Windows 7 (Experience & Drivers)

How does installing drivers work for Windows 7? Do I just get the latest drivers from the Lenovo website that are made for Windows Vista and expect them to work?

 

for some reason my switchable graphics started working a few weeks back, i can now switch within windows 7. i dont remember what i did...

 

lol chopped...what version of drivers you installed?

 

I want to share my experience and also have some quesitions.

I installed (clean install from XP 32 bit) windows 7 Professional 64 bit on my T61p (T7500 2.2/4GB -6459) during the weekend.

Everything went very well. Without installing any drivers from Lenovo site, I also installed photoshop cs4/office 2007. Everything is running very well. I did window update after the installation. There are not any unknown device in Device manager. Soundmax/bluetooth /network card/finger print drivers were installed properly

Later on I downloaded bunch of drivers from Lenovo site and only installed:
1. UltraNav driver
2. UltraNav utility
3. Power management driver
4. Hotkey
5. ThinkVantage Active Protection system

Here are my questions: do I need to install other drivers? such as
-update BIOS
-System interface
-Intel Matrix storage manager
-Ricoh R5C83x/84x flash Media Controller drivers
-NVIDIA drivers

thank you in advance
JJCPA

 

my best guess is that i think i booted and let windows 7 install drivers for each individual card, after a few weeks i installed the switchable graphics driver and it work..

 

I just converted my last machine to Windows 7 64-bit RTM. However, I cannot seem to find a driver for my Intel 5300/5350 WiFi N Link. Everything else...everything is 100% compatible. I even did an upgrade vs. what I usually do, which is a clean install.

Loving the new OS!

 

Try uninstalling the old WiFi driver and let Windows Update do its job. Worker perfectly for me.
To get the wireless running sufficiently I set the "Roaming Aggressiveness" to "low".

Greetz!
M.T.

 

Duh me. Yea, it works now after installing the Vista driver on 7. Sorry for the n00b question. I had actually uninstalled the driver before upgrading from Vista, only because the Windows 7 installer complained about the Intel software. So I uninstalled it when still under Vista (I wanted this to be a one-way upgrade haha) but it uninstalled the driver as well.

Windows 7 upgraded SO WELL that at first, I couldn't tell the difference, as everything looked as it had on Vista, right down to my background, and ALL 35 tabs that I have open in Firefox, and even every darn cookie. This was almost "too easy".

 

I fiddled around with this all afternoon on a T500...could not get it to work.

 

I use the Intel driver ICS_Dv64.exe from the Intel website.

 

Thought I'd post one small update to my video driver problem. The ATI Windows 7 beta drivers posted here appear to work great, with one small glitch: every so often, I open the lid when it's sleeping and the graphics come back at what looks like 800x600, a square desktop in the middle of the screen. I click to restart the computer (W500 with 7 x64), and it begins to restart and then I hear a series of system beeps and then nothing happens. I have to power down (hold the button down, or remove the battery) and start it up again.

I believe I've noticed this to happen when I have the computer open, on AC power, close the lid, and then disconnect power quickly. It doesn't seem to happen if I close the lid, wait several minutes, and THEN disconnect the AC cord.

 

Do we even have to re-install Windows 7 come 10/22, or will there maybe updates/fixes/new drivers? Lenovo said that I would not have to deal with any coupons or shipping charges as one can find on the MS website.

Lenovo is just awesome.

 

doubt you would need to reinstall, anything important would roll out on windows update

 

If it mirror what you have to do between Win7RC to Win7RTM, you have to reinstall everything.
When you install on a partition that has an older version of Win7, it copy everything into C:\windows.old including your old user directory. So you can copy back out all your data but you will have to reinstall all your third party applications.

 

Just installed Win 7 on my W500 and I don't really notice a huge difference from Windows Vista x64 Ultimate. I had just as many devices show up as unidentified in Device Manager in this new win 7 install as I did with a fresh vista install. On top of that, the ATI card was recognized as its radeon counterpart instead of the fire GL which at least vista was able to do.

One other thing I noticed a few people saying was that Vista uses more ram, however a clean install gives me exactly the same amount of ram usage with either OS, that is to say approximately 750mb to 850mb usage with win 7 or Vista. Perhaps other users were comparing a fresh win 7 install to their old vista versions which include all their programs/drivers/thinkvantage apps.

It's still my first day so I don't have much insight into this OS just yet, but so far the only noticeable differences are themes/wallpapers/aero effects.

I have yet to install drivers/programs so let's see how all of that fares and then maybe check out performance on games as well.

