Toshiba Finger Print Utility Error: Duplicate Records Already Exist

During a reload of the Windows 7 OS on the Toshiba Portege Z830 the Finger Print Utility kept throwing an error when we tried to set up the finger print log on.

Finger Print Utility: Error: Operation Failed. Duplicate templates already exist.

Well, that’s almost impossible unless there was something written to the BIOS/TPM set up.

Suggestions to use the Toshiba Security Assist utility failed.

The process to reset things turned out to be quite easy:

1. Start the enrollment process.
2. Cancel it.
3. In the Utility Export to file.
1. Set a password and file path.
4. Import from that file.
5. Run the Enrollment process again.

If there is a hiccup saving the new fingerprints make sure to elevate by clicking the Run As Administrator button on the bottom of the utility window.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

How to Swap the mSATA SSD or RAM on a Toshiba Portege

There are a couple of gotchas when it comes to removing the bottom panel on the Toshiba Portege Ultrabook.

1. Under the centre bumper is found a T8 Tamper-Proof Torx screw.
2. The microphone and earphone jacks pin the cover in place on that side.

Once all of the screws have been removed including the tamper-proof centre screw one needs to make sure that the SD slot is empty.

Then, based on the image above gently grasp the two _opposite_ corners to the mic/ear jacks (right top and bottom) and pull up much like the cover of a book pivoting on the mic/ear side.

Once the cover is a couple of centimetres up (~1.5”) we can then slip the cover out and off over the mic/ear jacks.

When it comes to re-installing the back cover run through the opposite steps however one needs to be mindful of the VGA port as it has a slot on either side that the cover needs to nestle into.

Set the cover in place over the mic/ear jacks first and then guide it into place around the VGA port. It should essentially settle into its rightful spot with a little assistance from there.

NOTE: At no time is there any need to use force when working the back cover off or on. When removed or installed correctly the panel will essentially sit in place with no more effort than to guide it off or on.

Also, be mindful that making any changes to the default unit can and may void the Toshiba warranty.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Toshiba Portege Z830-00P: Some mSATA SSD Testing to Come

We are just in the process of reloading Windows 7 Enterprise x64 on a newly received Toshiba Portege Z830-00P Ultrabook onto the 128GB Toshiba SSD that comes with.

When we did so we formatted a partition at a little over 70GB so that once all drivers are loaded and the Ultrabook is ready for bear we will image that partition using ShadowProtect.

We will then restore that partition to the 120GB OCZ Nocti mSATA SSD that showed up at our shop and eventually to an Intel 80GB 310 series mSATA SSD that should arrive here via Intel Demo sometime in the next couple of weeks.

We purchased the OCZ Nocti outright because we are pretty sure that the OCZ will far out-perform the Toshiba SSD that comes with the Portege.

Once we have the performance numbers we will publish them here. For now we will use the default WinSAT utility built into Windows to get an idea of the numbers just as we have done for previous systems that we tested.

The packaging for the OCZ:

The Canadian and US quarters are about the same size. As we can see, these drives are _small_ in size.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Toshiba Tecra R850 Unknown Device – VID_067B PID_2303

While setting up a new Tecra R850 with the Toshiba Hi-Speed Port Replicator II we noticed the following device in Device Manager that had an exclamation mark on it:

Note that the above Snip came after we found the driver for the device.

• PCI Database
• Vendor Code: 0x067B = Prolific

That in turn lead us to the mystery device:

• PL2303 Prolific Driver Installer

After downloading, extracting, and running the small driver install utility we ended up with the above USB to Serial port that is found on the back of the Toshiba Hi-Speed Port Replicator II.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

The New Toshiba Tecra R850–017 and Port Replicator II

The new Toshiba Tecra R850 –017 is quite the machine.

It’s killer features are:

• 4GB of RAM out of the box.
• True 1600x900 High Resolution Panel
• Intel Core i7-2620M
• SATA spindle replaced with 160GB Intel 320 Series SSD
• This is our customization.
• vPro enabled for remote out-of-band administration

These laptops are _quick_!

From OS load time to Line of Business application install and reboot times we have finished this batch of laptops in record time. In fact the machines were so quick we were having a hard time keeping up!

