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IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

R30/R40, A30/A31, G40/G50 and Z60/Z61 Series. NOT for AMD-Ryzen.
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IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#1 Post by ThinkPad560X » Thu Feb 18, 2010 1:28 pm

Letting everyone know Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate will work on a ThinkPad G40.

My ThinkPad G40 is running a test 20GB HDD and 512MB RAM. I Will inform about lenovo software compatibility later on in this post.
IBM: 760XD,770Z,600X,240,560X,560Z,570,380Z,390X,i1200,i1400,
A22m,A22e,A30,G40,R31,R40,R50,R60,R61,R400,R500,
T20,T23,T30,T40,T43,T60,T61,T400,T400s,T500,W500,W700,
X21,X30,X41,X41T,X60,X60T,X200,X200T,X300,X120e,Z60m,Z61tT410T410sT510T420T420sT520
T430T430sT430UT530T470T470sT470pT570SL500L470L570

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#2 Post by firenx » Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:09 am

Hey! Im trying to install Win7 on a g40 but getting the error:

"Windows could not retrieve information about the disks on this computer"

Any tips on how you got it to install?? Would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#3 Post by ThinkPad560X » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:30 am

first did you check to see if the CD will read, test on another computer. on the G40 see how much RAM you have in it. should atlest have 512MB. 2nd must have a DVD Drive. Most but all ThinkPad G40 came with a CD/RW/DVD-ROM Drive. 3rd how mucg HDD space do you have? I have a WD 80GB in mine. Are you installing with a fresh install or a upgrade install?
I bought the Upgrade version.
IBM: 760XD,770Z,600X,240,560X,560Z,570,380Z,390X,i1200,i1400,
A22m,A22e,A30,G40,R31,R40,R50,R60,R61,R400,R500,
T20,T23,T30,T40,T43,T60,T61,T400,T400s,T500,W500,W700,
X21,X30,X41,X41T,X60,X60T,X200,X200T,X300,X120e,Z60m,Z61tT410T410sT510T420T420sT520
T430T430sT430UT530T470T470sT470pT570SL500L470L570

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#4 Post by ThinkPad560X » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:32 am

should also do a scandisk on the HDD.
And is the Windows 7 32-Bit or 64-Bit?
Should be 32-Bit
IBM: 760XD,770Z,600X,240,560X,560Z,570,380Z,390X,i1200,i1400,
A22m,A22e,A30,G40,R31,R40,R50,R60,R61,R400,R500,
T20,T23,T30,T40,T43,T60,T61,T400,T400s,T500,W500,W700,
X21,X30,X41,X41T,X60,X60T,X200,X200T,X300,X120e,Z60m,Z61tT410T410sT510T420T420sT520
T430T430sT430UT530T470T470sT470pT570SL500L470L570

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#5 Post by firenx » Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:07 am

hey i got it installed but there was no drivers for my video card :( intel 82557 or something

i only have the CDRW, no dvdrom.. i made 2 partitions, installed xp on the first, mounted the windows 7 iso over the network with daemon tools then installed from there..

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#6 Post by ajkula66 » Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:27 am

I doubt that Intel integrated graphics as seen on G40 are supported by W7, you'll probably have to search the web for a modded driver.

Good luck.
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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#7 Post by ac12 » Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:16 am

I am thinking about upgrading my G40 from XP to Win7.
But the stumbling block seem to be the video driver. I can't find any Win7 video drivers.
How have those of you that have Win7 on your G40 handled the video?

I loaded my G40 w 2GB of RAM so I think I'm OK there...I think.

This will be a casual home PC, not a game machine.

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#8 Post by ajkula66 » Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:48 am

I believe that any desktop graphics will be crippled on G40 due to a lack of proper driver.

These machines run XP very well, and that's where they should stay IMO...

My $0.02 only...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

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Abused daily: T520, X200s


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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#9 Post by ac12 » Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:59 pm

Now that XP is EoL, I'm thinking about putting win7 on the upgraded G40 (P4, 2GB RAM, 150GB hd)

There apparently is a hack to use an older XP driver in place of the VGA driver in win7.
I don't know how it will work.