Until then.

 

Im about to install 7 Ult RTM to replace Vista Ult. I do want to see if I can get switchable graphics working, since the last time I tried with the rc the only thing holding me back was the lack of an intel driver that supported it.

 

I installed RC on X200 and everything seems to work fine except it says there is a troubleshoot with 'PCI Simple Communications Controller.' Windows Update cannot find the driver.

I installed

System Interface Driver
Power Management Driver
Hotkey Features
Power Manager
Authentic Fingerprint
ThinkVantage Active Protection System
Had to install bluetooth driver from original Vista Driver folder.

and other ThinkPad drivers seemed to have installed on its own.

Am I missing anything?

I will get free Windows 7 Ultimate after I use RC for at least 4 months (Windows Feedback Program) so I'm going to stick with RC but can anybody give me a solution to that problem?

 

Nah...I run the RTM version. This is the first time since I started using Windows 3.1 that I chose to do an in-place upgrade. I only did it, since it's basically a streamlined Vista.

I ran the advisor tool, and also took the installer's "advice", and that meant mostly ThinkVantage tools had to go, and one driver.

I was hopeful that it would go pretty well, and I am one who likes to do clean installs a lot! I certainly didn't expect it to go...flawlessly. I like the Aero Peek, and the side-by-side windows. No more Aero flip 3D?

 

Which Thinkpad do you have, fellow Angeleno? I did exactly what you're about to do.

 

I have a T400. It is very shiny. Oh, and if you come near it I WILL maim you horribly. THAT is a promise.

 

I could be wrong, but I believe this is the Intel AMT stuff. If you don’t use it, you should be fine. If you don’t like having devices with exclamation points on them, install the Intel AMT drivers. FWIW, RTM misses this as well.

 

Thanks! I don't see an exclamation point now! There were two AMT drivers available for X200 (Intel AMT 4.2 LMS&SOL and Intel AMT 4.2 MEI).

Use Intel AMT 4.2 MEI for those having trouble. LMS&SOL didn't install on X200.

 

My Intel AMT (4.0 I believe) shows Enabled, etc., but unconfigured. On every line. TPM is fine and working well. Why do I need AMY for again? And what exactly do I need to "configure"?

Thanks!

 

If you press F12 at boot time the last option on the list should be to enter AMT and you can configure it according to this document:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Active_Management_Technology_(AMT)

Also if you google "intel AMT configure" there are a few pdf at intel.com

 

Hey. thanks very much. Ok, so how do I benefit from enabling it? I think it's security, right? Should I enable and configure it at all? I do "use" the TPM. lol...

 

Hi guys,

I am having trouble installing presentation director on my W500 with windows 7. The installation ends with this error:


C:\program files\...\NPDIRECT\OEMDSP64.exe
this application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the event log or use command line tool sxstrace.exe tool for more detail

Then the installation ends, and when I try to run presentation director, it doesn't start at all.

Does anyone have ideas?

I realize presentation director is not being supported by lenovo anymore but I find it quite useful and I would really hate to part with it.

 

Presentation Director will not be supported in Windows 7. It's one of several ThinkVantage solutions that will not continue on 7.

Sorry.

 

Can i use current System Update version or have i to wait for a 7 compatible one ?

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news again. I am not totally sure about this one, but for now, just use your serial number under Warranty Lookup, and get all the drivers specifically for your machine.

Click here, and Continue, then Parts Information for this system (3rd link down)

Best of luck to you!

 

It seems like Windows Update catches most of the driver updates. I did not bother installing System Update or other ThinkVantage softwares except for Power Manager and Fingerprint Reader.

This is what I installed in orders

System Interface Driver
ThinkPad Power Manager Driver
Hotkey Features
Power Manager
Lenovo Fingerprint Software Authentec (or UPEK, depends on your fingerprint reader brand)
Integrated Camera Driver Installer Package Ver.1.27.5 - Vista driver
ThinkPad Bluetooth with Enhanced Data Rate Softwa... - Vista driver

 

I have installed exactly the same stuff. When on Vista, i had noticed that System Update was fetching Lenovo's updates for my T61 that Windows Update didn't. And so i was get used to it (System Update).

 

I thought Lenovo softwares were pretty useful when I was using factory default version on Vista Ultimate, running about 85 processes on startup. Now I did clean install on Win7 Ultimate RC, only running 59 processes and 15GB more space. I have 64GB SSD so even 1GB can be fruitful.

 

My T43 Win 7 install went fine, drivers for everything including the ATI X300M were all installed.

