Thinkpads Forum

Installed XP on my X61 last night (plain XP, not the R & R version).
With integrated SP1 and no device drivers installed.
Boot time : 13 seconds
Shutdown: 8 seconds

Installed SP3
Boot time: 44 seconds
Shutdown: 10 seconds

Once I'd installed the drivers, disabled unwanted services etc
Boot time: 32 seconds
Shutdown: 9 seconds

Startup is from the BIOS logo of Thinkpad disappearing to having a workable,responsive desktop.
Shutdown is from clicking Shutdown to the LEDs switching off.

And before you ask, I always rebooted at least twice so any updates would be completed before timing the boot/shutdown times.

Thank you so much for posting these results! You've absolutely made my day!

adrianaitken wrote:Installed XP on my X61 last night (plain XP, not the R & R version).
With integrated SP1 and no device drivers installed.
Boot time : 13 seconds
Shutdown: 8 seconds
.

Dang it! Now you got me to thinking, maybe I could mess around with my old R50p and see how fast it will run with minimal things on board.....hmmm....

adrianaitken wrote:Installed XP on my X61 last night (plain XP, not the R & R version).
With integrated SP1 and no device drivers installed.
Boot time : 13 seconds
Shutdown: 8 seconds

Installed SP3
Boot time: 44 seconds
Shutdown: 10 seconds

Once I'd installed the drivers, disabled unwanted services etc
Boot time: 32 seconds
Shutdown: 9 seconds

Startup is from the BIOS logo of Thinkpad disappearing to having a workable,responsive desktop.
Shutdown is from clicking Shutdown to the LEDs switching off.

And before you ask, I always rebooted at least twice so any updates would be completed before timing the boot/shutdown times.

Did you refrain from installing any other applications, between the measurements i.e. no Adobe Acrobat, Office, WinAmp etc?

Just plain XP and Lenovo's drivers I'd pre-pulled from their website and saved onto a USB stick. They were Intel chipset,ACPI, audio,video,monitor inf,wlan,wwan.

Now I don't know what times would be shown with the R & R version of XP since my plain jane version had to be activated and the R & R version didn't, so something is different in Lenovo's setup program.

Interesting BootUp Times.

Did you really boot up XP SP1 in 13 seconds? Was that a typo and supposed to be 1:13?

smvp6459 wrote:

Did you really boot up XP SP1 in 13 seconds? Was that a typo and supposed to be 1:13?

For the record, my A31p which is stone age compared to X61 when it comes to CPU, boots XP SP1 (non-IBM) in a lot less than 1:13...

That is thirteen seconds (one more than twelve, one less than fourteen). Remember though that it is only useable as a standalone PC since no drivers are loaded. My X61 is Duo2Core 2 Ghz, 4Gig RAM, 32Gig Sandisk SSD.

Just installed Web server 2008 (32 bit edition, SP1 integrated). Starts up in 24 seconds, closes in 6.5 seconds wit hdrivers installed as above. Since that is pretty nippy I think I'll give this a try out (Microsoft lets you play with it for free for 240 days).

Maybe it would be interesting to test these numbers for Vista also? To give the discussion XP vs Vista some body

Agreed but I can't get hold of an evalution copy of Vista. Microsoft had it out as a 'VirtualPC' image so it'd be dependant on the underlying OS.

I havent yet installed Sp3 since its NEW. It would be interesting to see bootup times for an XP Sp2

adrianaitken wrote:Agreed but I can't get hold of an evalution copy of Vista. Microsoft had it out as a 'VirtualPC' image so it'd be dependant on the underlying OS.

Go to your local tech store and get one of those Vista "Anytime Upgrade" discs. They have the full versions of Vista on them and when you install just don't put in a key code and you get to use it for 30 days.

If only. Where I live the local 'tech shops' mainly sell inkjet cartridges and hard disks at £1 per Gig (that's $2 per Gig US !!!). Naturally I tend not to go to these shops but hear lots of horror stories from friends !!!