The Tecra R850 has a USB 3 port though it is using the same Renasys chipset as the Intel motherboards. So, we will be careful about which USB 3 devices we are having plugged into it since we have had some issues with NexStar USB 3 drive docks.

For our accounting firm clients the full size keyboard with integrated number pad may be a good thing. The one drawback to the keyboard is that the keys themselves are ultra glossy in their finish. The feel a bit slippery to work with. For some that prefer a matte finish to provide “finger holding power” these keys fall short.

The display panel is excellent. In this case we are rebuilding an Acer TravelMate TM6593G laptop beside the new Tecra R850s being deployed and there is a noticeable difference in the panel quality. The Tecra R850’s panel is far superior for its brightness and clarity.

Toshiba’s list of drivers for the laptop is straightforward. We were able to download all of the needed drivers and utilities to install after the laptops had Windows 7 Enterprise x64 installed.

Note that the custom button setup that the Tecra R850 has requires the Toshiba Value Added Package in order for them to function:

This package is _very_ important as the touchpad is very sensitive. Anyone that has a tendency to type with the palms fairly close to the laptop’s bezel will hit a frustration factor very quickly so the touchpad on/off button that sits just above it will get a lot of use.

Toshiba Hi-Speed Port Replicator II

It is important to note that the Toshiba Hi-Speed Port Replicator II that works with the Tecra R850 includes an HDMI to DVI-I adapter cable. But, the DVI-I is a male end. So, we needed to pick up some Display Port to DVI-I gender benders to plug into the Display Port instead.

The Tecra R850s were both being installed where the desks had a pair of monitors mounted on an Ergotron dual arm setup. The docks were a fair distance away so we had custom length DVI and VGA cables to accommodate these setups.

Any situation where the dock would sit behind, beside, or just below the monitors would be able to use the stock adapter cable.

In the end, the new Tecra R850 with its new port replicator are an awesome combination especially when boosted by an Intel 320 Series SSD! :)

• Toshiba Canada Tecra Laptops
• Toshiba USA Tecra Laptops

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Toshiba Tecra S11 Core i7-620M 160GB X25-M WinSAT Score

We have just completed configuring a number of new Toshiba Tecra S11 laptops with 160GB X25-M Intel SSDs.

• Toshiba Tecra S11 PTSE3C-011013

Our own Tecra S10 WinSAT scores can be found here:

• Intel 160GB SSD Performance In the Tecra S10 Versus RAID 0 2x 80GB SSDs on DX38BT

The Tecra S10’s scores were:

• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read              203.74 MB/s        7.3
• Disk  Random 16.0 Read                    39.33 MB/s        6.3
• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write              88.15 MB/s          6.3
• Total Run Time 00:01:25.32

The Tecra S11’s scores were as follows:

• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read                   240.75 MB/s          7.5
• Disk  Random 16.0 Read                       215.20 MB/s          7.8
• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write                  103.40 MB/s          6.6
• Total Run Time 00:01:10.07

The second stat in the S10’s numbers must have been an anomaly. We will revisit the WinSAT test on that unit to see how the performance has stood up over time.

There is a tangible performance difference on the Core i7-620M based Tecra S11 versus the Core 2 Duo T9600. The system is a lot more responsive in so many ways.

So, it is not surprising to see that the SSD performance on the new S11 takes a step up versus the previous generation.

In the end, the cost of the SSD is more than made up by our client’s users increased productivity.

While one of the drivers for having the SSD installed has been Windows XP Mode on Windows 7, most of our client’s line of business applications have come up to date and are Windows 7 compatible. There are still a few hold outs, but for the most part XP Mode is slowly being deprecated.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Professional Grade Notebooks/Laptops

For many years now we have been selling Acer TravelMate series notebooks as our main portable product line.

They come out of the box relatively clean, meaning that they come out of the box with very little third party software installed on them.

We have been so busy with server related sales and projects lately, that we have had very few notebook sales since late last year. Today, one of our clients is getting set to refresh some of their Acer units so we dropped into Acer’s site to see what was available.

