Clean Install Guide (works for 32-bit or 64-bit)

Thank you!

I think some of the Advantage are useful. Like power management, hard drive protection.

 

Does anyone know how long it takes for the Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD to arrive from Microsoft? I placed an order about two weeks ago. I can't wait to get it so I can do a clean install.

 

I have to say thanks to Stallen for a very detailed guide!

Only thing is I'm still tempted to install the NVidia driver on Windows Update page as well as some of the thinkvantage software however (ie. Productivity Centre, Help, Power Tools)

 

any way to turn on the bluetooth radio WITHOUT installing "access connections"?

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the clear guide and the clean install. As a newbie it was great to be able to make my R61 feel like my own without having to worry about making permanent mistakes. Anyone on the fence about the clean install should seriously consider it.

As an aside question: I was looking at my girlfriend's t42 and noticed what I'm assuming is the Active Protection icon (an HD "button" with either a green "play" triangle or a yellow "pause" sign). Every time I would move the computer even a little, the green triangle would revert to the yellow pause, indicating that it was putting the HD in idle (?). My question is, not having the Active Protection software installed, do I need to be worried about moving the laptop when it's operating? And, what kinds of movements (bumps, etc) are potentially harmful to the HD?

Thanks again!

 

I wouldn't install that windows update driver. There have been a few reports of problems after letting windows update install that driver. I would stick with the driver from lenovo. If you are not getting the results you want from that driver you should consider trying some of the video drivers from laptopvideo2go.com These drivers are trial and error. Some of them will be great others will improve performance. There are a lot of people who try these out. I would search the threads to find which driver is the most popular and go with that. These are modified drivers. You have to download the driver and a modified inf file. You will replace the original inf file with the modified inf to make it compatible for your video card. It is the modified inf file that makes these drivers work for virtually any nvidia card.

 

You will get quite a few mixed opinions about thinkvantage active protection. My opinion is to stay away from that utility. There have been reports of BSODs and system freezes that want away after disabling active protection. I personally don't use it. I carry my laptop around while it is running. However, I carry my laptop around like it's my baby. I know when I'm carrying it to be careful not to drop it. Normal mvoment while walking or changing position while you are sitting with it on your lap is fine. It's the sudden jarring that should be avoided.

Lenovo has really used this active protection as a marketing ploy. "Airbag" protection they call it. All it does it pause the hard drive during movement. Most of the time it does so unnecessarily. There is a way to decrease the sensitivity. If you must install it, you should at least turn the sensitivity way down. This could be hard on your hard drive to be constantly pausing... running... pausing... running. I think active protection might provide some some small level of protection (to the hard drive only) if the laptop is dropped from less than about 3-4 ft. Anything greater than that... say your prayers.

Someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I don't think any of the other manufactures use this type of a utility. Lenovo has been using it for years. It's nothing new. I'm sure that if it was "all that". The other manufacturers could have done a little reverse engineering and come out with there own version. I'm sure someone else out there has something similar, but in general you want find many experienced "power users" wanting this option.

Again, these are just my opinions. I'm not pretending to be an authority on the subject.

 

That bluetooth business really has me stumped. I've had two T61's. One of them I was able to turn it on by pressing fn+f5. The other I had to install access connection before fn+f5 would work. Then I uninstalled access connections after I turned it on. And, was able to continue using fn+f5 after access connections was removed.

My adive to to make sure you have the • Hotkey Driver and • System Interface Driver installed. Then try FN+F5 again. otherwise, what I've got int the guide is all I can offer you:

"Bluetooth Driver Install Tips: Before installing the Driver, press Fn and F5 at the same time. You should see an on-screen display that allows you to turn "on" Bluetooth. Now install the driver. If Fn + F5 does not work to turn on bluetooth then install ThinkVantage Access Connections. After Access Connections has been installed you should be able to turn "on" Bluetooth and install the Bluetooth driver. After the bluetooth driver is installed, you can uninstall ThinkVantage Access Connections from the control panel."

There was one other user that said they had to instll productivity center before they could turn it on. I've never had to install that myself.

