T23 What to Load First

[Paul Pennington]

I'm bringing up a T23 with an empty hard disk. I've been looking around here and on the Lenovo/IBM site but have not found an answer to this question: Is it better to load the Windows XP updates first, or the IBM drivers?

My first guess is that it would be safer to do the Windows updates first, as that would minimize the time online without all the security fixes.

I'm behind a router so it would probably be OK in either case.

Are there other reasons to to load the drivers or Windows updates first?

[jdhurst]

If you are starting from a T23 preload as scratch, I recall it being SP0. If that, then you have a lot of Windows updating to do.

Regardless, I would be inclined to do drivers first. The initial T23 drivers are not all SP2 compliant. Some work, some work poorly. So I would do BIOS and Embedded Controller first, then the drivers, and then proceed with Windows.
... JD Hurst

[pianowizard]

My first guess is that it would be safer to do the Windows updates first, as that would minimize the time online without all the security fixes.

That's what I always do, for the same reason.

[tfflivemb2]

Since you are going to be using the Recovery Disks (which by the way...they went out this morning), you'll be just fine performing the Windows updates and then the IBM/Lenovo updates using Software Installer afterwards.

Now, if you were installing from a Retail Version of XP, then I would recommend performing the IBM/Lenovo updates first, then the Windows updates, since the retail version of XP might not have all of the drivers that you'd need.

[pianowizard]

since the retail version of XP might not have all of the drivers that you'd need.

In such a scenario, I download from Lenovo.com the driver for the ethernet port onto another computer, transfer it to the new Thinkpad via a USB jump drive, and install it to activate the ethernet port. Then I update Windows, then Lenovo drivers, and finally install a virus scanner.

[The Spirit of X21]

pianowizard wrote:

In such a scenario, I download from Lenovo.com the driver for the ethernet port onto another computer, transfer it to the new Thinkpad via a USB jump drive, and install it to activate the ethernet port. Then I update Windows, then Lenovo drivers, and finally install a virus scanner.

Agree. I do the same thing when I have to start from scratch (which, thankfully, I haven't had to do in a while).

[RealBlackStuff]

Rather than keep messing about with Windows Update, why not download Autopatcher once? It contains all M$-updates in one go, and you can use it for other installs as well.
http://www.autopatcher.com/
Even if your Autopatcher gets 'outdated' you only need to run updates for the 'missing' period.
This is a lot quicker, and you don't need to go online first.
I install XP/SP2 from scratch from a slipstreamed CD, followed by my (downloaded in 08-2006) Autopatcher, followed by an AV (AVG-free), a firewall (Comodo), and finally go online for the latest and greatest.
I'll update my Autopatcher sometime soon.
The above procedure by the way takes only about 2 hours, and is mostly unattended!

[Paul Pennington]

It looks like the consensus is to minimize the time connected on-line until the MS security updates are installed. In a few cases, a driver may need to be loaded to get on-line, but that can be done on another computer.

I'm working on hardware, not software, for a while: I'm replacing the cracked keyboard bezel on my "new" T-23.

Lots of good ideas here -- thanks to all who took the time to reply.