 

Interesting. On my T400, Win7 did fine with the fingerprint, integrated camera, and bluetooth drivers it found on its own. What I installed from Lenovo were:

• System Interface Driver,
• Power Manager Driver
• Power Manager
• Hotkey features
• Ultranav Driver
• Ultranav Utility
• Active Protection System

 

im going to clean instsll windows 7 RTM on my T400. One thing i was wondering is the battery life in Windows 7 with a 4-cell battery. Can anyone comment on this?

in vista, I've been able to get around 3 hours with screen brightness half way down and wifi on using the discrete graphics.

is it possible to achieve the same with the beta drivers lenovo offers?

 

@bloob: You may have already switched back or found the solution but here is what I did:
- did the upgrade from Vista Business x64 (I will do a clean install when Lenovo releases the proper drivers)
- discovered that the NVIDIA driver was not installed (no AERO, generic driver only in device manager)
- installed the driver for Vista x64 that I found on the Lenovo site which appeared to work until...
- after rebooting it was still not using full AERO
- this time the device manager showed the exclamation mark on yellow triangle icon next to NVIDIA NVS 140 so I was getting closer
- right-clicked and choose Update driver
- it went to the Internet and installed a driver which...
- after rebooting gave me full AERO

I ran the system performance index and it is now .1 higher. It was 4.1 in Vista X64 and is 4.2 in Windows 7 Pro x64.

BTW: everything else just works, OSD's, BlueTooth, WiFi ... nice...

 

I just noticed now but it says only 1.90GB of 2.00GB Ram is usable. Is there any cause for this?

 

Do you have a Intel Integrated Graphics?

 

Hi,
3h with the 4-cell on discrete? Nice work

Using the 6-cell I have about 4 hours without WiFi and around 3.5 with WiFi and half screen brightness on Win7 x64 RTM. About the same I got on Vista x64 with optimized power settings.

Greetz!
M.T.

 

thanks for the info

I went ahead with Win7 RTM x86 and i found i get about 2:30 - 3:00 of battery life again using the discrete on the power optimized setting (lenovo power manager).


I was also wondering, how do i turn off the trackpad? Im already used to the red track-point/wireless mouse so i dont see the point in keeping the trackpad on, besides it always moves my cursor around when typing, so its kind of annoying.

Any thoughts? I installed the ultranav utility but nothing shows up.

 

You can do this either through the UltraNav utility or BIOS. Since I never installed UltraNav, I did it through the BIOS.

 

I apologize if this was discussed previously but is it possible to disable Win 7 built in power manager? I just installed Lenovo power mgr and wasn't sure if those two programs will conflict each other. Thanks

 

i have both running and they dont conflict with each other...




one more question i have is, Win7 didnt detect that my T400 has bluetooth. Is their a driver that i can install to fix this issue? In device manager i have a exclamation mark on "PCI Serial Port", which i believe may be my bluetooth. The vista drivers dont work as it doesnt detect the integrated bluetooth.

 

Windows 7 found my Bluetooth just fine—are you sure you have Bluetooth turned on? As for PCI Serial Port, I’m not sure what this is, but it might be related to Intel AMT.

 

Thanks Flexx. I also had the same bluetooth issue until I installed the system interface and hot keys drivers and then FN F5 and turned on bluetooth.

 

Anyone know when Lenovo will release actual drivers and not the current beta stuff thats available?

Will we have to wait right until the release of W7 or will they be released sooner?

 

not until oct.22.........i would doubt they release anytime before that.......the beta drivers are holding up pretty well....no real complaints....apart from the uselessness of the blue thinkvantage button in windows 7

 

I haven't had issues with the betas, myself. Note that while it isn't readily apparent, Lenovo has updated several of the beta drivers at least once; you may wish to re-download if you have not in some time.

I'm actually quite impressed. Lenovo's pre-release support of Windows 7 far exceeds that of many other vendors, at least where ThinkPads are concerned (I can't speak for IdeaPad owners). About the only thing I'm waiting for is good switchable graphics support, and I can be patient, as it isn't difficult to reboot and switch GPUs in BIOS.

 

I concur. Lenovo’s releasing of beta drivers was with good timing. If they can keep from damaging the brand (T400 keyboard fiasco), this early support of new operating systems will definitely keep me recommending the ThinkPads.

 

Me too, quite impressed so far with that.

The problem is that at this page
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=WIN7-BETA

where the beta drivers are located, there is no clue about drivers version and thus, you cannot see if indeed you need to download a newer one...