Acer TravelMate 5740G-6765

Windows 7 Pro 32 bit, Core i5 520M, 4GB RAM, etc.

Now, the equivalent Acer TravelMate 6593G series notebook we sold at the beginning of this year was about $1,800. Any guesses on what the 5740G would sell for?

If you guessed that it was around $1,100 you would be about right.

How the manufacturer managed to shave close to $700 off the cost of the system is where we have cause for pause.

Since we have had the Toshiba Tecra S10 here in the shop, and a number of S10 series Tecras out with our clients, we are now quite sure that the best quality product for the money, in our opinion, would be the Tecra S11 series available to us at this time.

Yes, there are other manufacturer’s products out there. But, for now, we will see if we can suggest to our remaining Acer laptop based clients that they move over to Toshiba.

BTW, Toshiba (Canadian Web site) makes a Core i5 series tablet that can handle 8GB of RAM in it! The new Tecra S11-011 with an i7 620M and 8GB of RAM would be an ideal virtualization demo machine! Either machine with an Intel 160GB SSD would really step up in performance too.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Intel 160GB SSD Performance In the Tecra S10 Versus RAID 0 2x 80GB SSDs on DX38BT

The following is the output of the WinSat disk test on the Windows 7 Enterprise x64 Toshiba Tecra S10 with an Intel 160GB SSD installed:

C:\Windows\system32>winsat disk
Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:04.79
> Running: Storage Assessment '-ran -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:00.87
> Running: Storage Assessment '-scen 2009 -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:01:03.66
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -write -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:09.03
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -seq'
> Run Time 00:00:03.85
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -ran'
> Run Time 00:00:02.45
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 4096'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.01
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 16384'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.02
> Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read             203.74 MB/s          7.3
> Disk  Random 16.0 Read                    39.33 MB/s          6.3
> Responsiveness: Average IO Rate       0.88 ms/IO          7.9
> Responsiveness: Grouped IOs             10.02 units          7.2
> Responsiveness: Long IOs                     7.13 units          7.6
> Responsiveness: Overall                      71.52 units          6.9
> Responsiveness: PenaltyFactor                0.0
> Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write              88.15 MB/s          6.3
> Average Read Time with Sequential Writes  1.143 ms     7.5
> Latency: 95th Percentile                     2.246 ms          7.5
> Latency: Maximum                             207.342 ms          7.3
> Average Read Time with Random Writes   1.048 ms         7.9
> Total Run Time 00:01:25.32

It is important to note that the above stats are on a _laptop_!

Now, let’s have a look at what two 80GB SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration via the onboard Intel DX38BT (Intel product site) chipset RAID gives us with Windows 7 Enterprise x64:

C:\Windows\system32>winsat disk
Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:05.36
> Running: Storage Assessment '-ran -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:00.59
> Running: Storage Assessment '-scen 2009 -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:56.94
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -write -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:06.47
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -seq'
> Run Time 00:00:02.16
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -ran'
> Run Time 00:00:01.69
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 4096'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.02
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 16384'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.01
> Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read              461.83 MB/s          7.9
> Disk  Random 16.0 Read                  282.86 MB/s          7.9
> Responsiveness: Average IO Rate        1.41 ms/IO          7.6
> Responsiveness: Grouped IOs              11.15 units          6.9
> Responsiveness: Long IOs                     9.11 units          7.4
> Responsiveness: Overall                    101.50 units          6.8
> Responsiveness: PenaltyFactor                0.0
> Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write               164.71 MB/s          7.2
> Average Read Time with Sequential Writes  0.721 ms       7.8
> Latency: 95th Percentile                     1.960 ms          7.7
> Latency: Maximum                             147.954 ms          7.5
> Average Read Time with Random Writes  0.782 ms          7.9
> Total Run Time 00:01:13.77

Now, given the hardware differences between the two configurations, this is obviously an unfair comparison. However, they do provide a good reference point for the solid-state drive’s capabilities.