 

I'm not sure. I use to have people order it from CompUSA but they went out of business or quit selling it or something.

I haven't heard how long it takes from Microsoft. Please let us know when you get it.

 

got it working without access connections. x61 tablet with the hotkey driver. thanks!

anyone get the screen autorotate function to work in a clean install of vista on an x61 tablet?

 

can somone point me to the right place to look for instructions on how to do a clean Vista 32 bit install on my x61?

I don't have a CD drive I can boot from. I do have an external USB drive.

I am not a computer expert, but i do have a good brain and I can follow instructions.

thanks

 

I think you are going to need to get an external USB CD/DVD drive. Then you will be able to follow Stallen's guide I believe.
Tim

 

This guide might help you:
http://www.otgnet.com/Content/Default.aspx?Cat=all,Title=3764

 

Great, I just placed an order on that Anytime Upgrade Disc from the link provided, and they said please try again later but they preauthorized (I hope its a preauthorization) my card for the $9.00

 

Looking for that driver too.. anybody got any suggestions for the x61t?

 

I just want to thank stallen for this well done guide. I used a week ago and now my R61i is running so much faster.

 

Did you remember to add to his reputation?

 

How do you do that?

 

I ordered the Vista Anytime Upgrade DVDs (both 32-bit and 64-bit) from Microsoft on 12/26/2007 following the link on Page 1 of this thread. I received both discs in the mail today, 01/15/2008.

When I get a chance I'll give the clean install a try and report back the results. Thanks for the guide.

 

Of course. Already did that.

 

Click on the little scale icon underneath his name in his post on the left hand side.
Tim

 

See my sig

 

You should have all of your drivers in the swtools folder that you backed up in step 1. I'm not all that familiar with the x61 but if a driver is all you need to get autorotate to work properly then that is where you can find it.

Nice link! I think I'm going to fix up a USB drive.

Thanks for the positive feedback. Also, if you haven't already done so, please click in the upper right corner and rate this thread as "excellent". If you do not beleive this thread deserves that rating please give me some more feedback as to how it can be improved.... Just a few more "excellent" ratings should bump it up to 5 stars. Thanks!

Thanks for getting back with this information. So there you have it folks. It sounds like you should allow 3 weeks for your anytime upgrade disk to arrive from microsoft. Since that was during the busy holiday season, maybe it will be more like 2 weeks.

 

During installation when you are asked to select the edition of Vista that you purchased, what's the difference between Windows Vista BUSINESS (no N) and Windows Vista BUSINESSN (with N at the end) and HOMEBASIC and HOMEBASICN? Are these difference versions or something? Why are these included, there must be a reason, no?

 

The "N" versions are part of the European settlement where Microsoft has to offer a version that does not contain media player.

 

I some times got freeze and blue screen at start up after 64 bit clean install. I don't know the reason, maybe we need to install: Lenovo's "intel turbo memory" driver instead of download from intel directly?

 

"We"? I used the driver from Intel because it is "INTEL Turbo Memory". I haven't had any trouble with BSOD or freezes. I think most of the people that used the clean install guide also used the Intel driver. The only difference between the Intel one and the Lenovo one is that Lenovo's is an older driver.

These are some things you can try:

-Make sure that you followed the tip at the bottom of the guide called "bug fix".
-Run memtest86+ (information in the F.A.Q. at the bottom of the guide). -Look in the device manager to make sure you don't have any missing drivers. -Lou may want to consider upgrading the BIOS using the bootable disk method. If you do upgrade the BIOS make sure to read the readme txt and install the recommended microsoft KB 937500 patch before the BIOS upgrade.
-If you are getting BSODs you should have event log information that will tell you what the problem is. You can google the error information to find a solution.

 

I did this with my X61, and then installed some additional programs (aim, firefox, antivirus) and now it takes over 2 minutes to boot... any reason for this? I'm really confused why it takes so long, considering when it was factory settings it took less than that. I have vista business if that matters any, please give me some suggestions. Thanks!

 

What AV are you using and also, AIM6 takes a while to load up. Let us know what setup you have as to why you have a longer boot-up.

