ThinkPad SuperGuide

ThinkPad SuperGuide by Arkit3kt

Last Updated: 12/27/2008

Content: IMPORTANT FOR NEW THINKPAD USERS Factory Restore Windows XP Clean Install Windows Vista Clean Install ThinkVantage Programs Battery Maintenance Battery Charge Thresholds Optimize Battery Life Lenovo Hints & Tips Frequently Asked Questions

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Please feel free to post any questions or comments. Thanks for reading.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

 

tabook and its brethren are moving to http://www.lenovo.com/psref/ and
the ftp site at ibm.com will be going away.

Also, since the SL series has their own book, tabook no longer covers all ThinkPads (assuming that one considers the SL series to be a ThinkPad at all).

 

Good to know. Thanks, Nonny.

 

Please note the addendum to my above comment.

 

Excellent work, Arkit3kt! Maybe you might want to add www.thinkwiki.org under External Links/Resources for a) linux installation instructions and b) as another source for general FAQs?

 

Noted.

Added. Can't forget about Linux users.

Thanks, fs005.

 

To get rid of all or most of the bloatware that comes with most new Thinkpads what items can be disabled under MSCONFIG in Startup and what items can be removed to improve performance?

A picture of what can be left checked and what can be unchecked in Startup would be great.

 

Added section for those who want to optimize their battery life.

I would do that, but what is useful to each individual is up to them. There are also many guides out there to optimize their system and each operating system has different services running. For example, Les' Thread.

 

Nice work bro..
How have you been? Get on msn for a little bit if you can.

 

Arkit3kt Thanks for doing this, a great thread for all Thinkpad users.

 

Great Guide.. Thaaaanks!!

 

Thanks a lot for the guide - a nice gesture and definitely nice to have a simpler clean install guide than your original one

 

This is amazing. Thank you for your hard work. This should be a sticky.

 

Thank you, everybody.

Yeah, I tried to make a simpler and less intimidating guide for users. Thank you for noticing.

This will work in junction with the Sticky as soon as I edit it a bit.

 

Wonderful, the Lenovo training site is also integrated!

It´s a christmas present, isn´t it?

 

what does the system interface driver do ?

good work though

 

And now also XP.

http://ilovethinkpad.blogspot.com/2008/11/lenovo-system-interface-driver.html

 

NOW you tell me?

I guess I'll manage with my formatted Vista 64, but I'd love to have seen this earlier on.

But good job - and keep updating.

EDIT: And a question that hasn't been asked frequently, but seems rather important: Is it possible at all to run other graphic drivers than Lenovo's? I've tried the usual ways but without any luck, so if we can just rule it out once and for all, it should be included in the first post.

 

The TPSG has been edited to work with the Sticky. Some categories such as Warranty and Parts Lookup have been moved.

You mean like using GeForce drivers for Quadro cards?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=209796

 

Sort of I guess, but in this instance with the new models such as T400/T500 and their switchable Mobility Radeon 3X50 cards.

 

Hi all,
just a quick question. If i download and install ThinkVantage System update, it will download and install all of my drivers automaticly?

 

It should. But occasionally it hiccups and you need to download some of them manually from this site just enter your Family, Type, Model, and OS.

 

Thanks!

Guess i will have to instll them manually.

 

Does this work for all version of TP?

 

It should, but this guide is more based on when Lenovo took over, which is from the ThinkPad 60 series and up. Any models prior to that, I'm not 100% certain about.

 

The T60, R60, X60 and Z61 were probably the last of the IBM ThinkPads.

 

Arkit3kt why did you remove the links? It was nice to have them all in one place (HMMs, warranty lookup, lenovoservicetraining etc.).

 

Generic information like that can be found in the ThinkPad Sticky. It was better to keep it where it originally was.

 

Is it okay to delete the recovery disk partition once you have a back up or how do you guys deal with it after you have your recovery on cd? thanks

 

Once it's on the disc, it is alright to delete and acquire the extra GB's of HDD space. You can restore to factory state later with the discs.

