To do list for dummies (unpacking T500)?

I ordered a T500 (T9400/3G/Vista Business) a week ago on 11/05 and expected it to be delivered by next weekend because the ESD was 11/17. Unexpectedly, I received an email last night that it had been shipped already. Checking the UPS website, I found that the delivery date is today; it appears that it came all the way from Hong Kong via Anchorage, Ontario (CA), etc.

I am all exited by everything. However, I am at a loss as to how to unpack and things like that. Can anyone point out to me the links on (1) how to create restore disks, (2) how to tweak the Vista Business (clean install is out of question), and tips on getting started? By the way, I was wondering a new T500 came with anti-virus software installed?

This will be my first laptop, and I’ve never dealt with installing software before. So, any tip/suggestion will be greatly appreciated since the laptop will be at my door in a couple of hours.

 

I guess as a recommendations:
1. Unpack carefully everything, make sure the laptop does not fall when getting it out of the box.
2. To create Recovery Media just go to Thinkvantage -> Create Recovery Media. Option at the bottom create the DVD-CD's needed to restore your Thinkpad, the option above gives you a bootable CD to a Windows like interface I think.
3. I'm sure you can do a search here on the forums to an optimization guide for Vista, in my case I simply found out Vista was too slugish so I clean-installed XP, but that is out of question for you.
4. Yes, I think your laptop would come with a Trial version of Norton Internet Security, a big memory resources hog IMO.

Other than that enjoy unpacking your Thinkpad and possibly posting for us some pics, Thinkpads are sexy as hell.

Good luck.

 

Don't use a big old sharp knife to open the carton! Otherwise open it and kiss it, and then prostrate in front of it a few times. Now you're ready for fiddling.

 

Oh. Say a prayer to the Thinkpad gods, and pray your future isn't cursed with a lemon of a machine.

 

1) Unpack carefully, take pictures for future reference if you want.

2) Create recovery media either by t30powers method, or by double clicking on the Q: partition in 'My Computer'. You will need 1 CD (boot) and 2 DVD (image) for this task. At the end you will be asked if you want to reclaim the space on your hard drive. You can save about 10GB this way, but recovery from the optical discs will take much longer than recovery from the hard drive if you mess anything up in the future, so weigh your needs for space against an easy recovery solution.

3) You should also burn a DVD with the C:\SWTools folder on it. This includes the installers for all your device drivers, apps, and ThinkVantage utilities.

4) Vista will run pretty well on a new Thinkpad without much tweaking. I would recommend that you just leave indexing, Superfetch, windows defender, the registry, et. al. alone unless you are sure what you are doing. You may want to turn off UAC though, as it can be rather bothersome.

5) There are several 3rd party apps that come with the Thinkpad, however, many of them are not currently installed. Instead you have installers for Symantec Antivirus, and Office 2007 (both 60 day trials) as well as reduced versions of Intervideo WinDVD and others. Most of these are available in the C:\swtools\apps folder.

6) Familiarize yourself with the Thinkvantage tools. Part of the reason people buy Thinkpads is this suite. Some people think they are just replacements for built in Windows tools, but I find them to be far superior and more flexible. You will definitely want to thoroughly investigate power manager, access connections, and presentation director. Use the Blue ThinkVantage button to "Access on system help" to read up on these tools.

7) I would advise setting a custom battery threshold using the power management tool. This will help your battery hold its maximum charge potential for a longer time and make it more useful in the 2nd/3rd year of ownership. If you use your laptop frequently on both battery and AC, then a conservative threshold of start charging at 60% and stop at 95% is advised. This gives me adequate battery life at a moments notice, and substantially reduces the number of times your battery is cycled. Alternatively, if you are plugged in most of the time, a much lower threshold, 30% start and 50% stop is advisable. You can manually change this about 2 hours before you unplug to top your battery off.

8) Explore your laptop's functions, take it everywhere, and enjoy.

 

Just got a new laptop today too, and was wondering how you set the threshold? This is my first round of experience with Vista on the ownership end, and am not familiar with this option/setting.

 

Your recommendations are most appreciated!

My T500 arrived! Believe it or not, it took less than 7 “full” days from ordering to receiving the laptop. Lenovo ROCKS! The only problem is that I’ve got tons of things to take care of before enjoying the laptop, but I am rather totally unprepared..

Will you please elaborate the followings:

1. How to double click on the Q: partition in 'My Computer'
2. How to burn a DVD with the C:\SWTools folder; and
3. How to set a custom battery threshold using the power management tool.

I know I sound too stupid, but don’t want to feel sorry later.

One more thing, the packing list includes “2 TrackPoint Caps” but not in my package. What are they, anyway? Do I need them at all?

Michael

 

Thanks a Million!

I did NOT use a big old Sharp knife to open the carton; I used a Leatherman instead. I completely forgot about kissing it, though. That is I was so stunned by the beauty of its look that I forgot about receiving it in a proper manner.

Michael

 

Make the recovery discs. If you are using Vista, just click the start orb (bottom left), mouse over computer (center right), and in this case single click on drive Q:. You will be prompted to make the recovery disks when you do this.

