Windows 7 on Thinkpads

So I have my own key and isos burned all ready to go and wondering how people have fared installing it on new thinkpads. Hopefully I'll get some time to get everything running on my machine, but for now I'm curious about switchable graphics and lenovo's power manager in particular, but I'd also be interested to hear any other results as well.

yeah I know about the 98,4903,365 page thread dedicated to w7 and the many others floating around, but this pertains to Lenovo - plus, I did ask in there and it was quickly buried in the muck.

 

I'm downloading it now and will give it a go on both my desktop and x200 Tablet.

I tried the early Pre-Beta on my x200 a few weeks back and it worked reasonably well. The vast majority of the hardware was automatically detected, and there were a few Lenovo drivers (e.g. TrackPoint) in the automatic updates. I only tried it for a brief period then, and didn't check the ThinkVantage software too thoroughly.

In theory, all of the Vista drivers and applications should work on Windows 7, but I haven't tested this thoroughly (yet).

 

I tested it on a T61 and it was pretty much flawless. It found all the devices. I also installed ThinkVantage and the nVidia vista drivers afterwards and they both worked.
I did however run into a problem with IE8 when hitting the Lenovo site. It wouldn't render the page properly, everything was super small. Changing the page zoom/magnification didn't help. This happened both before and after the installation of Thinkvantage and nvidia drivers.

 

I remember running Vista for about a year leading up to the release. I had a few issues but nothing that stopped the show. I am very eager to try 7. I have my iso burned as well, but I will not install it until tomorrow or Monday. I am considering making it my main OS as I have read that it works well with minimal bugs. As for IE8, I am a die hard proponent of Firefox.

 

I am actually using Windows 7 on the T61 right now. It works very well, and I haven't updated any of the drivers as instructed on the "Clean Install Guide." Speakers work, there is a power battery function, and a wireless adapter. If I have to actually update these drivers because it is very important, let me know. But other than that, works great! Now I'm off to get some updates.

 

thinking about w7 on my T60 but would 2gb of DDR2 be enough? also 1.8ghz

 

2GB is great. The requirements of 7 are no different than that of Vista.

 

Does Windows 7 installer include a partition tool(during setup) or must I partition manually prior to installing?

 

Yes, it provides partitioning support during installation. It's the same limited support that is available during Vista installations.

 

What about turbomemory? I installed the drivers but I do not have the console. In fact, I installed the drivers manually but I can not run the file provided by lenovo or intel. Thanks for your feedback.

 

You have to use Internet Explorer (64-bit)

 

headphone port has no sound on my T400 with win 7 installed.

 

It installed fine on my X300, but the fingerprint reader still doesn't work even after download the software/drivers suggested in another ThinkPad/Windows 7 thread:

http://www.authentec.com/win7beta32.cfm

Windows 7 says that no drivers are loaded. Going through the little troubleshooting thing to search for drivers online turns up nothing. Is there another way to get the fingerprint reader working?

 

Installs fine on my X200.

A "questionalbly obtained" 32 bit version, Headphone port does not work.
A microsoft downloaded 64 bit version, headphone port does not work.

Oh well =[

 

Did you go into "Sounds" and change the default device to "Headphones"?

Worked for me.

 

I got Windows 7 64-bit running on my T61. With the windows update, every driver was installed already except
- fingerprint <-- installed with ThinkVantage software.
- PCI Memory controller <-- This is the intel turbo memory I'm assuming? Well, it fails.

Other than the PCI memory controller failing to be installed even with Intel Turbo Memory Vista 64-bit drivers, everything seems fine. Perhaps 32-bit is a different story, but either way I get a glimpse at W7 so it's all good. My main OS will remain Vista til W7 is RTM

 

I had this issue as well. Just click the Compatibility View button to the right of the address bar and the pages render correctly again.

 

On my T400 almost everything works. Gripes:

- Firefox 3.0 crashes ALL the time, randomly. Fixed by installing 3.1 beta.
- No PCI driver
- Sound worked until after installing the audio driver from the Lenovo website, at which point I had no sound at all. Uninstalling and then scanning for hardware changes in the device manager fixed it. I still have a lot of static and crackling coming from my headphone port, but I had that in Linux too, so it might be my sound card.
- I can get the Intel driver working if I set the BIOS to integrated graphics, and ATI drivers workings if I set the BIOS to discrete graphics, but I can't get switchable graphics to work. The Intel driver claims its already loaded in memory, and ATI doesn't recognize the hardware. Perhaps I didn't install things correctly (first time doing a Windows clean install on a Thinkpad).

Overall, though, I'm pretty impressed, enough to start thinking about moving back into the Windows world, especially as I expect all of these issues to be cleared by release.