 

I am a little bit technoloy challenge when it comes to laptop or I am really careful about my laptop. I assume you just right click and delete like any desktop. Thanks

 

No, you'l be able to delete the hidden partition using a partition manager, such as the built-in one one the XP install disc. Basicallly, a partition is a reserved area on your hard disk. Example, you can have a 60GB HDD with two partitions (one hidden). Both those partitions should equal ~60GB, or however much space you have, which is about 93% of the advertisted size,

 

Before I delete or format the partition, anyway I can test if the recovery disk I burn is working? thanks again

 

I believe you can insert the discs and if the software starts, you can cancel.

 

Hi Arki,

Thanks for putting this up. I am new to even reformatting my laptop (x61) and have a question for you - with this way of reformatting, would I lose my hotkey function ability eg fn-f5 for wifi, fn-f8 to switch screens etc?

Thanks!

 

It's a good guide, but I don't see anything about transferring licenses for the clean install.

 

I just got a T500 (running Xp Pro) and am having an annoying issue with the display resolution. I have it set to 1680x1050. When I close the screen lid the display is disabled but switches into a lower resolution. When I open it, it switches back to 1680x1050 but the icons are all misarranged and open windows are smaller, just as they would be if you switched to a low resolution and switched back. I'm running no external monitor and am using no docking station. I have the power settings set to never shut off the screen, to never go into sleep mode when I close the lid, etc.

I read something online about this model having two video adapters, so I thought it may be switching to the other one to conserve power or something like that. But in the ATI "Catalyst Control Center" program it only shows one adapter (HD 3650 DDC Display). Any ideas how I can get it to stop switching to a lower resolution when I close the lid?
Thanks,
MikeSebring

 

Arki and others,

I finally got up the nerves (not being too OS savvy and all) to downgrade my T400 from Vista Home to Windows XP Professional and ran into a few snags. I'm following the super guide, but couldn't find the following drivers for T400:

1. No driver for: Modem (exists for Vista only)
2. No driver found for: System Interface Driver
3. Not sure which Video driver to pick -- choices seem to be: InterVideo WinDVD player update *OR* InterVideo WinDVD software update
4. No driver found for Wireless: Intel WiFi 5100 (exists only for Vista)
5. No Atmel TPM found, but found "Trusted Platform Module (TPM)"--is it the same?
6. The only one for T400, XP Ethernet is: Ethernet-Intel PRO1000 LAN adapter--so I downloaded that.
7. For Bluetooth, T400, XP, I could only find: Bluetooth Enhanced Data Rate software--so downloaded that.
8. For Card Reader, T400, XP, I could only find: Card reader driver (Ricoh 4-in-1)--so downloaded that.

I made a partition of 120/ 32 GB. Working on installing XP on second partition right now.

Help with the above 8 will be very much appreciated! Also, should I just follow prompts to install the drivers--anything tricky I should watch out for?

Thanks,

- I
Product: ThinkPad T400 7417-CTO
Operating system: Windows XP [downgrading from Vista Home]

 

I have T500 drivers, if any of those would work. Probably not.

 

Hm, should all be there. Here you go,

1. http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-70131
2. http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67228
3. Those are software updates. WinDVD is a media program. Which video card do you have? ATI/integrated or just integrated?
4. You might be able to locate the driver via Windows Update.
5. Yes, same thing.
6. Correct.
7. Correct.
8. Correct.

Hope that helps. As long as you follow my guide, everything should be alright.

 

Thanks for the Driver information Arki ... I'll follow up on that in a bit.

I'm afraid I have another questions--about partition (120/32)--when I partitioned, I had to install XP on the first partition and then once it was done, it took me back to select the second partition. Just found out that when I reboot--it prompts me to choose which OS I want (shows 2 XP entries) and says that it'll select the highlighted one in 30 seconds. It's acting sort of like a dual-boot. How could I have avoided that?