For me I use my GMAIL for my AIM convo's...and Avast for my AV protection...

 

That sounds strange. My boot time is about 50 seconds. I have LOTS of applications installed. The thinkvatage utility called Client Security Solutions is the biggest culprit of slowing things down. Other than that, you should look in the device manager to see if you missed any drivers. How much RAM do you have? Regardless, you shouldn't have a slower boot time than you did with the factory bloatware install. That just doesn't make sense. It's impossible for bloatware to cause improved boot times. So this leads me to believe that something was missed during the clean install process.

 

^^^ Yeah, what he said... you could try uninstalling those applications one at a time with a few reboots in between. This could rule out if one of those applications is the culprit.

 

Will a memory stick pro duo or a SD work instead of a USB flash drive when using ABR?

 

Perhaps Orev (author of ABR utility) will answer that for sure, but I'm 99.99% sure it will work just fine. A memory stick or SD card will read and write data in the manner as a USB card.

I think CD/DVDs don't work because there is a different method writing/"burning" to disk that the ABR utility doesn't do.

 

im using sophos AV, i think theres actually a problem with my login process. maybe its because i changed it admin status to act like how it does on windows xp

 

Thanks for the guide, Stallen

I read the entire first post as instructed but am a little bit hazy on my specific situation...

Basically, do I understand correctly that my key from a retail 32-bit version will work with a 64-bit "anytime upgrade" installation?

Specifically, here is my situation:
My X61s came pre-installed with Vista Home Basic.
I have a retail version of Vista Home Premium UPGRADE 32-bit.

If I obtain a 64-bit "anytime upgrade" DVD, will the following work?
1. Clean install 64-bit Home Premium - do not input a key
2. Do an "upgrade" to 64-bit Home Premium - input my 32-bit retail "upgrade" key

 

Yes, that is correct. If there is anyway I can make this more clear in the guide please let me know. I frequently get this question, but it is addressed in the beginning of the guide:

and the frequently asked questions at the bottom of the guide:

I just don't know how to make it any more clear I don't want to sound impatient, but I don't understand why people ask this question.

I only know for sure (that in your case) you can go from 32-bit Vista home basic to 64-bit Vista home basic using this guide and the ABR utility.

If you want to upgrade to 64-bit Home Premium, I think you should be able to use the 64-bit Anytime Upgrade disk -> select Home Premium during the install process, and enter your Home Premium Product Key during the install process. The ABR utility won't work to activate. You'll have to call microsoft to get activated. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work. I just can't make promises since I haven't done it myself.

If you try that, just make sure to back-up your current home basic activation using the ABR utility. So if it doesn't work out you can re-install home basic.

Good Luck, please report back your experience.

 

Thanks for your reply Stallen And sorry for making you repeat yourself...

The only point of confusion for me was that the guide specifically mentions "factory installations" and "OEM disks" but does not mention retail disks/keys, which left me unsure if my retail key (which is 32-bit) would work with a 64-bit "anytime upgrade" disk. I guess maybe I should have just made the assumptions...

FWIW, if I were to re-word it, here's how I'd put it:

"Any 32-bit key is also a 64-bit key (and vice-versa), regardless of whether the key is sourced from a factory installation, an OEM disk, or a retail disk"

Anyway, I guess your guide is actually meant for changing factory installations to 64-bit, not for people like me using retail upgrade disks.

Your guide was crystal clear for me to understand that I can change my factory 32-bit home basic pre-install to 64-bit home basic. But of course, since I have an upgrade home premium disk, I'd like to use it, ideally as a 64-bit install.

 

Yes, it should work just fine. The requirement is that the tools are located on something that is writable. Some people were initially trying to burn it to CD then run from there, and of course it cannot save the data to the CD. That is why that warning is there.

 

I know that to be true for the factory install key code. I don't know for sure that a retail or OEM key code is the same between 32-bit and 64-bit. My gut says that they are the same also. Hopefully someone will chime in and give some first hand experience. If you try it, please come back and let us know.

Thanks for your response.

