Thinkpads Forum

Hey all,

Due to the fact that I had to essentially restore my computer to factory settings not too long ago, I've been considering upgrading from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Professional, since my university gives out free product keys for 7 Pro. Since I've never manually upgraded the operating system on any of my computers before, I was just wondering if there was anything I need to be wary of as I upgrade. I'm aware that I'm going to be doing a clean install here, but I'm just worried about doing something wrong and that's kinda stopping me from going forward

Any information you may have, especially in regards to upgrading the T500 specifically (like, are there T500-specific drivers that are different in 7 Pro that Vista Ultimate or something like that) will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any responses and patience at my noobishness!

There's not much to it, except for maybe the switchable graphics driver. (Do you have Intel-only or ATI/Intel?)

Windows 7 should get you up and running straight after install. Install Lenovo drivers (possibly using System Update) before Windows Update.

I second the System Update utility. Just get it on a flash drive before you refresh your T500 and run it after you install W7. The only caveat is that I've had to re-run it several times afterward as when one package wants to restart your computer it doesn't automatically restart itself and install everything else.

@Colonel O'Neill: I've got the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 and Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family display adapters. What's the problem with them during the update?

And that System Update utility seems really useful. Is there an easy way to prune out the useful updates from the not-so-essential ones, as well as any ones that would be better doing the Lenovo update for rather than the Windows update?

Thanks for the feedback guys

System Update will give you a list of all the available updates, and you can pick and choose which, if any, you want to install. I would rely on Lenovo for updates before Microsoft, but that's just me. Both will offer useful updates, but system drivers seem to work better from the manufacturer whenever available.

thoth wrote:@Colonel O'Neill: I've got the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 and Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family display adapters. What's the problem with them during the update?

And that System Update utility seems really useful. Is there an easy way to prune out the useful updates from the not-so-essential ones, as well as any ones that would be better doing the Lenovo update for rather than the Windows update?

Thanks for the feedback guys

One of the main problems were that an older display driver for the switchable GPU had issues in Win7. When resuming from sleep both the X4500 and HD3650 would turn on, adversely affecting temps and battery life. I can confirm that the latest Win7 display driver for the T500 has fixed this problem.

The System Update utility has tabs that will show you critical, recommended and optional updates, and will also include Windows Update packages that specifically impact your T500. If you have specific questions on what to include and what to leave out, you can ask us about specific packages. Normally I'll install all of them as I do make use of Access Connections. At the very least install the Power Manager app as that is what allows you to switch GPUs.

That sounds fair enough

Does System Update 3 work in 7? That's the current version of it I have and looking at the application download page seems to indicate that 7 needs version 4.

I realize that this probably wouldn't make too big of a difference, I just want to reduce any sort of possible screwups I could have here

Go ahead and update to version 4.0

If you install the non-switchable ATI or Intel drivers from Windows Update, the Lenovo package has a bit of trouble overwriting them, leading to partially functional switching.

I'd just use System Update 4 first, then Windows Update. Remember to choose to install updates later during Windows Setup.