Before I start loading the drivers--I'd like to sort this out. Is there any way I could've selected both of the partitions at the same time and loaded XP? Should I re-do the install process again? How can I get rid of this dual-boot like setting?

Again, thanks for your help!

- I

 

Are you looking to create a 32GB OS partition and the 120GB for Data? C: Drive is your OS partition, yes?

I did something similar awhile back and what I did was during the partition setup at the beginning of the Windows installation process (blue screens) was first delete all the partitions. This would create one large unformatted partition. I then, in your case, would allocated 32GB and install XP on that and leave the rest (I assume, 120GB, unformatted). Once you have XP installed, you can go into My Computer and format the previously unformatted 120GB.

Is that what you did?

 

Yes, that's what I did.

AND THEN it asked me if I wanted to install XP in the other partition as well, and I chose to install it. From your post it sounds like I didn't need to install it in the data partition as well, but just needed to format it (didn't see an option to do that, but I wasn't looking).

I will try to go in and delete one of the partitions then and format it without re-installing XP in it. Why didn't you create a partition on your T61?

Thanks!

 

Well, I later changed my mind and made one giant partition (C: drive). It was easier to maintain and I didn't have to redirect all the User folders to the Data partition, but I can see the advantage of having multiple partitions. Oh, plus my HDD is only an advertised 60GB.

 

I have two partitions on all my systems except my Mac. Mainly because I like to keep my data separate from the OS. The biggest benefit for me is when using True Image. You can only restore from another partition.

 

Ugh! No luck. I deleted the data partition and the only way I can format it seems like to re-install XP (that's the only choice it gives on the blue screen -- install or esc). Any ideas?

If nothing works I could do away with partitions I guess. Oh well!

Thanks so much.

 

@Ishy,

Here's another option for you regarding your two partitions.

http://winhowto.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-change-locations-of-program_29.html

I've used the instructions in this link to install Windows (XP) and programs on the C:drive partition and "install" the profiles to the D: partition. First, I used Gparted Live to partition my hard drive (160gb hd, 40gb to windows, balance to Data), then the instructions in the link to point the profiles to the D: partition. I did this a year ago and as of today, it's still in the same state. I also used Arki's detailed clean install instructions at that time.

In order to do this, you'd need to have the two partitions to begin with (you'd probably need to format them with Gparted Live first (or equivalent) since it appears you have XP loaded on both partitions). Then during the XP install (blue screens), you'd choose to load XP on the C: partition. If you follow the instructions in the link, the WINNT.sif file you manipulated would point all profiles to the D: partition. The whole profiles will locate in the D: partition including My Documents and local settings. Basically the entire folder "Documents and Settings" and all it's subfolders would locate in the D: partition. I posted a screenshot of this here. Also, using this method, there was no need to "redirect" any "user" folders. It is all done during the install.

I like having the partitions. Later I added other partitions for Ubuntu and now have a dual boot laptop. When my laptop turns on, I always get the Grub menu asking me if I want to go into XP Pro or Ubuntu. It almost sounds like you have something similar only your two choices are both XP.

 

Thanks thinkpad99. This was very helpful. On my third try, I did a clean install deleted all the partitions again, and was able to load XP in partition D! Thanks for all the help and most importantly moral support!

Here is another snag--from Arki's instructions:Matrix Storage Manager--after config change it's supposed to prompt me for a driver. I changed the SATA config to AHCI (#12 on list) per the instructions, but when XP started, it didn't prompt me for a driver. Should I just move on to the next driver?

THANKS!!

 

I dont have two partitions on my T400, but I just use the ultrabay HD for my data and backups. The two most storage intensive programs are installed there (CS4 and Steam). Everything else fits fine on the main drive, and every week I do an incremental image of the main drive and save it to my desktop.

 

Did you make sure to double click install.cmd in Compatibility mode then once it prompted for a restart, switch to AHCI?