Thinkpads Forum

Hello. I have this new T500 that came preloaded with Vista. I got everything set up before I realized that there was an XP disc set in the box, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. It's been terrible to say the least. I've had numerous crashes, and problems with closing the lid and the machine crashing upon opening. The amount of junk installed on here is just ridiculous. I've been removing stuff like crazy and it still doesn't work right.

Can I install XP from a normal OEM disk and use the S/N on the machine, or do I have to use the Lenovo disk set? I'd really like to only have the minimal set up, without having to remove everything after a full install. I'm coming from a Mac with a VMWare Fusion XP install that is 100% reliable, so this has been quite the bad experience and frankly I'd like it to go back to Lenovo.

Yes, as long as your XP disc is an OEM copy (that will accept serial numbers from COAs), you should be fine.
IMHO, you will find that the machine will run far better with a clean install than it does with the Lenovo preload.

Make sure that you set the SATA operation to compatibility mode in the BIOS before installing XP from a normal OEM disc.

I have a T61p with Vista Business 64-bit. It came preloaded, and I did remove some of the lesser used stuff (to me), but kept most of it. To that I added new versions of all the software I use. The result has been a rock-solid, no-crash, trouble-free computer. Are you sure you did not add some incompatable software? Otherwise if it was crashing out of the box (zero software loaded), I would not attempt to load XP, rather I would send the machine back and say it doesn't work. After it is repaired, that would be the time to return to XP. ... JDH

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm not sure if there are incompatibilities with my software or not. It all runs fast and fine on my Fusion VM, I've just been a bit tired of the multi-layer VM thing, but it seems to work better on almost every app, except for multi-core power hogs like Photoshop.

At this point I'm hoping to get an RMA from where I purchased it from. It's not worth the hassle.

If for some reason your key does not work, you can use the disc's key if you know it to install XP, then the XP activation program allows you to change the key before activating. At this point you can change it to your key and activate it. I've done this many times with both XP Home and Pro. So far it has never failed activate over the internet, but since your key is a Vista key, it may differ. I've never done it with a Vista key. I'd say worst case situation is you'll have to call Microsoft and explain the situation to get them to activate it. As long as your COA is valid I foresee no issues for you, but I don't have any firsthand knowledge doing it.

Like jdhurst, I'm running Vista Business x64 (now SP2) on my T500. I had a lot of problems at first with sleeping and waking from sleep (see this old post of mine). I was having to manually cut power 2 or 3 times a day. However it's been rock-solid since I did two things. First, I stopped using Microsoft's Power Options app and used the Lenovo Power Manager power plans exclusively. Presto -- no more sleep problems. I had been using Vista's "Balanced" option, but it doesn't show up in Power Manager, and I suspect some of the important platform-specific settings (or tweaks) are missing from the Vista options. The Power Manager and ThinkVantage Status sidebar gadgets are a convenient shortcut for switching power plans, as Power Manager takes ridiculously long to start up. Power Manager is required to view plan specifics, or to build custom plans, which are working fine for me too BTW.

Second, I installed the newly revamped System Update, which keeps me current on a bunch of driver updates and patches. True, it creates a moving target and not all patches are vital, but it gives you confidence that the known problems are solved. It's better to have the latest fixes if you get to the point where you have to make a service call. System Update is here; don't forget to install the patch if you're running Vista SP2, or plan to.

------

Well, I wrote all of the above before I realized I didn't really address your question. If you really want to stick with XP, then I'd still recommend System Update and Power Manager at the very least. It's not hard to tweak Vista to be easier on CPU/graphics/RAM, and if you have 3 or 4 GB of RAM, you may need a 64-bit OS to actually use all of it.

Best of luck!