 

T61p here:
I ahve everything installed and working except the fingerprint reader. I ran the lenovo drivers in windows vista compatibility mode and I have everything working including hotkeys, on screen display, and etc. I was not able to the power manager to work or the fingerprint reader. Note: Some of us have a UPEK hardware and as a result the Authentec software is not ever going to work in light of that the UPEK software does not work either. I have tried the latest versions from lenovo and UPEK. Any clues?

All in all though, 7 seems speedy in operation and boots quickly.

I have firefox 3.0x and it works and has not crashed on me at all just an FYI for the guy who moved to the 3.1 beta.

 

T61p, Win 7, X32
I got three "Base system device" shown in device manager, one unknown and the fingerprint reader. The last one, windows just told me to update the driver from UPEK.. What are the "Base system devices"? Another question, I installed X32 to be as compatible as possible with the apps I normaly uses and windows shows 4GB of ram which is correct. Is there any reason for me to run Win 7 X64? Can the X32 use 4GB of ram? Win 7 seems incredably fast to me even though I have run the "Clean install guide"... I like it.. =)

 

The base system devices that were not installed during the installation/updates were reader related in my case. I installed the lenovo ricoh 4in1... and the lenovo smart card reader and the system recognized all devices. I had no issues running any of my 32 bit software on Vista 64, so I had no reservations about going with the 64 bit version of W7.

 

But aadadams, whats the win with x64? Is the ram limit still there? I'm use to run on a x64 XP system at work, doing CAD and advanced FEA analysis. But I have recently had a new job, so now it's only in my spare time I play with those things. But I will need to test if if there is a ram limit, it there is, I will go X64...

 

X300 uses Upek, not Authentec.

http://www.upek.com/support/downloads/windows7/w7x86.asp

 

Did you try this one?

http://www.upek.com/support/downloads/windows7/w7x86.asp

 

Installed it to my T43 and apart from a driver issue with the wifi card, everything is working fine. It's a lot more responsive than I anticipated, running as fast as a newly installed xp without the bloatware

 

I did not, as I could not find it when I went to UPEK site. Thanks for the heads up. I will give it a go after I run a few errands.

Dude, the 64 bit vs 32 bit argument has been hashed out many times and in many ways, so I won't go into all that. If RAM is your primary requirement then you probably want to buy two 4GB modules and run either Vista SP1 or Win7 as both will use the RAM. It has long been stated that 32 bit OS's could see 4GB with tweaking. The true question is if the OS is actually using the RAM. I use software that takes advantage of the larger pipe afforded by the 64 bit processors, so I will not fall back to 32 bit haphazardly.

 

Can anyone running Windows 7 adjust their display brightness via using the standard Fn+Home and Fn+End keys? I’m interested in feedback on this in general, but particular to T400 users.

 

Correct - all 32 bit operating systems, including XP, Vista and Windows 7, cannot utilize above around 3.5GB of RAM. If you have 4GB of RAM, use the 64-bit version of the OS.

 

MidnightSun,
He knows. Subsequent material in his post shows he knows. That's why I deleted mine. But we all are right, there is a real difference between 32 and 64 bit.

 

This works perfectly. I installed these drivers using Windows Vista Compatibility mode, and they function as intended.

 

I have to working great on my U330, but I can't get the switchable graphics to work. It just won't switch to the ATI adapter. It actually did work fine in build 6801 but in this current build it doesn't. Hopefully it's something Lenovo can fix in a driver update.

 

That fix for the video card issues will have to emanate from ATI, and I would venture that ATI will make corrective action in short order.

 

Hey guys and gals,

I also enjoy using Windows 7 Beta 1 on my T61.

However, I can't get my Thinkvantage button working. At the same time, the Fn+** combos aren't functioning. I've already updated my Thinkpad thru System Update.

Do you have any idea on how to go around this? Thanks a lot in advance!

 

DO NOT USE SYSTEM UPDATE! That is your problem. All my hardware is working including the ones you reference. You need to download and install all the drivers yourself. When you do be sure to right click the setup.exe file and on the compatibility tab select Windows Vista compatibility mode before installing. Specific drivers for what you mentioned are the Hotkey and System Interface Driver I believe.

 

aadadams,

Yup, I'm doing what you posted.

Another question, I noticed that when I download the drivers from Lenovo's official website and open them, they unzip the files in the Drivers folder of my partitioned hard drive. After installing them, can I erase the unzipped files in the Drivers folder?

Thanks!

 

Yes you can.

 

Beat me to it, but yes, you can delete them without issue.

 

Thanks for the replies!

Hmmm..I tried installing the hotkey driver, but there's a box that popped up during the installation, stating that "tponscr...registry problem". I can't remember the exact words, but what the box is saying is that it can't install tponscr because there's something wrong with my registry.

And I still can't use the Fn+** combos. (

 

Odds are, when you ran system update it FUBAR'd your registry. Try a system restore that predates the the driver installs via system update then try the install again. If that does not work delete all "tponscr" registry related entries and try it. You may end up having to reformat, but that is why we BETA.