And the Lenovo site has changed. There is a new G40 computer currently out, and I can't find any of the old files for the old G40. :( Anyone know where to find the files?

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#10 Post by brchan » Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:06 pm

An alternative to Windows is also Linux. Most modern distros with fancy GUIs will probably run slow on it, but if you install something like puppy linux onto it should be pretty fast and easy to use. Now to get really fast, you would install and configure a distro such as Arch linux or tiny core linux. However, the learning curve can be a bit steep. With linux, antivirus software is very rarely needed, so no need to install resource hogging AV on an already pretty old computer.
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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#11 Post by rkawakami » Mon Mar 23, 2015 3:32 pm

ac12 wrote:There is a new G40 computer currently out, and I can't find any of the old files for the old G40. :( Anyone know where to find the files?
Don't know the difference between the "old" and "new" G40 systems but the forum is hosting the drivers that were on the Lenovo Support site back in August of last year. At the top of each forum page in the "banner" area, there's a link named Drivers. Click it and you can navigate down to this page:

http://www.thinkpads.com/support/Thinkp ... m/G40.html
Ray Kawakami
X22 X24 X31 X41 X41T X60 X60s X61 X61s X200 X200s X300 X301 Z60m Z61t Z61p 560 560Z 600 600E 600X T21 T22 T23 T41 T60p T410 T420 T520 W500 W520 R50 A21p A22p A31 A31p
NOTE: All links to PC-Doctor software hosted by me are dead. Files removed 8/28/12 by manufacturer's demand.

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#12 Post by Shredder11 » Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:39 pm

In October 2013 I downloaded a file for my G40 named "855gm_vista_driver.zip", which I plan on using with my G41 once I have added a PATA SSD. Sadly there is no support for AHCI in the BIOS but should work ok otherwise. I also downloaded a modded SLIC 2.1 BIOS for my G40, so installing Windows 7 should be a breeze. Now if anyone has a modded G41 BIOS with AHCI..... ;)

The 855gm_vista_driver.zip can be downloaded from the link below, plus there are user comments on how to install it:

http://www.driverguide.com/driver/detai ... id=1556195
Last edited by Shredder11 on Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
Z61p x3 (C2D T7600, 3GB, 500GB SSD, BCM70015, Advanced Dock x1, Mini Dock x2)
W520 (C2Q i7-2720QM, 8GB, 60GB SSD)
X61 (C2D T7500, 3GB, 250GB SSD, BCM70015)
X61s (2GB, 120GB SSD)
T43p (P M 760, 2GB, IBM Port Replicator II, 128GB SSD)
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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#13 Post by ThinkPad560X » Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:11 am

From my experience IDE PATA SSD is really slow, T40, T30, R50 and a few other ThinkPads I upgraded "Was planning to upgrade all my ThinkPads to SSD" I just kept with a basic IDE HDD in my G40 witch it runs faster then the PATA SSD. Also from what I seen before Lenovo doesn't have a ThinkPad G series model but only their own house brand G. http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-G50-15-6-I ... B00K6ZIFAQ
IBM: 760XD,770Z,600X,240,560X,560Z,570,380Z,390X,i1200,i1400,
A22m,A22e,A30,G40,R31,R40,R50,R60,R61,R400,R500,
T20,T23,T30,T40,T43,T60,T61,T400,T400s,T500,W500,W700,
X21,X30,X41,X41T,X60,X60T,X200,X200T,X300,X120e,Z60m,Z61tT410T410sT510T420T420sT520
T430T430sT430UT530T470T470sT470pT570SL500L470L570

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#14 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:37 am

ThinkPad560X wrote:From my experience IDE PATA SSD is really slow, T40, T30, R50 and a few other ThinkPads I upgraded "Was planning to upgrade all my ThinkPads to SSD" I just kept with a basic IDE HDD in my G40 witch it runs faster then the PATA SSD.
Yep. This matches my own experiences as well.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

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One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#15 Post by Shredder11 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 5:35 pm

So in both your experiences SSD is a waste of time in models like the IBM G40 / G41? I did a CrystalDiskMark test on a 40GB Toshiba IDE drive in the G41 and that reported a top read speed of around 25MB/s I think; also the 4K results were awful. So surely a PATA SSD can improve on this! :o

