcom driver and I'm on the 'net. So, not a hardware issue for the wifi card. Just another cr@ppy MicroSlob product on a cheesy-cheap 'puter... You just don't know how close I came to taking this out in the shop, setting it my steel bench and making a few "adjustments" to it with a 4# hammer. I'm thinking this Toshiba is a far cry from the last few I've owned, time to give it to my son and move on to another, more "tinkerer-friendly" laptop. Good thing I'm retired, wasting a couple weeks on a fiasco like this isn't as big a deal as it was while working. So, what to buy? I need something with a 17" screen that can actually be reprogrammed to whatever "I" want with minimal fuss... Russ You know? I actually did this first thing this morning. Didn't make any difference other than it wouldn't boot and I had to reset it to CMP mode. There really are very minimal user settings in this particular BIOS...
All I can remember them saying that they don't know whether my problem is a software or hardware since they said it could be one or the other. And before they're going to look at it, they're going to do a factory recovery restore. I told them no problem and remember my warranty would of been void if they couldn't do such. From what I gather from it they can tell whether the hard drive has fail or if the recovery has be removed. I didn't care either way since my wasn't touch.... Oh yeah someone mention one can buy them. I don't think many manufactures are selling them any longer. One would have to look on the internet ( torrent sites.
Ya'll wouldn't believe. I was able to reload my "freshboot" copy of Win7 using my Acronis restore. Once running, I reinstalled the D-Link software (which turned out to be for XP), plugged in the WiFi dongle and got a connection. Didn't like all the D-Link control panel/connection manager junk so I uninstalled the driver package and loaded Win7 drivers right from D-Link using device manager. Now it doesn't work. The dongle can be enabled, but the "status" property page is blank where the IP stuff usually is. There's got to be some registry hacks to remove leftover garbage, anyone know of a good freeware editor that can merge from a command prompt if need be? Russ