17 replies to this topic

[Varia Titan]

I just bought a laptop from a refurbished computer store. And I had to instal the operating system and everything myself. (At least they gave me the WindowsXP key for when I got it loaded on.) I'm trying to get the driver for the Local Area Connection. (At leat that's what my internet provider said.) He said to take it back to the store and get them to do it,but it's a refurbished store and I don't believe they do that. Is there a way to download the driver myself? I fugured the brillant minds at What the Tech would know. Please help me.

[8210GUY]

Getting the drivers you need is a relatively simple process for most cases, although there are often those awkward ones that seem impossible, but there are a few things we need to do, well get you to do that is, to begin we need to know the system details, so if you have any make\model info that would be great, you've already said your using xp so thats fine.
Now to identify missing drivers click on Start - Control Panel - System (double click) - Hardware (tab at top) - Device Manager (button part way down), this will display a list of hardware, anything that shows with an exclamation mark requires attention, so note what shows and we can get all the drivers you need so your fully functional.

Now I am a little concerned over the licence, was this bought as a working system ready to go ?
I appreciate you say you had to install it, but was it sold as having an operating system ?
You say they gave you a licence, thats fine in itself, BUT, did they give you the sticker ? or is there a sticker on the case already with the licence ?
What I am worried about is that they may of given you an unofficial licence, the licence is the sticker itself, the OS disk is not what you buy, you buy the sticker as thats what gives you legal ownership, I just want to make sure you get a legit OS thats all.

Should you have problems in identifying the hardware inside the system, get and run Everest, it will tell you everything you have in your system, and from that you can go to the makers site of each part that needs a driver and download the latest, you can create a report to post here if you don't understand what you see, BUT, if you do please remove the licence entry BEFORE you post it, just read down the list and you will see it not too far down, just delete that entry so it keeps it private, NO ONE has need of that code as that is yours (assuming it's a legit code), and the last thing you want to do is give that out on the net, hope this helps a bit anyway.

[Varia Titan]

the licence is a sticker on the bottom of the laptop. I'm pretty sure it's legit because it was advertised as no OS but key given to certify it. The sticker itself has windows copyright writing on it and it's green and blue. Here's the ad from the store. "TOSHIBA M3 LAPTOP COMPUTER -14.1" LCD display -Pentium Mobile 1.6GHz Processor -1GB RAM -30GB Hard Drive -CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive -Windows XP Professional COA **NOTES** -Includes Windows XP Professional Certificate of Authenticity (COA) only - operating system not pre-installed -No driver disc included - drivers may be obtained from the manufacturer's website "

[Ztruker]

The drivers are available here: Toshiba Tecra M3

There are 3 pages (1 2 3 at bottom), I think the Lan driver is on page 2. Other stuff is there too, like Audio, Display, Wi-Fi (Wireless), Blue tooth, etc.

Download to a flash drive or CD on another computer then install it on the laptop and that should give you internet access.

[8210GUY]

As long as your system has the sticker you have a legit OS, that was my only concern as some second hand places may not be that scrupulous, so as long as you use the code from that sticker you should be fine, and Ztruker (Thanks) has linked you to the product page so if you check out what your need in the device manager as I described then you can select those items from the downloads to get them all working.

[Varia Titan]

I went to the Toshiba web site,and the link Ztruker gave brought me to "Support Bulletins". I didn't see 3 pages there only 2 and no drivers that I could see. Then I went to the downloads tab and all I could find there was the wireless LAN.(I'm not wireless yet.) I am using a router cable for now and my internet provider said to download Local Area Connection (is that differant than LAN?) This is too much for my little head,and frankly..I'm getting a head ache. I want to take my sexy new laptop for a spin on the web. She's allot faster than my clunker that I'm banging on now.LOL

[8210GUY]

Yes this can seem very overwhelming to begin with, but once you get to grips with it you'll be amazed how easy it can be, but yes often there are numerous drivers for the same thing, sometimes because makers use different parts at different stages of building that model range, other times they leave the older drivers when they add the new updated drivers, this is probably for users who need an older driver for some technical reason, so when looking down the driver list you need to note 2 things, 1st make sure you get the driver for YOUR make\model, and 2nd check the dates and select the newest one.

