[pottersfriend]

I recently bought a Toshiba Qosmio G10 - 106 on Ebay. Turns out the Windows 7 Ultimate installed is not genuine and is now starting to cause many problems.
The machine has the original sticker and license key for Toshiba "Windows XP MEDIA CNTR EDTN 20" but naturally I have no disk.
I would like to remove the pirate software and revert to the original XP installation. Any suggestions on how to do this would be appreciated. thanks, Dave.

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Either contact Toshiba to try to get a CD of the XP Media Cntr Edtn 20 that was made for your computer model or,

Borrow if you can a Windows XP Media Center Edition from someone and use your cd key to install it.

The difference between the two will be that the CD from Toshiba will come with all the necessary drivers for your Toshiba Model but with a borrowed CD you might have to search download and install yourself the specific drivers for your Model.

[Alzeimer]

Either contact Toshiba to try to get a CD of the XP Media Cntr Edtn 20 that was made for your computer model or,

Borrow if you can a Windows XP Media Center Edition from someone and use your cd key to install it.

The difference between the two will be that the CD from Toshiba will come with all the necessary drivers for your Toshiba Model but with a borrowed CD you might have to search download and install yourself the specific drivers for your Model.

[pottersfriend]

Either contact Toshiba to try to get a CD of the XP Media Cntr Edtn 20 that was made for your computer model or,

Borrow if you can a Windows XP Media Center Edition from someone and use your cd key to install it.

The difference between the two will be that the CD from Toshiba will come with all the necessary drivers for your Toshiba Model but with a borrowed CD you might have to search download and install yourself the specific drivers for your Model.

[pottersfriend]

Tks. Alzeimer. Most helpful. Will contact Toshiba. Dave.

[pottersfriend]

OK. I have a Windows XP media centre installation disk but unable to install as the system requires removal of the pirate programme first(?) This in turn requires the Windows 7 disk used to put the programme on. Needless to say I don't have it.
There is nothing on the hard drive I need. Would it be easier to just wipe the HD clean and then re install the XP media version and update from there? Your recommendation on best way to acheive this would be appreciated. Many thanks. Dave.

[123Runner]

Boot from the XP disc and follow the directions on the screen. Make sure you remove the partitions when asked.
This will allow a fresh install. It will reformat the drive cleaning off (removing) the win 7.
Format the drive as NTFS.

You may have to enter bios to set the boot order to cd drive 1st.

[pottersfriend]

Boot from the XP disc and follow the directions on the screen. Make sure you remove the partitions when asked.
This will allow a fresh install. It will reformat the drive cleaning off (removing) the win 7.
Format the drive as NTFS.

You may have to enter bios to set the boot order to cd drive 1st.

Thanks for the quick response. Msg on screen reads; This programme is blocked due to compatibility issues. Setup can not continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD. Check for solutions online. Doing this shows nothing available.
Where am I going wrong please? (Could be just a SENIOR moment of course)
Thanks, Dave.

[123Runner]

You should be able to install using the following guide.

How to install XP

[Alzeimer]

Older windows versions wil never format a newer windows version (media center formatting windows 7) so you will need a third party bootable cd to erase windows 7 and format your hard drive. Download the iso image of the program DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke)at this address:

http://www.dban.org/download

Burn this Iso image to a CD-R and after it is done boot from the cd you just created and erase all the data on your hard drive, once it is done then you can boot from your Windows Media Center boot cd and install the OS on your hard drive.

Hope this help

[pottersfriend]

Tks. Alzeimer. I wish my French was as good as your English!! I have now wiped both hard drives on the Toshiba as you recommended, and re-installed the XP Media centre O/S from a recovery disk. All went in ok. Now unable to get on the internet as there were no drivers on the installation disk. I have downloaded the LAN drivers from Toshiba on to another computer, opened the zip file and placed on memory stick. What are the steps to get the drivers to load on to the hard drive of the laptop please? It recognizes the flash drive ok but I am unable to transfer the data so that it allows me to get on the internet to download the rest of the required updates (SP3 etc)
Many thanks, Dave

[123Runner]

It depends on how the file was created. Some are just .exe and you double click on them as they are self installers.
Others you need to "scan for new hardware" and then point to the location that the driver is in (like a folder on the desktop"

[pottersfriend]

Tks. Toshiba do not have the recovery disk for this machine which would have saved alot of trouble. They advise download LAN driver from their support website to a USB flash drive. Download zip file from flash drive to HDD then extract files and install. I have carried out all the steps and inserted flash drive in to port but now seem unable to download the file?? What are the exact steps pls to load the zip file to the HDD. Sorry to be so "novicey" but I guess that is what I am. Thanks again. Dave.

[Alzeimer]

To the best of my knowledge all you have to do is COPY (right click on it) the file on your USB flash drive and PASTE it to the folder location you desire (create your folder and name it Lan Driver)

after you have to uncompress the ZIP file (you can use winzip or winrar or the built in program of windows)

once unzipped you either go to your network card (lan) and update the driver by showing windows (not let windows find the driver itself) the folder where you have your unzip file

or use the .exe file (if any) that was unzip and follow the instruction

If all works good your network device should be working.

Edited by Alzeimer, 13 August 2010 - 02:17 PM.