Thinkpads Forum

Ok so when I bought my thinkpad it had vista on it and I downgraded to XP MCE 2005. I installed all the drivers in order. At first i had trouble getting the atmel tpm to work but I got that straightened out. Now even though there are no ? marks in device manager I still get an add/remove hardware prompt every time I start the machine. I dont know what it is, any suggestions?

Could it be something connected via USB? Ive seen this odd occurrence on some USB mice/keyboards that refused to stay installed. Any flash drives? USB printers?

minc3d wrote:Could it be something connected via USB? Ive seen this odd occurrence on some USB mice/keyboards that refused to stay installed. Any flash drives? USB printers?

no Im not running any usb devices

Why Xp MCE 2005? You don't want to go back to XPP? I did that on mine with no issues. (from the recovery cd's)

lexos wrote:Why Xp MCE 2005? You don't want to go back to XPP? I did that on mine with no issues. (from the recovery cd's)

My system came with vista basic and no recovery cd's (it was a partition on the hdd that has long since been formated) I put MCE 2005 on it because thats the only legit windows copy I have. Besides MCE 2005 is virtually identical to XP pro.

Do you have intel turbo ram? its a slot-in device for vista only. If yo udid - you'll need the "disable driver reminder" driver from the lenovo site.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-68244

I still have a problem with an "Sm Bus controller" unknown device - but at least it doesn't keep reminding me
Kirk[/url]

I thought most major OEMs now allow you to legally "downgrade" to XP from Vista. Couldn't you just call them up and request an XP recovery/downgrade set?

DarkScythe wrote:I thought most major OEMs now allow you to legally "downgrade" to XP from Vista. Couldn't you just call them up and request an XP recovery/downgrade set?

Nope, lenovo downgrade policy only stands for machines ordered with Windows Vista Business or Ultimate editions (the OP has Basic).

Lenovo - Downgrading from Windows Vista to Windows XP.

My suggestion to OP is try running ThinkVantage System Update and Windows update, I don't think the former is compatible with Windows MCE but worth a shot.

Credit where it's due: the "downgrade rights" have nothing to do with the OEM. It is not the OEM which grants licensed software downgrade rights but rather it is the author of the software in question who does.

Microsoft says that the only versions of Vista that qualify for a downgrade to XP Professional are licenses for Business and Ultimate editions. These editions cannot downgrade to XP Home (though why would you want to anyway?), nor can Home Basic or Home Premium editions of Vista downgrade to XP Home OR Professional OR any other edition of XP.

This is what the licensor of the software says the rules are, so Lenovo's hands are tied.

-- Nathan

No I don't have intel turbo memory. Also ive tried running both thinkvantage system update and windows update. The thinkvantage system update runs fine it just doesn't find any software that remedies the problem. Also keep in mind that there are no problems showing in the device manager.

kingweaver88 wrote:

lexos wrote:Why Xp MCE 2005? You don't want to go back to XPP? I did that on mine with no issues. (from the recovery cd's)

Besides MCE 2005 is virtually identical to XP pro.

Actually, I agree with kingweaver, although of course i understand your reason because of it only legit copy you have. Unfortunately after many years of support of both versions it is readily known that MCE has a host of problems and has had since it's inception. Many of these problems, quirks and weirdness has not been fully dealt with. I have proven over and over again that XP Pro has far less problems.

I highly encourage you to switch if at all possible.

Hope you enjoy our TPad!

Do you have bluetooth? Fingerprint? Those are USB devices with this machine.

They would presumably show up in Device Manager as yellow question marks (?)