Here are the Tecra S10’s single 160GB SSD read/write stats:

• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read              203.74 MB/s        7.3
• Disk  Random 16.0 Read                    39.33 MB/s        6.3
• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write              88.15 MB/s          6.3

Here is the DX38BT 80GB x2 RAID 0 read/write stats:

• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read              461.83 MB/s          7.9
• Disk  Random 16.0 Read                  282.86 MB/s          7.9
• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write              164.71 MB/s          7.2

What do these loosely put together stats that tell us?

That the Intel second generation Solid-State drives are _fast_!

Realistically, the above stats show that the on board RAID has the ability to improve disk I/O quite substantially when the drives are striped together.

The Tecra S10:

• Intel T9600 2.8GHz
• 4GB RAM
• 160GB Intel SSD

The desktop:

• Intel QX9650 Core 2 Quad Extreme
• 4GB KVR1333 series Kingston RAM
• Intel DX38BT BoneTrail
• 80GB Intel SSD x2 RAID 0 via on board chipset

We will test some additional configurations as they pass through our shop.

Given the above stats we may look to start using a pair of 80GB SSDs for our SBS 2008 OS drives to help reduce the OS’s boot times.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

MacBook Pro - Funky TrackPad Behaviour

While working on a BES 4.x install onto an SBS 2003 server, the MacBook Pro was serving as the source for the instructions via Safari: How to install BlackBerry Enterprise Express on a SBS 2003 Premium on the SmallBizServer.net site.

One of the little gizmos that I came back with after shopping around in the Microsoft Company Store was a Plasma Ball (WikiPedia). You know, the one with the little arcs inside of it that will follow the finger when it touches the glass ball.

The kids thing the ball is absolutely _kewl_!

The instruction page was already up, so the MacBook Pro was left alone for a while during the necessary steps on the part of the SmallBizServer.net site that was showing.

After completing those steps, the MacBook Pro's TrackPad was behaving _very_ strange. The mouse pointer would jump about or seemingly right click (CTRL+Click) at will.

It took a few minutes to figure out what was going on because the Tecra S10's touchpad was not affected by the ball at all. One reboot later and the MacBook's TrackPad was still misbehaving.

The realization that happened was the fact that the plasma ball was plugged in after the page was brought up. Sure enough, when the plasma ball was turned off the TrackPad began to behave again.

Now there is a really strange one for the books!

Philip Elder

MPECS Inc.

Microsoft Small Business Specialists

Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Toshiba Tecra S10 – Unknown USB-To-Serial Device USB\Vid+067B&PID_2303

After downgrading a client’s new Tecra S10 to Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 we ended up with a mysterious device in the Device Manager.

USB\VID_067B&PID_2303\7&2DDF17D&0&2

As it turns out, the device is a Prolific PL-2303 USB to Serial Bridge.

We needed to download the driver from here:

• Prolific PL2303 Driver v10518

Note that the driver we downloaded was released in July of 2009 and is v1.0.5.18.

Once we extracted the zip file we ran the update driver routine from within the device’s properties.

Once properly installed we saw the following in the Device Manager:

Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM4)

One other oddity with this downgrade was the default Realtek audio drivers being knocked out when we set the laptop into its port replicator. We needed to download the latest driver from Toshiba’s Web site for this particular model.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

nVidia Quadro NVS Notebook Driver Choking on Windows 7 x64

Ack! A pulsing to black screen is happening!

For whatever reason, the nVidia Quadro video driver started hiccupping today.

Not once, not twice, but four times the screen went black on the laptop then came back with a ”Windows has recovered from a driver failure” error.

The reliability report says:

The details contained in the reliability report:

Now, the recommended course of action is to download and install the newest nVidia driver for this particular video card. But, since the laptop is not too old, that is not really an option.

Here is hoping that nVidia will not be having too many driver issues on the new Windows 7 operating system.

If memory serves correct, there were a lot of driver issues with nVidia products on Windows Vista. Let’s hope that this is not going to be the case on Windows 7.

So, now we wait to see when a newer version of the driver arrives and whether it resolves the problem.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Windows 7 And Battery Life Are Great Together

We had a client network situation where the ISP called on Wednesday afternoon to indicate that their static IPs would be changed on them at 0730Hrs Friday morning.

Since this particular client is not on ExchangeDefender for e-mail sanitation and continuity, that meant that there was going to be an interruption of their e-mail flow inbound.

