Thinkpads Forum

As my first post here, i'd like to say hello to everybody.
This appears to be a great forum and it amazes me how good it functions - like a real community.

I'm a computer science student and my university provides all the software from Microsoft through the MSDN Academic Alliance program. That said much of Microsoft's software is available free of charge for educational purposes to all the students, including Vista Business edition.
Since I didn't want to pay extra for the OS that was already available to me, I ordered my Thinkpad T400 with Vista Basic, saving around $60 with the intention of installing vista business once my notebook arrives.
Before making a new clean install I made recovery disks from the extra partition. Little did I knew that not all of the pre-installed software is available on those DVDs, most notably Roxio Creator.
Well I could live without it but there are still few issues that really bothered me and I'd like to share my experience:
1. Not all the pre-installed software from Lenovo (ThinkVantage software) is downloadable from the support website.
2. I can't seem to find the new wallpapers (the ones with the time zones) and the shiny desktop icons. If anyone has a package with them, please post a link, I really liked the timezone wallpapers.
Also I think there were three Windows Sidebar gadgets, but now I have only two of them, the one Access connection gadget has disappered.
3. On a clean install not all the drivers work out of the box, severe tweaking in some cases is required. For example the fingerprint reader didn't work after resuming windows from sleep. The solution to this problem was to tweak a few power saving settings in Device Manager and to install a registry patch from Lenovo. Thus the patch didn't automatically download with the ThinkVantage System Update software I had to download it manually. The annoying stuff here is that Lenovo are apperantly well aware of this issue but there isn't a single bit of information posted anywhere, so you kind of feel like Arthur Dent before having your planet blown away.
So if anyone has an issue with the fingerprint reader failing to initialise after sleep, one should download the patch to correct the idle IRP timing issue on the fingerprint reader.
4. Apart from these problems i am really please with the ThinkVantage software. What I like most about it is that you can always tweak advanced settings and sophisticated information is provided to you. Upgrading from an old HP Compaq nx9110 this really had my eyes opened. I really feel I'm in control of the notebook and not vice-versa.
5. Minor issue - the switching graphics menu was a bit tricky to find, a litle lack in the documentation.
6. And another thing -- i used to see the dvd drive as a removable device in the EasyEject Utility but once I did a clean install it's gone from the list. Help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Overall I'm really pleased with the performance.. The last thinkpad I had was 600E and this was nearly 10 years ago. I love the new display, the lack of fan noise and the weight.

Todor

Thanks for the info. I don't know if you saw this, but there is a Vista clean install guide over at Notebook Review:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=294974

It might be helpful for tracking down drivers and making sure things are installed in the correct order.

Thanks for the reply, Afty.
Unfortunately it wasn't until I did a full clean install that I discovered all the guides and FAQs concerning the clean Vista install. These guides differ slightly but they both accomplish the same goal.
Using the ThinkVantage System Update I managed to install most of the necessary drivers and software.

More of a cosmetic issue but I still can't find these cool time zone wallpapers. Searching both Thinkpads.com and Notebook Review I didn't manage to find this "cosmetic" package. There are many links, one to the Lenovo Japan site, which publishes new wallpapers every month, and a russian site with collections of IBM/Lenovo wallpapers. None of these sites had the wallpapers.
Someone at Notebook Review provided an archive with all the wallpapers but unfortunately the file is not available any longer (an online sharing site was used, dead link).
I've managed to move on, the only problem is that my personality is a bit pedantic in such cases

All I can say to those intending to make a Vista/XP clean install is: create a backup. Make a copy of the C:\swtools folder. Make a copy of the Drivers folder and the applications too. Once you make recovery DVDs make sure you check them - they may not contain all the pre-installed software, nor some of the drivers. Copy the lenovo wallpapers folder too
I know that you can always recover the factory pre-installed software either through ThinkVantage R&R (if you haven't deleted the partition... like I did) or through the DVDs but once you make a clean install it's a pain to do everything all over again.

Ha, kakva iznenada! Za tolkova vreme nai-nakraja mi se sluchva da vidja vyv foruma njakogo ot Sofia!
Welcome to the forum and enjoy your new Thinky! I´m sure you will find tons of useful information on this forum. That being said your best friend is the search feature that could be found right under the forum title (look above ). You may also want to check out ThinkWiki from time to time.

Cheers

Marin

EDIT: I´m always getting so excited when welcoming new forum members that I always have to edit my posts a few times

Haha, blagodarya za toploto posreshtane

Anyway I've spent much time searching the forums, i have also an old Thinkpad 600E with no HDD, but still useful for browsing and watching movies and this all thanks to these forums.
ThinkWiki is a really useful wiki, especially if running gnu/linux. I hear the new kernel has support for the Intel WiFi Link 5300 with some tweaking, so i might give ubuntu or suse a try. At last Intel decided to integrate virtualization technology to their mobile CPU line, so even installation won't be necessary. I hate dual booting anyway.

Anyway Marin4o if you happen to have those famous wallpapers I've been jammern about, please send me a PM. Help would be much appreciated.

Toshe,

I zipped up the Lenovo wallpapers from my machine and posted them here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/147892867/L ... s.zip.html

Enjoy!

Afty, I can't tell you how greatful I am!

Thank you for the wallpapers, my desktop glows

Afty wrote:Toshe,

I zipped up the Lenovo wallpapers from my machine and posted them here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/147892867/L ... s.zip.html

Enjoy!

You are a god among men.

Spread the word, people. Spread the word!

I may have spoke too soon.

Error
Template not found: 201-ERR:download: free ip limit reached

Perhaps you could rehost it on Megaupload?

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SZLF8UYJ

You're not any old god, you're Zeus.

Afty wrote:Toshe,

I zipped up the Lenovo wallpapers from my machine and posted them here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/147892867/L ... s.zip.html

Enjoy!

Many thanks. Been looking for it.
Too bad there isn't a 1920x1200 version of the new Thinkdots wallpaper.

Awesome. The Thinkpad wallpapers seem to have come a long way since the *60 series. The Thinkdot and Blackmap wallpapers are my favourites.
If there is demand for the (rather boring, compared to these new ones) original world map wallpaper of my T60, let me know.

I like the Thinkpad wallpapers. Looks great in KDE4 with some of the plasmoids.

Thanks!

Toshe:

Like you, I'm replacing Vista Home Basic on a new T400 with Vista Business from my university (not on the upgrade path). (I'm a prof, but not computer science, and I'm worried I'll get stuck at some point. So I have lots of questions:

1. which online guide would be best to follow for this purpose?
2. Which of these are important to do, and in what order? Create recovery discs (using CDs -- no DVD writer). Use ABR (Activation Backup and Restore). Make an acronis image (I believe I have an old version of the program.)
3. Is there any reformatting I MUST do? Or SHOULD do? And with what utility?
4. Because the Thinkpad utilities for Vista (Home Basic) are pre-installed, can I just keep them for Windows Business? If so, should I therefore leave the Lenovo partition (about 9G) alone? If NOT, which utilities if any should I copy to a flash drive BEFORE the install?
5. Where would it be best to install Vista business? I have 3 visible partitions, and I presume one hidden.
6. I think I read that for the 32-bit version I should start from Windows. However, for a clean install (or for reformatting), I need to start from the DVD. So which?
7. Should I remove the Lenovo Hidden Recovery Partition (using Diskpart)?
8. Should I leave the BIOS SATA configuration at AHCI?

This may require a team of experts to answer completely, but anyone who helps with even one of my questions will have my undying gratitude.