Here is the driver page for your LAN, which is quite simply your Ethernet port(s), but it is one of those sites where links may not come across correctly, should this happen to you do as you did, select the driver tab, then use the drop down boxes to select your operating system, then the other box to select whatever driver you want, in this case LAN, then it will short list the findings for that set up, in this case it lists 6 options, but the only non Wi-Fi driver is the Marvell one (3rd one down the list), so that is the one you need given it's the only option.

Note:- make sure you have the latest service pack installed (sp3) and select xp with sp2\3 as your OS, not plain xp or it will only show you 3 drivers all of which are wireless IIRC.
Don't forget to check in your device manager as I said above, identify any exclamation marks and note what they are against, then repeat this mini guide for the drop down boxes to select the next driver you may require, hope that makes things a bit easier.

*Edit
OK you will have to navigate to the page the way I described, looks like the pages are flash based which makes copying an exact page link impossible, it simply takes you to the host page each time then you have to navigate the the actual page you need, so if you use the drop down boxes as I instructed you should easily find what you need.

Edited by 8210GUY, 21 October 2009 - 10:36 AM.

[Varia Titan]

OK..thanks so much. I got it going now. I need to get a few more drivers. How do I do that? For sound,video controller(VGA comp.) ect. Please help.

[Ztruker]

If you click on the link I posted, it takes you here:



All your drivers are on those 3 pages.

[Varia Titan]

Thanx,Ztruker ! When I go to the device manager there is 3 question marks when there used to be 6. I'm having problems with the last 3. 2 are "unknown" and the other is something called a "network controller". You've been a life saver. Please help me again.

[8210GUY]

To get the other drivers just repeat the procedure I laid out above, only this time instead of selecting LAN, select the other drivers 1 at a time, that way you'll know what driver your looking at, but again there may be numerous entry's for each type, so look in the device manager for clues that may help you select the right one, as to the unknown devices, tell us whats listed and we can try and figure them out, the networking device will possibly be for Wi-Fi, or maybe bluetooth, both have components under this area, so try those and one of them should sort that entry. If your still stuck after this then it may be worth you attaching the Everest log, then we can link to the latest drivers (the makers are listing dated ones), but as explained above if you do this make sure you delete the licence\key from the report before you attach it.

[Varia Titan]

Thanx to the link you gave me...I have fixed 4 0ut of 7 problems.(Acording to the Device Manager) Now I have sound and everything! The Device Manager says I need a Network Controller and the other two are marked "unknown" Please help me. Thanx again 8210GUY!

[8210GUY]

As I said above the network controller is probably the Wi-Fi or the bluetooth, but I do recall other utility's being listed under the LAN driver as well, you may need to install one or more of these as well, best advice I can give without deeper info is to go and get, then install ALL the drivers listed for the system, logically at least one of them is still not installed hence your outstanding items, so what I would do is start at the top of the list, and go down it 1 at a time installing as you go, sooner or later you will hit the missing items. A point to note when doing this, you "may" come across messages saying your trying to install an older driver than is already installed, and it will ask if you want to continue, should this happen say No, then exit and delete the file then move on to the next one. The reason this may happen is because xp has drivers inbuilt, it can also include driver updates within the windows updates, so the system may well have already done numerous items for you, this is not a problem, just continue to the next item until you get to the end of the list, but with this you at least have some understanding when you see such a message, should you still be stuck, or feel this is more than you can deal with, let us know, then we will get you to post the Everest report (minus your key) then we can link to specific drivers for you, hope this helps.

[Varia Titan]

I will try downloading all the drivers available. Thank you for wonderful advice. I'll let you know if I solve the problems or not.

[Varia Titan]

OK..that network controller was the wireless driver. Didn't even know I had that. Now,the unidentified ones are leaft. There's no clues of what it is..just numbers and there are two of them. Going to keep trying to figure it out. Also..when I start the computer,it says an error message, that there is a duplicate on the network. What's that about? Thanks again.