Win7 USB install woes with a T61

[Matt Rayner]

Hi
Yesterday I bought a T61 which came with its original version of XP in Finnish. It has 4Gb of RAM.
It was once a corporate machine and is hardly used - or was very well-cared for. More of its past I don't know.
Today I was eager to install an English Win 7 using Microsoft's USB tool, however the installation reported "Missing or corrupt files" some 5% into the installation procedure. I tried a different usb stick, same result. In the end I installed a 64-bit W7 OS on the HDD using my Dell desktop, which went smoothly. I then swapped out the HDD and put it in the T61.
Well, it works, but I'm not happy with it. It's laggy and I'd like to go back to a 32-bit version of an OS.
The BIOS seems strange too. It doesn't remember the boot order and it sometimes lists the USB HDD with a plus sign before it, sometimes with a minus sign before it.
Could it be that something is write protected in the BIOS?
Is the CMOS battery in need of replacement? (clock and date are correct)
I've installed fresh OS's on T60's and T61's before, but never had this problem before.

Thanks for any help.

BR
Matt

[theterminator93]

I've seen that before, most recently when trying to do a USB install on a barebones system I set up to do some hardware testing. I wrote the same ISO using Rufus instead of the Windows 7 USB tool and it worked after that. Worth a shot, anyway...

[Matt Rayner]

Thanks. Will give it a go.

Is there any reason to believe that an administrator had some write-protect bios setting - or am I just paranoid?

Thanks + BR

[RealBlackStuff]

Can you go into the BIOS (press F1 upon booting) and make any changes other than date/time?

[Matt Rayner]

SOLVED

Terminator right on the money. Thanks!

Rufus USB Tool worked perfectly. Now it's cooking.

Thanks RBS for your suggestion, too.

Cheers
Matt

[Raidriar]

If you have an nvidia graphics card, I highly recommend you flash an undervolted BIOS to prolong the longevity of your graphics card. It will reduce heat and power consumption.

[Johan]

Matt:

Welcome to the forum!

A hint: T61's came with a "stock-BIOS" from Lenovo which did only support SATA-I (SATA-150) transfer-speed between the HDD and the motherboard, although the T61 hardware (= the chipset itself) actually is available to support full SATA-II (SATA-300). Not much fun for T61-customers, hoping to get full speed, but only getting half...

But! A very, very clever chap, "Middleton", has developed a BIOS which can be flashed onto the T61, with the result that the T61 full-potential is unleashed; full SATA-II speed!! If your "old" T61 is not flashed with Middleton's BIOS, then there's a distinct advantage to be easily gained. Throw in a SSD, and you'll be happy!

Congratulations with your new ThinkPad!!

Johan

[Matt Rayner]

Thanks Johan
Middleton installed seamlessly. Need to do a bit of crowdsourcing to afford the SSD right now

Just bought another T61 for my son. Whaddya know.. I need some advice on that, so I'll start a new thread..

[Matt Rayner]

If you have an nvidia graphics card, I highly recommend you flash an undervolted BIOS to prolong the longevity of your graphics card. It will reduce heat and power consumption.

That's interesting. Is Middleton already set up to do that? If not, can you link me to a guide? Thanks.




BR
Matt

[4uk4a]

can you link me to a guide?

Simple way (in german language):
https://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/17258 ... ndervolten

Difficult way:
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=96034

[Matt Rayner]

Thanks 4uk4a

That's out of my league, sadly.

So you think it's a matter of when, not if the Nvidia fries??

BR

[dr_st]

So you think it's a matter of when, not if the Nvidia fries??

That's true about everything in this world. You do what you can to strike a good balance between longevity and usability. The balance may be different for different people, goals...

[4uk4a]

That's out of my league, sadly.

Well, this would be a good time to start.
If Middleton's BIOS is installed
Everything is very simple:
1) Create a Bootable DOS USB Drive:
https://www.howtogeek.com/136987/how-to ... usb-drive/

2) Copy to USB Drive files - go.bat, phlash16.exe from here:
https://goo.gl/hqnrMb

3) Download the BIOS files
Only low voltage of the Nvidia GPU:
1,05v - https://goo.gl/WK6oLK
or 1,00v - https://goo.gl/ZVBEjs
or 0,95v - https://goo.gl/wjBNY4

4) Rename the BIOS file <FILE NAME> .ROM to BIOS.ROM and copy to usb stick

5) Boot from the stick and if you're on the command line type go.bat and press Enter. After that comes an error message that any checksum is wrong. Ignore them by pressing z, the flash will still work.


Source: https://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/17258 ... viewfull=1# post1737203

Simply make your work easier.