 

Used your guide to do a clean install of Vista Business on my new Z61t. Took forever, but I ended up with a squeaking clean base install that I imaged using Acronis 11. Thanks!!!!

GP

 

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I wouldn't want to do a full clean install any more often than necessary. Using Complete PC Backup and Recovery, Ghost, or Acronis to make an image is the way to go!

 

I'd guess that the key is the same for retail versions between 32/64 also but I won't know for sure until I try it out.

I am planning on waiting a few weeks (?) until SP1 is released and integrated into the "anytime upgrade" DVD and then try it out. I'll post here to notify if it worked or not.

 

Do you know that they will be integrating SP1 into the anytime disk right away? (source?)

My guess is it could take awhile since SP1 can be installed via windows updates, but that's just a guess. I'm hoping that vlite will be updated to slipstream SP1.

 

Paul Thurrott's site claims that new versions of Vista will ship with SP1 integrated: LINK - (go to "Deploying Windows Vista SP1")

The above source also explains that SP1 will have an official offline updater (slipstream utility) although it will be about 1GB in size. So it is safe to assume that vlite will eventually incorporate the ability to slipstream SP1, although it sounds like it may be a hassle.

On second thought, I've started to download a "anytime upgrade" 64-bit DVD and will try to use my legitimate key with it and hopefully it works since the key is from my 32-bit retail DVD. I'll just install SP1 as an update instead of waiting for a slipstreamed version.

 

What driver is this? Intel PRO/Wireless 2200bg, 2915abg, 3945bg, 3945abg, 4965ag, 4965agn Mini PCI adapter?

 

Yep. Bought a new WD Scorpio 250GB drive. Installed the new drive and had the Acronis image loaded and running on the new drive in less than 15 minutes.

 

Wait...you so you can take an image of an old HDD and put it onto a new one?

Wouldn't this allow the installation of the image on multiple HDD's? Or would there be activation issues.

 

Well, there are three options:

1. ThinkPad 802.11a/b/g/n, 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter

2. IBM 802.11a/b/g, 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter

3. Intel PRO/Wireless 2200bg, 2915abg, 3945bg, 3945abg, 4965ag, 4965agn Mini PCI adapter

You need to know what hardware you have to install the correct driver.

All three of those options are a lot of clutter for the guide, that's why I just put wifi. Perhaps I will change it to say "wireless adapter driver" but I think most people get the picture.

Basically, there is a driver for every hardware device in your computer. All of the drivers are listed on the matrix and drivers page. You have to install all drivers that pertain to your specific laptop. I don't have all the drivers listed. For example, wireless usb driver isn't listed. Most people don't have wireless USB, but if you managed to get one, you should install that driver to have functionality of that device.

 

Yes, no problem taking an image from an 80 GB drive and installing it on a larger or smaller drive. There are NO activation issues. If the OS was activated before the image was made, it will be activated on the new drive after copying. Acronis works REALLY well. On every machine I own, I have a "clean" activated image. Once I start to see a performance degradation, I will reload my clean image and start new. I must say with Vista, this "cleanliness" seems to last longer. Also with Vista, it is very easy to move your personal data folders to another drive, so I partitioned my new drive and all my data is on the new partition. When I image my clean install back, all my data is still on the second partition and the Vista installation knows where my personal forlders are. I've been using Vista on a desktop since is was Beta 1,but when Vista first was released comercially, I tried it on my T60p. Due to driver issues, the laptop was really not very functional and I quickly reverted back to XP. In the past year, Vista has matured to the point that I feel it has definite advantages over XP and this machine will never see XP again.

Acronis is such a great product that I actually keep buying the newest version available as soon as it is released (since version 8). I can't say that about any other software I Use.

Also, I really like the Z61t. Great compromise in size and functionality. GP

 

I personally haven't had any experience with Acronis. I'm guessing that it is superior to the built-in back-up and restore utility that is available only on Vista Buisiness and Ultimate editions (called "Complete PC Back-up and Recovery"). So far everything that you've mentioned can be done with "Complete PC..."

Have you personally had any experience with Complete PC? I'd like to hear why it might be a superior utility (or not).