Another catch to the situation was the possibility that the new IPs would be on someone’s RBL.

So, there we were at 0650Hrs preparing to make the necessary changes to their RWW DNS A record, MX records for their e-mail domains, and change the setup for both the external NIC in ISA (SBS 2003 R2 Premium) and the Intel Remote Management 2 module.

One of the first things to happen was to fire up the laptop with our 3G cellular modem installed so that we would have Internet access.

The second thing to do was to run a ShadowProtect incremental backup just before running some updates that were waiting for us on both their servers.

Once the updates were complete, we took another incremental image and waited for the ISP to kill the connection.

Well, there we were at 1015Hrs and still no connection drop.

It took a few calls into the ISP to find out what was up. But, once we spoke to the right person in the right department and mentioned that we had received a promise from the person that contacted us about the change that was going to happen on Friday at 0730Hrs and no later, the connection dropped within a few minutes.

We changed the IP information on the external NIC and in the RMM2 module, updated the DNS A records, changed the MX records, and tweaked a few things in their setup to accept the new IPs.

Having the 3G connection on the laptop enabled us to be connected to our office desktop via our RWW all the while we were at the client site.

Besides that, we were able to keep our network audit notes open on the laptop’s desktop to update all of the relevant sections with the changes that were taking place using Windows 7’s folder access to one of our SharePoint libraries (previous blog post).

From there, we were able to test our client’s RWW connection once the changes had been made to DNS, and subsequently to spend time on the phone with the ISP to work with them on a problem in their own DNS setup.

To troubleshoot DNS, we use a couple of online tools besides the built-in ones:

• DNSStuff (subscription service)
• Mice & Men DoDig (free DNS dig service).

We also had a few Line of Business applications that also needed to be updated.

By the time we were done, the laptop had been on battery for close to 5 hours. In this particular case, the laptop had the extended life 12 cell battery in it.

Now, 5 hours may not sound like a lot, but the laptop was in constant contact with the Internet via 3G cellular modem that tied it into our office network. One thing to keep in mind as well is that the laptop is a pretty powerful unit with a T9600 2.8GHz CPU, high speed memory and hard drive subsystems.

Even with the extended life battery, there would be no way that this laptop running Windows Vista would last that long.

Between the productivity enhancements in Windows 7’s ability to connect to SharePoint document libraries like they were local and Windows 7’s greatly slimmed footprint, we are seeing a greatly improved user experience for our clients and for us!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise – BitLocker A Must on Laptops

Now that we have the Toshiba Tecra S10 laptop settled in with Windows 7 Ultimate x64 edition, the next step is to encrypt the contents of the hard drive.

A really good tutorial can be found here on how to prepare the hard drive with a 1.5GB partition that BitLocker requires before installing the OS:

• TechNet: Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide

Scenario 1 covers how to boot from the OS install disk, in our case we were using a USB flash drive, and use the DiskPart command to prep the disk before installing the OS.

Note that once we had the OS installed on the large partition, we needed to go into Disk Management and reassign the drive letter in order for it to be recognized by the BitLocker tool.

Type BitLocker in the Start –> Search to bring up the tool. If the laptop’s TPM is not initialized, then a reboot will be required to do so.

Once initialized, the tool will run through a few preparation steps as well as a recovery key generation step. We chose to save the key to a USB flash drive. After doing so, a reboot will be required by the BitLocker tool to test the recovery key before encryption ensues.

Upon logging back into the laptop, this is what we will see:

Since Windows Vista Business x86 came with this laptop, the addition of Software Assurance gives us access to Windows 7 Vista Enterprise. The cost is so inexpensive, there is no excuse for a company to not invest in the added protection of the data on the laptop.

If the Tecra gets left in a cab, or someone else values it more than the owner, then we can be assured that no data will be accessible.

The BitLocker conversion is a slow process, so let it run. It can run in the background, so the laptop is quite usable while it is running.

UPDATE: SA on Windows Vista brings Windows 7 Enterprise to the table. Strike out shows the original mistake.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Toshiba Tecra S10 T9600 Windows 7 Install 95% Successful – And It’s Fast!

