Setup: T430s with Windows Server 2008 R2

** Mod: If appropriate, please move this to the existing thread for T430s Owners. I created a new one because of the Win2K8 setup **

Received my new T430s yesterday evening.
Below is what I did to get it up and running with the setup I wanted.

Initial Configuration: Win 7 x64 Pro, 4GB RAM, 500GB Drive, Intel 6300 agn, BT 4.0, Fingerprint

Final Configuration: Windows Server 2008 R2, 8GB RAM, OS on mSATA, 500G drive for data,

Used For: Office, MATLAB, VS 2010 WinForms/Web Apps Development, scientific computing codes.


1. OPENING

Cold boot, Windows base setup, ran WEI. Then temperatures (Rosewill Laser spot Temperature sensor) were as follows:

Palm rest, vertical center of touch pad, 1 inch away on both sides Left- 84F, Right- 83.5

On the panel, Just above the hinge:
L: 94, R: 93.5
Ambient was 79.5F.


WEI: 5.0, Low: Graphics 5.0, High: CPU 7.2


"Screen door" issue is almost non-existent. It was very pronounced on the T420s.
The screen quality is not that great. Looking at the Windows desktop backgrounds (Landscapes theme), on Dell U2412M, T420s and T430s, the ones on T430s appeared more washed out.


2. HARDWARE UPDATES

Added Memory, 8 GB (corsair Vengeance 2x 4GB CMSX8GX3M2A1600C9) and MyDigitalSSD Smart mSATA SSD 128GB, SATA III.
One screw was included with the mSATA, but there was also a screw in the empty slot.
(This was good, because I was worried about Lenovo not including the screw. Getting metric screws can be time consuming)

Recognized memory, recognized mSATA as ADATA SX300 (re-branding?)

New WEI: 5.0, Low - 5.0 Graphics, High - 7.5 Memory

3. IMPORTANT: Copy the SWTOOLS to a Flash drive or other external media for later use.

4. Make Recovery Disks - Needs 4 DVDs

5. Clean Install of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

Change boot order: mSATA should be before primary bay HDD.
Started Windows Server 2008 R2 Installation
Delete all partitions on all drives.

Copying files was almost instantaneous, Expanding takes a while to reach 1%, but then it was very fast.

Driver Install Order, most of them are from SWTOOLS\Drivers folder.

a. IntelINF
b. SATA driver, Intel RST
c. Enable Features - .NET FX, Desktop Experience, WLAN Service, XPS Viewer, Biometric Framework
d. Video Driver, installs both Video and HD Audio
e. WLAN
f. UNAV
g. CAmera
h. Change computer name, performance settings to Foreground, Set fixed Page File size

i. Install (by using Browse my Computer for Driver SW option for each device with Yellow Triangle) - Monitor, Ethernet, USB 3.0, Base Controller (Ricoh Card Reader), PCI Communications Controller (Intel AMT), PCI Serial Port (AMT SOL), ThinkPAD PM Device, USB 3.0 root hub

At this point only 2 devices should remain, Bluetooth and Biometric Co processor.
Install utilities (rar, Firefox)

j. For Biometric Co-processor device - get this file 83F807WW.zip, posted by one of the users (Lenovo Staff) on the Lenovo Forum.

k. Enable services: Themes, Audio

l. Perform Full Microsoft/Windows Update


** While the Windows Update was going on (92 out of 117), I checked temperatures and fan noise.
Palm rest: L : 87F, R: 85F
Panel, above hinge: L 93F, R: 93.5.
Ambient: 80.5F
Bottom, average of 5 locations was 94.6F

Even though the fan was running, noise was not noticeable at all. I went thru same setup for T420s and I could literally hear the fan.

After Windows Update, during the Configuring step, there was an Error
Ordinal 318 not foun in XXX.dll, LogonUI.dll.
Then Windows restarted automatically and everything was fine.

Installed Hotkey features from SWTOOLS\Drivers


6. Some BENCHMARKS


Boot: Time to Finger Print Logon: 19.7s, Usable Desktop after finger swipe: 24.5 sec
It does take some time to swipe



When I tried to run CDM on SSD via USB 3.0, the speeds were USB 2.0 only. Turns out, the USB 3.0 mode in BIOS needs to be "Enabled", as opposed to "Auto".
I also installed RapidBoot Shield, but found that finger print Logon screen got stuck at Please Wait for much longer (15 sec), so I removed it.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
** mSATA Drive MyDigitalSSD Smart Series 128GB **
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 261.817 MB/s
Sequential Write : 194.433 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 247.956 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 195.817 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 26.879 MB/s [ 6562.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 70.891 MB/s [ 17307.4 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 124.383 MB/s [ 30367.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 179.640 MB/s [ 43857.4 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 17.5% (20.9/119.1 GB)] (x5)
______________________________________________________________________



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
** SATA Hitachi 500GB 7200 RPM Drive, 7mm, Primary Bay
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 127.440 MB/s
Sequential Write : 126.411 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 40.860 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 49.229 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.531 MB/s [ 129.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.668 MB/s [ 163.1 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 1.110 MB/s [ 271.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.903 MB/s [ 220.4 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [F: 0.0% (0.1/465.8 GB)] (x5)
_______________________________________________________________________



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
** SATA II WD 750GB 2.5" Drive in Ultrabay
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 126.167 MB/s
Sequential Write : 125.054 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 48.893 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 71.237 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.689 MB/s [ 168.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 1.290 MB/s [ 315.0 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 1.649 MB/s [ 402.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 1.394 MB/s [ 340.3 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [D: 73.2% (70.4/96.1 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2012/06/20 8:37:53
OS : Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Standard Edition (full installation) [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)
___________________________________________________________________________



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo

** Kingston 96GB SATA II SSD in USB 3.0 Enclosure, connected to USB 3.0 port.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 170.778 MB/s
Sequential Write : 166.256 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 157.459 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 153.408 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 15.648 MB/s [ 3820.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 26.476 MB/s [ 6463.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 16.530 MB/s [ 4035.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 31.150 MB/s [ 7604.9 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [G: 44.4% (39.7/89.4 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2012/06/20 9:20:30
OS : Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Standard Edition (full installation) [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)
__________________________________________________________________________

 

Great info. Thanks!

 

Did you manage to get Lenovo power manager fully working? Mine (v. 6.07) works in general (it's needed to change battery charging thresholds), but can't switch between profiles.

 

I am using same setup on my T420s and in due course, I found that the Lenovo Power Manager does not offer anything better (except Battery stats) than the Built-In Power Manager.
So on the T430s I didnt bother to install it at all.
Now that you mentioned, I will try it out and see if it works fine.