Thinkpads Forum

Hello all, I'm new here but I've been studying on this forum for a while and I appreciate all the help already.
I just picked up a T61 to replace my old T40. I also got a 128gb Imation M-class SSD to go with it. What do I need to do to make it work? The folks at lenovo tech support told me that the biggest I can use is 64gb SSD but I haven't seen anyone with that issue on this site. I also have read that I need to do the Middleton bios mod. I think I found and downloaded the right file but I need to know how to do it. I would like to use xp pro. Will XP Pro be able to fully utilize my SSD and 4gb RAM? I was going to install xp on my original hard drive and ran into an error. The code was "EMM386: Cannot find an unused 64 kilobyte range of upper memory to use for an EMS page frame. Using FRAME=NONE." Not sure what the deal is I tried it on about 3 different computers and it did the same thing. The disk is a little scratched too. Thanks in advance for the help.

Welcome to the forum!

XP requires a lot of tweaking to run properly on SSD. Your machine will also be able to utilize only 3GB of RAM with it.

You can use a 128GB or 260 or 500GB in your T61, no limitations there.

Try shopping around for a cheaper W7 release if you want to get the most out of your machine...

The problem with Installing XP is the Windows disc nor the recovery discs will align the partition. A Vista or 7 disc will do so. Would agree with Windows 7 for a SSD is the best route, though XP will certainly work.

Ya, I like XP pro for the simplicity factor but it is looking more and more like windows 7 is the way to go. Anyone know anything about the middleton mod? It sounds like a good way to go but how the heck do I install it?

Burn the .ISO onto a disc and boot from it. Follow the prompts.

Depends on the kind of SSD. The original Samsungs that came with Thinkpads (64GB-ish) do garbage collection in the drive itself (it recognizes NTFS partitions) so it doesn't need TRIM support and work great on XP. It's just a matter of being sure if you wish to limit yourself to that size because larger SSDs are becoming cheaper and much more attractive than before. You'll definitely be better off with Windows 7 if you go for a larger drive.