We managed to get Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installed on the laptop with a few hiccups along the way.

We used a USB flash drive (previous blog post) to install the OS on the laptop.

Because we are dealing with a 64bit version of the OS, we are in a bit of a bind for some of the drivers due to Toshiba being behind other laptop manufacturers on using 64bit Windows for their installs.

Fortunately, the laptop’s hardware is shared by other manufacturers so we were able to download the Intel AMT and MEI (firmware vPro management) drivers from Acer’s site and use them to seat the hardware in the OS.

When some of the laptop components failed to install, we needed to manually run the driver update and change the option from searching only on the local machine to searching Windows Update if drivers were not found locally. When we did that, a number of the exclamation marked devices had their drivers found on WU, downloaded, and installed without a problem.

We are stuck on two components that we will need to wait for Toshiba on:

Hardware ID: TOS6205

And:

Hardware ID: TOS620A

One is a Bluetooth device and the other is the Toshiba shock sensor on the hard drive setup.

Other than those two drivers not being available, the laptop screams!

Having the T9600 at 2.8GHz, 4GB of RAM with 2 by 2GB 800MHz sticks placing the memory subsystem in Dual Channel Mode, and a 250GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive the laptop is fast.

For the price of the Laptop and the time to get things right after installing Windows 7, the setup is well worth the time put in.

We also picked up the extra large 12 cell battery for the unit and it is still kicking along after about 3 hours of battery based usage with 55% battery life remaining.

This is one sweet combination … speed and efficiency will abound with setup! :)

Some of that sweetness has been blogged about here:

• Blog Label Search: Windows 7

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Toshiba Tecra S10 – Virtualization Is Disabled By Default in BIOS

We just received a new Toshiba Tecra S10 laptop that does not even have a product page on Toshiba’s site yet.

The unit is a new model Tecra S10 with a Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz CPU and 4GB of RAM. The principle reason for sourcing this model is the high resolution 1680x1050 LCD along with the extra processing power presented by the Intel C2D T9600.

We will be installing Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on this laptop as we require XP Pro Mode. Toshiba seems to be a bit behind Acer on the architecture front as the Windows Vista on it is x86 (32bit). Acer has started factory shipping all of their laptops with Windows Vista x64 versions which means 64bit Acer drivers are available for their products.

The lack of 64bit drivers for the Tecra may present a bit of a problem with Windows 7 x64. If it does, we will back off and install the x86 version of Windows 7 Ultimate x86.

Since we require XP Pro Mode, we need to verify if the BIOS on this laptop has the Intel VT enabled. The chipset is Centrino 2 vPro (previous blog post on Windows 7 XP Pro Mode and hardware requirements).

To get into the Tecra’s BIOS, we need to do the following:

• Press and hold the ESC key then power up the laptop.
• Press the F1 key when requested to do so.

Once into the BIOS, sure enough the Intel VT setting was Disabled. We also took note that the Trusted Execution Technology was also Disabled. Since both are required, we enabled them.

One other note of interest, both the TPM and Intel’s AMT (vPro) management were disabled in the BIOS out of the box. The TPM is required for BitLocker and BitLocker To Go. Intel’s AMT is required for remote out-of-band management of the laptop. Both will be enabled as well.

Now we’re off to set up a USB flash drive to install Windows 7 (TechNet Magazine article) with.

We use the OCZ ATV Turbo flash drive for all bootable and high data volume usage because time is money and they are soak the USB bus fast!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Win7RC on Tecra S1 Pentium M 1.7GHz 512MB Update

Now that I have had a chance to work with this laptop on a frequent basis I can give a little more accurate of an assessment of Windows 7 Release Candidate’s performance on it.

The unit is configured as follows:

• Toshiba Tecra S1
  • Intel Pentium M 1.7GHz single core no HT
  • 512MB RAM
  • 60GB 5400RPM IDE hard disk.
  • 15” high resolution LCD
  • ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (not WDDM compliant)

The Task Manager looks like this:

While this laptop will not run Windows Vista to give one a reasonable workstation type experience, Windows 7 will at least give decent performance for most tasks.