Burn SWTools. Vista includes a CD/DVD buring app but it is somewhat basic. You can select the folder on your C drive (same method as above to open C:, click the warning about showing files if it appears). Then select the SWTools folder, and click "Burn to CD/DVD" on the menu in the folder windows. Alternatively you can use a program like Nero or Roxio to burn a CD/DVD, but these are not free.

Battery charge thresholds, this is a ThinkPad specific trick and may not be possible on other brands. Right click on the green battery icon on your tray (bottom right). Left click on "launch power manager". Switch to advanced (top right). Go to the battery tab. Select battery maintenance. Specify a custom threshold (I use 60%/95%). You may also want to customize actions for closing the lid, power button, shutdown icon in start menu, etc. using this tool (adjust by power plan, or use Global settings to change all of them).

Your system should have come with two spare trackpoint caps (the red nub between GHB on the keyboard). They are very small and may be in a tiny plastic bag with the manual. The soft dome (convex) was most likely installed at the factory. You should also have been given a soft rim (concave) and a classic dome (sandpaper texture). Soft dome is the new standard, but I don't like it. Classic dome provides the best traction/precision, but it can be fatiguing. I currently use the soft rim because it is very easy on your fingers (no callus required).

You should also adjust trackpoint sensitivity (Fn+F8), TrackPoint tab. I use the second lightest touch option and a mid speed pointer (pointer options). This gives me tremendous speed and control with the TrackPoint. Classic scrolling is also recommend (much faster/more natural than "smooth scrolling). The T500 comes with an UltraNav (TrackPoint/Touchpad), but you should really try and use just the TrackPoint for a week. It is the best pointing device ever invented, and is far faster/more precise than a touchpad. It may take some time to get adjusted, but once you do, you will love it.

 

I forgot to mention that I have 64G SSD on my T500. Will the recovery disc option be different with the SSD?

Thank you so much again for your detailed guideline! I am anxious to get started.

Michael

 

Unlikely, although if you have a 64GB SSD you definitely want to recover that drive space. 64GB is relatively small, especially considering how bulky Vista is.

 

Another stupid question!

I haven't been able to find Secrity key for my network connection at home. I am stuck, going nowhere.

My son set the modem and router for family home WLAN years ago. I will not be able to reach him a few days. There is another notebook sitting in a kitchen somewhere; it has wireless connection thru home network. Is there a way to to retrive the Security Key from this laptop somehow?

Michael

 

Why is a clean install out of the question? If you follow the guide, it's practically impossible to mess up. Vista is already slow enough as it is---using the copy with the OEM bloatware preinstalled is just going to make it much worse.

Though personally I would have use XP, I hear that some features are not supported on it, which may be important to you.

 

That depends on the laptop and OS. I will assume it is an XP notebook. Go to start, control panel, network connections, wireless connection 1 (or similar). You will then need to go into advanced and look around under encryption keys (most likely WEP, 128, open). If you are lucky the key will be displayed in plain text, however it could very easily be blocked out (· or * in place of text).

If that doesn't work you can try and log in to the router (usually 192.168.0.1, admin for user, and no password [although your son may have changed these, I know I did]). Alternatively, you can break WEP by brute force pretty easily with modern hardware, although this is something I will leave you to investigate. It will probably just be easier to wait a day or two until you can talk to him.

 

A clean install takes time, he claims this is his first laptop, getting all the right drivers is difficult, some of the OEM tools have value, and I have read that clean installs are about 1 or 2 watts worse on battery life than the factory install. Additionally, it is difficult to procure Vista install discs (they are not distributed with Thinkpads), this was doubly complicated in my case because I want a 64 bit OS. There is nothing inherently wrong with the default install, it has some bloat, but far less than Dell/HP.

 

I am getting this message:

“Connection unsuccessful. This computer is connected to XXX Family WLAN but does not have access to the internet. – This might be caused by an incorrect WEP key or low wireless signal strength.”

What should I do now, please?

Michael

 

Were you able to find the WEP key?

If so, make sure you have it configured properly. WEP can be either 64 or 128 bits, open or shared, and hidden or broadcasting. You need to set this up the same on both the computer and router (I am not sure how your particular system is set up).

 

Disable WEP and make sure you can connect. Then enable it again, although WEP is not recommended these days. Do a search on Google on how best to secure your wifi connection.

 

I managed to setup the Internet connection OK.

To make a long story short, I got hold of my son at last. As you imagine, I tried all the possible user name and password combinations on my own, every family members’ date of birth, phone number, etc. It turned out that my son didn’t set the password. So I needed to use “Admin” as user name to get to the wireless setup page on the laptop and get the WEP Key. Anyway, it has been a great learning experience.

If anyone faces a similar problem:

1. Open a browser window and type in “192.168.0.1” into the location bar, preferably in Internet Explorer from a computer connected via wired Ethernet, rather than wireless.
2. Log in with username “admin” and no password.

Thank you all for your help. This is a wonderful community!

Michael