kylake wrote:
1. Intel Chipset III for windows 98se/2000/XP is one that won't install and it is a mandatory.
2. I haven't done the latest Bio update yet. It would move me from
1VET65WW(1.23) to 1VUJ25US(1.29). Does anyone know of any issues making this bios update?
3. I also haven't been able to load IBM Access connections moving from 3.10 to 3.71
Also unable to install IBM thinkpad Power manager driver moving from 1.25.01 to 1.30
I had no problems with the bios updates on my R51. Do that one first, manually from the Lenovo site, then decide what else you want. For instance Access Connections is nice if you run around the country and like your machine to recognize your different places you connect, like hotels, etc. but otherwise the good old Windows setup will do the job.
The others are software installer won't update and Rescue and Recovery won't update.
I have a R51 that came with no operating system and so I was challenged to install the IBM features from scratch.
If you decide to run Rescue & Recovery from the factory partition get ready for about a 2 1/2 hour job. When it's finished you will have a machine as it came out of the box in 2005 (or whatever year they imaged it).
This means you will still have to do all the Microsft updates (probably over 100 of them), then you will be able to update your IBM specific features. If those features are already working for you, why bother to update, unless your machine tells you it needs something after the huge Microsoft Update session.
Do you have any other images of your machine when it was new? Such as a Ghost or Acronis image that you made previously? You could run that and avoid the huge R & R job.
How much RAM do you have on your R51? All the updates and patches will take more computer power to run. Low RAM will equal even slower performance after the updates.
Don't rely on Lenovo's software installer. Just grab what you want from the site, and don't bother with features that you never use.
With plenty of RAM and properly tuned up, the R51 will even run Vista quite well.
Just for starters, why not manually unstall the IBM programs from Add/Remove and see how things run. CC Cleaner freeware will help you clean things up, too.
I'm sure you know the value of a good defrag session which will help perk things up a bit, also.
-good luck with your project.