This is what one can expect to see when there is Outlook, IE8 with a couple of tabs, and a couple of other windows open and trying to open a new tab or initiate a search:

Outlook almost always complains that it is not responding when it is pulled up from being minimized to the tray and asks whether it should be terminated. Ignore these messages and the requested window will eventually respond and show up on the screen.

In the mean time, the hard drive light is pretty much constantly lit with the swap operations.

So, we need at least 1GB of RAM to provide a more seamless window swap when switching between open applications or opening a new application. 2GB of RAM and this laptop would fly. Not much different than our initial experiences with Windows XP when it was released.

For basic use though, this setup is more than enough for browsing and e-mail. It would also make a great inexpensive college computer for a student living on a tight budget.

Going back to Windows Vista after getting more and more comfortable with the Windows 7 SharePoint integration features and Search is quite painful too.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Windows 7 Install on a Toshiba Tecra S1 M1.7GHz 512MB

The laptop in question is one of our shop machines that got shuffled home to be a basic e-mail, web browsing, and occasional Word document machine.

It sits on a pneumatic stool in the corner of the kitchen’s dining area providing some convenience as our office space is in the basement.

The Toshiba Tecra S1 is configured as follows:

• Intel Pentium M 1.7GHz.
• 512MB of dedicated RAM.
• ATI Radeon Mobility 9000.
• 40GB hard drive.
• Intel A/B/G Wireless and 100Mbit LAN.
• Toshiba Part Number: PT831C-67CSU.

This was a Canadian only version that can be difficult to find drivers for at times.

During the initial install after deleting the existing Windows XP Pro partition on the hard drive, Windows 7 wanted to create its own 100MB partition before the system partition we designated.

Note that the 100MB partition is actually set to “Active” in the above screenshot.

Once installed, we needed to manually install the audio, cardbus, SD Card reader, and Intel WiFi drivers.

The ATI driver for the Mobility 9000 would not allow Aero transparency as it was not a WDDM based driver.

 

The above screenshot was produced by one of the new Windows 7 Troubleshooting Packs. In this case, it was the transparency and video problems troubleshooter. Just type “Aero” in the Start Search and the troubleshooter will be one of the top results.

We tried to force a newer ATI Radeon Mobility driver to see if it would pick up. It did not.

So, now that we have the laptop’s setup pretty much complete, we will now see how it handles an Office 2007 install.

The system’s performance is almost on par with the previous XP Pro install. Given that there is only 512MB of RAM in it, we will see if there will be a need to bump it up to 1GB as Monique is the person who will be trained on the use of Windows 7 and its principle user from now on.

If Monique mentions that the laptop has slowed down since the Windows 7 install, then we will upgrade the RAM. Her Windows 7 experience will be a good gauge of how most of our client’s users will adapt to and adopt the new operating system.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Latop will not power up when the power button is pressed

Ever get one of these calls: "Hi, my laptop won't power up. I can't seem to do anything to get it to start".

While it does not happen too frequently, it does happen, and there does not seem to be a limitation to one manufacturer.

The only fix for this problem is to pull the battery and the A/C and leave the laptop sit for about 5 minutes.

After the time period, plug the A/C in only, and press the power button. The laptop fires up with no issues.

Once the machine is up, have the user power it down, then plug the battery back in.

They should be good to go from there.

We have seen Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo (today's call), and others do this.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

System Builder Tip: Boot from USB drive on Toshiba Satellite P100

It seems that the Toshiba Satellite P100 requires a bit of work to boot from a USB flash drive.

Essentially, you do not see a USB option after hitting F12 on the laptop to get the boot options screen.

From Toshiba:

Attach the Bootable USB Memory Stick and Enter the BIOS Menu (2 ways to enter the BIOS Menu)

1. Press and hold F2 immediately after powering on the unit
2. From the Boot Menu highlight "" and press Enter.

- Use the side arrows to select the "Boot" section.
- Expand the HDD title
- Select the "USB Drive" (name may vary) and move it to the top (F5 and F6 Key)
- Exit Saving Changes

From Toshiba's site: How to boot from a bootable USB memory stick on a Satellite P100.

Keep in mind that other models may also require this methodology.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists