Windows 7 on x31

[godling]

Just an update on what I've learned. This topic has bounced in and out of other, slightly-related threads over the past few months, so I thought I would consolidate my brain a bit. Hoping others have some additional information / suggestions to add.

Yesterday, I re-installed Win7 (RC1 this time) on my x31, and have to admit that it's running quite as well as XP did. The biggest problem / hindrance to running Win7, however, is its reliance on advanced graphics, which we all know the x31 can't handle. By pouring through other sites and threads, I learned that folks who have the Mobility 7500 card (newer generation than the 7000 we have in the x31) were able to use the Vista drivers. Just for the sake of it, I downloaded the drivers (from here: http://rs707.rapidshare.com/files/23479 ... Driver.zip) and did a manual install (didn't try running the setup files, as I had read somewhere that they didn't work w/ the 7000 chipset.)

The downfall of those drivers is that the System Score (or whatever it's called) utility won't properly perform the video evaluations. However, as I only had a 1 in that category under the Standard VGA drivers, I'm not complaining. I'm going to toy w/ VLC and MediaPlayer to see how the 7500 driver handles movie playback. That will likely happen this evening.

My belief is that, in conjunction w/ Win7 cpu-based graphic processing capability and the 7500 drivers, is that I have a nicely-performing x31 running Win7. All the games load and display properly, and the animations are running (which they didn't under the 7000 beta ... is that because of the cpu-based graphics, or the Radeon 7500 drivers ... I don't know.) I'm not looking forward to rolling back to the standard VGA graphics driver, but I might have to just to test it out.

I'm also running an SSD (the Transcend 32GB drive that has been touted so well around here). Windows 7 has made some interesting adjustments for SSDs, and some of those are outlined here: http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/0 ... s-and.aspx

Any other thoughts folks have on running Win7 on x31?

-Jon

[sjthinkpader]

That is a good summary article for Windows 7 and SSD. But many current SSD identify as standard HDD and Windows 7 does not make the adjustments for you. TRIM function had not been implemented in most SSD controller chipsets yet.

Here is what I did to take advantage of the fast read time of Flash, in this case a 32GB CF card.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=76794

This X40 was running on a 8GB CF card and WindowsXP before.

I will also try a Transcend 32GB SSD (2.5 inch) and a Samsung 16GB SSD (1.8 inch) with Windows7 in the next few weeks. This 32GB Transcend SSD is running WinXP in a X30 at the moment.

[godling]

That is a good summary article for Windows 7 and SSD. But many current SSD identify as standard HDD and Windows 7 does not make the adjustments for you.

I read somewhere that this is caused by Win7 looking for a drive spin rate to calculate what kind of primary disc you use. HDD's report back 5400, 7200, etc. SSDs historically report back 0, which makes sense as there is no drive. Win7, I'm told, wants a drive spin rate of 1 reported by SSDs, so manufacturers are doing that now. Why Win7 can't change instead of the manufacturers, I'm not sure. If there's any way to adjust that value somewhere in the OS, I'm going to try it.

-J

[sjthinkpader]

I am not sure what CF card reports. In my setup, Windows 7 didn't change anything. I had to set these items manually.

I will try the Transcend SSD shortly.

[cogitordi]

I have an X32 and was thinking of trying W7 RC1. However, this weekend, I discovered something when I booted my other PC (Test Box), which has been running W7 RC1. The updates feature of W7 RC1 warned me that the video card in Test Box would not be supported in the final release of W7.

I was using a Vista driver.

I am not going to buy a new video card to replace a perfectly good video card just because Microsoft and/or the video card manufacturer decide that they need more money from me. And I assume that there is no video upgrade for the X32. (Am I wrong?)

Test Box is now running Ubuntu. And I'll either keep WinXP on the X32 or try Vista on it. I don't need the visual dross (Aero) of Microsoft's newest OSs, but I do like the outbound firewall in Vista.

I have a Thinkpad T40 with a Dothan CPU running Vista quite nicely. So I assume that Vista will run well on the X32 (Search service and visual dross disabled, of course). Any comments?

[sjthinkpader]

For a X32, no need to consider buying a new video card.

[godling]

The reason why the Update feature in Win7 will not support your video card is that the manufacturers of the cards aren't making new drivers. Technically, the x31 video card is already "not supported" which is why Win7 uses the Standard VGA driver for it. MS isn't saying you can't use it, just that there is no driver support specifically for the card. All the Update utility does is reach out and find the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer, and both nVidia and ATi stop supporting certain cards after a while.

[tomh009]

The downfall of those drivers is that the System Score (or whatever it's called) utility won't properly perform the video evaluations. However, as I only had a 1 in that category under the Standard VGA drivers, I'm not complaining. I'm going to toy w/ VLC and MediaPlayer to see how the 7500 driver handles movie playback. That will likely happen this evening.

Did you run the tests? I'm wondering about getting Windows 7 for the X31 ... and the video is definitely the weakest link.

[sjthinkpader]

I just loaded Win7 on my new 1.5Ghz Dothan X40 with 8GB 233x RiDATA CF card.

The CF card only registered 7.5GB capacity and the installation did complaint that it prefers 7.9GB minimum. But it finished installation and runs fine. After I stopped Superfetch and Indexing, now it has about 1GB of free space left. Pagefile was left on the drive since I only have 768MB RAM (512MB+256MB DIMM). A secure erase was not done to the CF card so the write time is a little slow due to some erase happening.

Machine runs fine except for the generic video driver. I did get a yellow question mark Unknown Video Device entry in the hardware device list in addition to the Std Video Device entry.

The installation recognized the IBM/Atheros AR5004 11bg card right away and offered to use WPA2-PSK/AES it detected from my AP. But the BT card will need AC or Hotkey utility to turn it on in order for the driver to load. An 8GB card is really too small for the standard set of ThinkVantage utilities so I've done none of that yet.

The Win7 power manager looks more extensive than the ThinkVantage Power Manager.

When I tried to use Readyboost on a 2GB SD card inserted in the side, Win7 informed me that the main drive (8GB CF) is already fast enough and I don't need Readyboost function.

[cogitordi]

The reason why the Update feature in Win7 will not support your video card is that the manufacturers of the cards aren't making new drivers. Technically, the x31 video card is already "not supported" which is why Win7 uses the Standard VGA driver for it. MS isn't saying you can't use it, just that there is no driver support specifically for the card.

If the XP drivers can't be used in the new version of the OS, the cause is a decision made by Microsoft.

[sjthinkpader]

The transparency and overlay functions may not be there in the old video drivers. At least intel had not supported 855GME (for X40) Vista drivers. I had not loaded Vista to see if the 855GME is supported.

Of course it is their job to help sell new HW. The fact that it runs at all is nice of them. At least when I tried to load Win2K on my old 755CDV 10 years ago, it just stopped and refused to load. This 755CDV is my only Win98 computer.

[cogitordi]

So for the ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 (Thinkpad X32), does Vista enable 1024X768 at least?

[sjthinkpader]

Sorry, someone else has to answer that. I've skipped the Vista generation.

[cogitordi]

No you haven't, Windows 7 is Vista SP2. (o:

Does the basic video driver in Windows 7 offer 1024x768 resolution?

This sort of value loss to consumers is the winning point for open-source. Canonical has done a good job with support for wireless and I think I'll just "become a person through other people" (Ubuntu).

[tomh009]

So for the ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 (Thinkpad X32), does Vista enable 1024X768 at least?

Yes, Vista runs at 1024x768 on both the X31 and X32. Haven't tried Windows 7 yet, though.

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, the Std Video Driver can run at XGA 32bit color on X40/X41. Haven't tried X30/X32 yet but should be same.

If you have an extra drive, loading Win7 is super fast.

[kevinc]

I set up dual boot WIN 7 RC on my X31. The standard video driver runs fine on 1024x768. It took a few sets of updates over a day or two to pick up all the drivers, but everything seems to be working fine...though I haven't spent a lot of time trying to find problems. I downloaded the Radeon Mobility 7500 driver, but WIN 7 tells me that I have the best driver available and refuses to allow the install.
So far I can't see any downside to trying the RC.

[galactus]

kevinc: look here for an answer for better ati 7xxx videocard drivers http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=77964

[kevinc]

Thanks...I'll check them out, though I really don't have any complaint about the WIN 7 driver.

[fudgy]

Good Morning,

Did you guys get the SoundMax audio working in Windows 7? I can't seem to get any sound and think I may have installed the incorrect driver. Any help would be appreciated.

[godling]

Good Morning,

Did you guys get the SoundMax audio working in Windows 7? I can't seem to get any sound and think I may have installed the incorrect driver. Any help would be appreciated.

Win7 installed the SoundMax audio drivers without me asking. Audio works fine for me.

[wayandrs]

I have 7 running on my x31 but the fan won't spin down. It's a dual boot setup, in XP the fan is almost always off. Anybody have the same experience?

[sjthinkpader]

Have you look thru the setting in the Win7 Power Manager?

[godling]

I have 7 running on my x31 but the fan won't spin down. It's a dual boot setup, in XP the fan is almost always off. Anybody have the same experience?

I don't have that problem at all. sj's comment ditto'd here.

-J