This could also mean I might be wasting my time upgrading my sister's Acer Aspire 5612WLMi, which is a 2006 PATA model (some in the range were SATA) and has the same main chipset as the Thinkpad T60p. Her BIOS lacks AHCI support and therefore will be slower at multitasking stuff. I had read a few reviews of PATA SSD in older laptops that doubled the speed of the previous physical IDE drive. The results were usually around the 60MB/s mark for read speed.
Z61p x3 (C2D T7600, 3GB, 500GB SSD, BCM70015, Advanced Dock x1, Mini Dock x2)
W520 (C2Q i7-2720QM, 8GB, 60GB SSD)
X61 (C2D T7500, 3GB, 250GB SSD, BCM70015)
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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#16 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 5:46 pm

Shredder11 wrote:So in both your experiences SSD is a waste of time in models like the IBM G40 / G41?
Yes. PATA SSDs are best left alone. A good (Hitachi/Seagate) 7200rpm spinner will make the machine noticeably faster.
This could also mean I might be wasting my time upgrading my sister's Acer Aspire 5612WLMi, which is a 2006 PATA model (some in the range were SATA) and has the same main chipset as the Thinkpad T60p. Her BIOS lacks AHCI support and therefore will be slower at multitasking stuff. I had read a few reviews of PATA SSD in older laptops that doubled the speed of the previous physical IDE drive. The results were usually around the 60MB/s mark for read speed.
I can't say anything about the Acer in question...apart from the fact that I wouldn't spend any time/money on upgrading it. T6x series machines are dirt cheap nowadays...

My $0.02 only...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#17 Post by Shredder11 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:26 pm

Regards the Acer model and swapping it for a Thinkpad, I had that argument with her back in 2012 but she wanted to stick with what she knows. Shame because on paper my Z61p has the same hardware spec as hers (CPU, chipset, RAM etc) but mine blows the Acer out of the water and into orbit. It might be worth a cheap 64GB SSD to improve access times, as launching programs is sluggish.
Z61p x3 (C2D T7600, 3GB, 500GB SSD, BCM70015, Advanced Dock x1, Mini Dock x2)
W520 (C2Q i7-2720QM, 8GB, 60GB SSD)
X61 (C2D T7500, 3GB, 250GB SSD, BCM70015)
X61s (2GB, 120GB SSD)
T43p (P M 760, 2GB, IBM Port Replicator II, 128GB SSD)
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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#18 Post by ajkula66 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:31 pm

Shredder11 wrote: It might be worth a cheap 64GB SSD to improve access times, as launching programs is sluggish.
A glass of water on the keyboard would be even cheaper, and solve the problem for good... :twisted:
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#19 Post by Shredder11 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:46 pm

Good job hers is an Acer otherwise we would be here forever trying to do that with our Thinkpads! ;)
Z61p x3 (C2D T7600, 3GB, 500GB SSD, BCM70015, Advanced Dock x1, Mini Dock x2)
W520 (C2Q i7-2720QM, 8GB, 60GB SSD)
X61 (C2D T7500, 3GB, 250GB SSD, BCM70015)
X61s (2GB, 120GB SSD)
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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#20 Post by ThinkPad560X » Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:50 pm

Even my ThinkPad X41 and X41 Tablet has IDE PATA SSDs and replaced them with the original 60GB HDDs, they are slow and not fast as SATA. Now if the G40 had SATA, then yes get a SSD, I wasted buying a PATA IDE SSD on my ThinkPads T30, T40, R50, X41, X41T, 770Z, 600X, 560Z. No improvement but a slower OS boot and work on. Once it loads to the desktop you can click on IE or my documents or any folder program and it will take over 5-7sec to load / respond. SSD wasn't retail when these ThinkPads were around and I even used the first SSD witch was a CF card and Adapter, Same results and thought a real SSD PATA would clear it up, no. So the best to do is get a IDE HDD. And Yes IDE HDDs are going to get harder to find soon, at least working or New ones. I got the original 80GB HDD in my G40 with 2GB RAM Max and it runs really well.
IBM: 760XD,770Z,600X,240,560X,560Z,570,380Z,390X,i1200,i1400,
A22m,A22e,A30,G40,R31,R40,R50,R60,R61,R400,R500,
T20,T23,T30,T40,T43,T60,T61,T400,T400s,T500,W500,W700,
X21,X30,X41,X41T,X60,X60T,X200,X200T,X300,X120e,Z60m,Z61tT410T410sT510T420T420sT520
T430T430sT430UT530T470T470sT470pT570SL500L470L570