 

Haha. I see.

Well, despite such minor glitches, I still am enjoying Windows 7 Beta. It really beats the hell out of Vista.

Do you think Lenovo would release recovery discs for Windows 7 when it goes out for retail for T61? I am starting to save money for the Retail version but I am preferring a recovery disc version since it can create an HD partition for RnR. What do you think?

 

Even if they did they could not sell it to you. Recovery discs have to accompany a new computer per the MS license agreement. Even when they release the OS for the current TP line up we will be excluded. We will have to install from retail. They may make it possible to upgrade the beta, but even that is unlikely.

 

Really?

Crap. I really love the separate partition a recovery disc creates for TPs where it stores a factory restoration feature. Is there any way to create such partition without using recovery discs, i.e. installing a new OS through its retail version?

 

Not that I am aware of, but anything is possible. Might I suggest, you look into Acronis or Norton Ghost. With either of those applications you can make a backup of your customized computer with all software and etc. in place that you can use to restore the computer to complete functionality rather than to the OEM image. These can be burned to DL-DVDs or even to a usb hard drive. I would caution against backing up a computer to the system drive, because if it fails you lose the backup and the system simultaneously.

In my case, shortly after I bought my T61p I bought a 250GB drive to replace the 160 that came with it. I also bought a usb 2.5" hard drive enclosure that I used to put the 160GB drive into. I use this drive for periodic backups. I am approaching 80% capacity so I am now shopping for one of the 500GB replacements so that I can repeat the process. I am in hopes that a 7200 rpm drops soon but if not I will grab one of the 5400 rpm versions. </essay>

 

I see.

Well, I hope I could get a pretty discounted Acronis or Norton Ghost suite here in Manila. Software prices here are grossly overpriced. Much as I want to see people here using genuine software in their PCs, most people here, save for enterprise users as well as wealthy dudes, resort to buying bootleg software. But I am not going to belabor on that topic for this time being. Nevertheless, I'm quite amused that no one here has peddled a copy of Windows 7 Beta to the masses for a rather cheap amount.

I wish you luck aadadams in your notebook HD buying spree! And thanks for all the very useful and insightful comments! Really appreciate it!

 

My green wifi antenna light is not turning on for some reason on my T61. The other lights seem to be working, even the bluetooth light.

Also, I do not get an onscreen display when I change brightness.

I have reinstalled the hotkey driver, that got all my function keys working, but didn't fix the light or brightness display. Does anyone have any idea how to address these problems?

 

I did not notice the wifi thing until you mentioned it. I have the same issue, but it does not affect my ability to use wifi. Onscreen display is an issue with many current things, so unless Lenovo has some Vista software we can use to set that up, I think we're out of luck for a bit.

My current issue is audio. Sometimes it will work, and sometimes it won't. It may be that the behavior of the --aaand, I just figured it out.

The volume buttons and mute button work in Windows 7 --but they don't effect what is shown on the screen. So, you could have turned your volume down to nothing with the Volume Down button, and never know it. Temporary solution is to just use the software volume controls. I'm guessing Lenovo will have to come up with some updates for Win7.

 

Acronis offers a free version of TrueImage 7 on their website. Download this, then use it to get upgrade pricing for the newest version of TrueImage. Since TrueImage is available as a purchasable download, it works out pretty well.

This is what I did when purchasing TrueImage 10, and I've since upgraded to TI 11. Version 2009 is now out; I haven't purchased it yet, but will think about it (currently, 11 does most things I need, though I do need to figure out if I can slipstream Intel ICH10R SATA RAID drivers into it for Rescue CD purposes).

Hope this helps.

 

Of course Vista has a more then adequate system backup that does not require any third party software. Of coure you'd have to have a post-vista or
a vista system installed to use it.

 

I'll hijack this tread a bit and post my own feedback. It's been 48h since I've installed W7 on my R61. Everything seems fine so far and works flawlessly. Most of devices were installed by windows itself and for those that were not I was able to download proper drivers via ThinkVantage Update.

Sleep/hibernate works. BT and wifi works. Screen brightness works. HDD protection works (or it pretends to). Trackpoint works. Hot-swapping of ultrabay devices also seems to work. And same for fingerprint scanner.
So far there is only a bug with hotkeys. After resuming from hibernate they don't work anymore.

Moreover I found that native power manager gives a bit more battery-time than that one provided by lenovo: ~12-20 minutes more with native.

Windows itself works even faster than my previous XP. I also like some of those new features (new taskbar and device recognition).

And the best thing: I can squeeze around 4:30 runtime (4:42 as for last test) from my 6-cell. With XP I was only able to hit 4h.

Regards!

 

Have you installed the lenovo system interface driver in vista compatibility mode? That is what I did and my wifi light and on screen display works.