Anyway, I have to start using the laptop properly now so the experimentation is over and XP is running. I would have liked to try OSX but reading the forum for them it seems legally dubious about how most people do it plus all my existing software is Windows based.

I just received my X61 the other day... Yahoooo....!!!
Cant wait to join this speed challenge of XP bootup n shutdown. heheeeehehe

Moderator note: Earlier duplicate post deleted

Eddie, remember I'm using a SSD and although not the fastest version on the market is certainly faster than my default hard disk (5400 rpm).

adrianaitken wrote:That is thirteen seconds (one more than twelve, one less than fourteen). Remember though that it is only useable as a standalone PC since no drivers are loaded. My X61 is Duo2Core 2 Ghz, 4Gig RAM, 32Gig Sandisk SSD.

Just installed Web server 2008 (32 bit edition, SP1 integrated). Starts up in 24 seconds, closes in 6.5 seconds wit hdrivers installed as above. Since that is pretty nippy I think I'll give this a try out (Microsoft lets you play with it for free for 240 days).

The lack of network drivers probably accounts for a lot of the speeed, right there. IIRC Windows checks each of the network connections during startup, and this takes a surprising amount of time.

There was a post somewhere on this forum about reinstalling the Intel networking drivers that described how to remove any redundant, non-working network connections, I found that it dramatically improved my boot times. I'll try to dig it up.

adrianaitken wrote:That is thirteen seconds (one more than twelve, one less than fourteen). Remember though that it is only useable as a standalone PC since no drivers are loaded. My X61 is Duo2Core 2 Ghz, 4Gig RAM, 32Gig Sandisk SSD.

Hi Adrianaitken,
I'm wondering if you need to update your BIOS or not, since one of my friend told me that he can not install Mtron Pro 7000 SSD (SATA 2.5" 64G) on his X61/ X61s (Taiwan version).

I'm running the latest BIOS from Lenovo's website.
Also, if installing XP 'fresh' then your friend must change, via the BIOS, the SATA mode to compatibility when installing XP and once he's downloaded the SATA drivers (and installed them), then go back into the BIOS and change it back to ACHI (or whatever it's called).

ajkula66 wrote:smvp6459 wrote:

Did you really boot up XP SP1 in 13 seconds? Was that a typo and supposed to be 1:13?

For the record, my A31p which is stone age compared to X61 when it comes to CPU, boots XP SP1 (non-IBM) in a lot less than 1:13...

Oh yeah. I resisted SP2 for so long. In fact I tried it on a machine and hated it so much that I reinstalled XP. They really messed things up with the excessive hand holding they put in SP2.

gpvillamil wrote:

adrianaitken wrote:That is thirteen seconds (one more than twelve, one less than fourteen). Remember though that it is only useable as a standalone PC since no drivers are loaded. My X61 is Duo2Core 2 Ghz, 4Gig RAM, 32Gig Sandisk SSD.

Just installed Web server 2008 (32 bit edition, SP1 integrated). Starts up in 24 seconds, closes in 6.5 seconds wit hdrivers installed as above. Since that is pretty nippy I think I'll give this a try out (Microsoft lets you play with it for free for 240 days).

The lack of network drivers probably accounts for a lot of the speeed, right there. IIRC Windows checks each of the network connections during startup, and this takes a surprising amount of time.

There was a post somewhere on this forum about reinstalling the Intel networking drivers that described how to remove any redundant, non-working network connections, I found that it dramatically improved my boot times. I'll try to dig it up.

Interesting.

sxr71 wrote:

ajkula66 wrote:smvp6459 wrote:


For the record, my A31p which is stone age compared to X61 when it comes to CPU, boots XP SP1 (non-IBM) in a lot less than 1:13...

Oh yeah. I resisted SP2 for so long. In fact I tried it on a machine and hated it so much that I reinstalled XP. They really messed things up with the excessive hand holding they put in SP2.

I ran sp0 for a long time w/ out any problems w/ viruses etc. which is
generally what the sp's are supposed to be for! bugs, viruses etc.
I never had any infections- I figure mostly because every piece of
malware out there was targeted at sp2 ^_^

Or you are just too careful