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#21 Post by Shredder11 » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:58 am

In my first G40 it had the original 40GB 4200rpm IDE drive and with a modest Win XP Pro SP3 install, it booted in around 25secs! So I decided to upgrade that to a 60GB 7200rpm drive and clone the old drive and the 60GB booted slightly slower! However the G40 I have feels great to use and is way faster than my G41, due to one having 2GB RAM and the other a mere 256MB (2GB on the way).

Were your SSD upgraded Thinkpads installed with maximum RAM and CPU?
Z61p x3 (C2D T7600, 3GB, 500GB SSD, BCM70015, Advanced Dock x1, Mini Dock x2)
W520 (C2Q i7-2720QM, 8GB, 60GB SSD)
X61 (C2D T7500, 3GB, 250GB SSD, BCM70015)
X61s (2GB, 120GB SSD)
T43p (P M 760, 2GB, IBM Port Replicator II, 128GB SSD)
G41 (P4 3.46GHz, 2GB, 128GB SSD)

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#22 Post by ajkula66 » Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:14 am

Shredder11 wrote: So I decided to upgrade that to a 60GB 7200rpm drive and clone the old drive and the 60GB booted slightly slower!
That may very well have something to do with the cloning. I always suggest a clean install, if at all possible.
Were your SSD upgraded Thinkpads installed with maximum RAM and CPU?
I'll answer for myself and say "yes, as far as I can recall" since it's been a while.

You may want to look into mSATA to IDE adapter. I'm not sure whether they'll perform well (like in R5x/T4x) or atrociously (like A3x/T3x) but the chipset *should* be modern enough for this application.

Hopefully automobus will chime in since this is his area of expertise...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#23 Post by ac12 » Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:58 pm

To resurect an old thread . . .

I have a mSATA SSD in a mSATA to PATA adapter on 2 other computers; a Thinkpad T23 and a Dell C400, both with Win-XP. The SSD does make a significant difference in how snappy the old computers feel, vs. mechanical hard drives. I attribute this to the essentially 0 access time of the SSD vs. the mechanical hard disk. So the SSD can get the data to the PATA interface faster than the mechanical drive. This works better with LOTS of little files than a single large file.

So given the low cost of SSDs now, it might be an option worth looking at.
But, given that the G40/41 is hardware limited, one should think hard about spending more money on it.

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Re: IBM ThinkPad G40 Microsoft Windows 7

#24 Post by Hacker117 » Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:52 pm

ac12 wrote:
Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:58 pm
To resurect an old thread . . .

I have a mSATA SSD in a mSATA to PATA adapter on 2 other computers; a Thinkpad T23 and a Dell C400, both with Win-XP. The SSD does make a significant difference in how snappy the old computers feel, vs. mechanical hard drives. I attribute this to the essentially 0 access time of the SSD vs. the mechanical hard disk. So the SSD can get the data to the PATA interface faster than the mechanical drive. This works better with LOTS of little files than a single large file.

So given the low cost of SSDs now, it might be an option worth looking at.
But, given that the G40/41 is hardware limited, one should think hard about spending more money on it.
Still running my IBM ThinkPad G40 laptop (P4 3.0 GHz CPU) ... replaced the incumbent 4200 rpm IDE (pata) hdd with a bigger capacity (90 GB) 7200 rpm IDE hdd I got off of eBay ... maxed the RAM out to 2 GB ... installed the latest version of antiX Linux ... Palemoon browser and Claws email client ... forget about any Windows version above XP with these legacy computers ... an ultra light Linux distro is your best option ... runs fine ... loads most webpages quickly & plays most youtube smoothly with no stuttering ... pretty good for 17 year old laptop ... this was a custom “loaded” business laptop in its day and cost $3000 new in 2004.

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