[kevin1010]

hello everyone, not new here but was with the irc channel before the site was up and huge

All web lurkers read!
i was running into a problem today and figured i would share it on here to get a nice resolve for others out there in the world. i had recently purchased a new laptop for an employee just for normal usage but they could not stand windows 8. so i set up a nice mbr on the ssd and reconfigured the bios to let me install windows 7.
i firstly assumed most of the drivers for windows 8 would be compatible with windows 7 or heck even find some drivers that are compatible from another version of drivers for a different laptop. you know the drill kinda lol.
anywho... video card drivers for this laptop dont seem to work at all. i downloaded both display drivers fromthe toshiba driver site and neither worked. they installed but didnt work. Aero trouble shoot claims my drivers arent supported by aero (but i know its saying that due to the fact the system doesnt have any display drivers installed). i went to the amd official site and downloaded the mobility verifier exe and it says

AMD Catalyst Mobility cannot be downloaded due to incompatible hardware/software on your computer.
the Version of your grahics adapter is not supported.

Please contact your notebook manufacturer for a graphics driver update.

i went into this quick pc job with alot of confidence and... well kinda losing that feeling.. hopefully someone out here on the internet has surely ran into this before and i hope this post attracts them to give me some resolve or a hint towards one.

this laptop was just purchased yesterday, its brand new out of the box. i do realize windows 8 laptops are being built almost specifically for it but.. this is kind of forcing users to use it. when i purchase a laptop i want to be ale to put whatever OS i want on it. if it were mine i would just put ubuntu or debian on it but unfortunately im not the one that will be using it, 2nd its for work, 3rd the owner of it is a pure windows user.

Edited by kevin1010, 21 February 2013 - 11:34 AM.

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My Windows 8 Pro looks and feels like Windows 7. My suggestion would be to restore Windows 8, install a Windows 7 (like) Start button (I use Start8 from Stardock, $4.95). Then any Windows 7 user will feel comfortable.

I also added the Quick Launch, which I prefer over the Windows 7 style Task Manager and Windows 7 Gadgets (I like and use the Weather gadget). Very little of the Windows 8 interface intrudes on me but it's still there if I want to play with it.

An alternative would be to install Ex7forw8, which completely eliminates the Metro/Modern interface so the look and feel is Windows 7.

[Ztruker]

My Windows 8 Pro looks and feels like Windows 7. My suggestion would be to restore Windows 8, install a Windows 7 (like) Start button (I use Start8 from Stardock, $4.95). Then any Windows 7 user will feel comfortable.

I also added the Quick Launch, which I prefer over the Windows 7 style Task Manager and Windows 7 Gadgets (I like and use the Weather gadget). Very little of the Windows 8 interface intrudes on me but it's still there if I want to play with it.

An alternative would be to install Ex7forw8, which completely eliminates the Metro/Modern interface so the look and feel is Windows 7.

[kevin1010]

well unfortunately its for a customer that specifically wants windows 7. i use windows 8 myself on my personal machine for love it (dual booted with xubuntu) but i finally got it working by using driver genius professional.

but nice informative alternatives for future installs im definitely going to do that next time lol, this was more hair ripping than that route for sure.

Edited by kevin1010, 21 February 2013 - 09:51 PM.

[TOSHIBAD]

Installed Windows 7 64Bit on Toshiba L875D-S7332. Windows Update and Toshiba would not provide driver for graphics display and sm bus and usb3 + sound driver was pretty crap. After lots digging i finally got it working so i am here to share my solution.

I downloaded usb3 driver from Toshiba Satellite L875D AMD USB 3.0 Driver 1.0.0.72 for Windows 7 x64: Free Download

I downloaded from display driver from AMD Catalyst™ 12.6 Beta Driver
(There is also links to linux or xp versions here) (this driver also improved my sound nd other stuff)

I did find the sm bus driver in some other toshiba usb driver package but it didnt work for the usb host driver and i think the sm bus driver would be included in the above package.

I am very disappointed in how far toshiba has fallen from the best laptop maker to a subpar brand.

Anyway i hope this helps someone. KCCO pay it forward!