Problems with Win7 on T41

[spot_ex]

Hi there! I've put Windows 7 on my T41 but faced some problems.
First - I don't have PowerPlay option for my Ati Radeon 7500. I've installed the video driver, even tried with some Control Center (suggested from other forum) but all ended with a bluescreen. What can I do?
Other thing - Fn+F5 appears, but doesn't swith the wi-fi on and off. Drivers installed, but nothing..
Please, help!

[dsvochak]

What can I do?

The short answer probably is nothing. These are some of the problems trying to run a new OS on an older machine—certain things just don’t work.

It appears none of the ATI software will run in Win7. I have the same problem with Fn-F5 but it’s not an issue for me as I never turn off the wireless card. I’m more concerned about Fn-F3 not turning off the monitor. I don’t think it’s likely Lenovo will address these issues by releasing T41 drivers.

Nice to hear you got Win7 installed. I’d appreciate your impressions after you’ve run it awhile

[K0LO]

...Other thing - Fn+F5 appears, but doesn't swith the wi-fi on and off. Drivers installed, but nothing...

Have you installed the Hotkey driver and System Interface driver from the Lenovo Windows 7 Beta software page?

[spot_ex]

The short answer probably is nothing. These are some of the problems trying to run a new OS on an older machine—certain things just don’t work.

It appears none of the ATI software will run in Win7. I have the same problem with Fn-F5 but it’s not an issue for me as I never turn off the wireless card. I’m more concerned about Fn-F3 not turning off the monitor. I don’t think it’s likely Lenovo will address these issues by releasing T41 drivers.

Nice to hear you got Win7 installed. I’d appreciate your impressions after you’ve run it awhile

My impressions are pretty good for now - the system works very nicely, maybe slightly faster than on XP. All programs are working fine. Aero is dissabled because of the little memory (Ati Radeon 7500 - 32MB) but thats not important actually.
Fn+F3 also doesn't work. Strange.
I'm mostly worried about the PowerPlay - without it my system loses 30% or more battery life. Thats a waste!!!

Other issue is that I can't uninstall the XP from the other partition of the hard drive. No uninstall option under XP, no change of formatting the partition (acces denied). Any ideas?

[GomJabbar]

Fn+F3 is a function of the video driver. Lenovo adds that function, but non-Lenovo versions of video drivers do not have it. Hopefully someone will write a driver such as Radeontool (Linux) to add this feature.

[spot_ex]

About the wireless problem - should I install Access Connection? Would that solve the problem
and which version if so?

[dsvochak]

I'm mostly worried about the PowerPlay - without it my system loses 30% or more battery life.

If the 30% loss you're referencing was with XP as the OS, you may see an improvement in Win7 without PowerPlay. While I can't be sure, it appears my machine runs longer on battery with Win7 than with XP. I haven't previously mentioned this for a few reasons: 1) I don't have any data; 2) I generally run on A/C so it's not a big issue for me.

As I don't use access connections I can't address the other question.

[tranle]

About the wireless problem - should I install Access Connection? Would that solve the problem
and which version if so?

I have tried the new Access Connection (5.31) but it does not seems to be able to control the power on/off of the wifi device. So I have uninstalled it. The Win7 default setup seems to work fine except that you have to leave Wifi on at all time.

[dsvochak]

The Win7 default setup seems to work fine except that you have to leave Wifi on at all time.

To turn off: Network->Network and Sharing Center->Change Adaptor Settings->Select Wireless adaptor->Disable this Network Device

To turn on: Ditto except “enable this network device”

Not as convenient as Fn-F5 but accomplishes the same thing.

[spot_ex]

To turn off: Network->Network and Sharing Center->Change Adaptor Settings->Select Wireless adaptor->Disable this Network Device

To turn on: Ditto except “enable this network device”

Not as convenient as Fn-F5 but accomplishes the same thing.

It's a half-day work going through these menues.. I've found a faster way - just put a shortcut to your wireless connection on the desktop. Right mouse click on in -> Disable/Enable. But using Fn+F5 is better for me so I'll keep trying!

About the battery life - there are many options in the Mobility Center profiles, anything that worths more attention? I have BatteryMaximizer tool and NHC, but I don't like both of their "battery tools at the taskbar". So I'm going with the Win7 options. What should I disable or change for major improvment (safe to the battery itself:) )?

Other thing - I'm very happy to say that some programs run faster than on XP - Mozilla Firefox, MS Office 2007, WinAmp..

All the best, folks!
George

[spot_ex]

New problem - playing video in YouTube in full screen - it's a nigthmare! The picture is scrambled, you can't understand absolutely NOTHING! I'm with the Ati Radeon 7500 driver, taken from the forum..
It might be because I installed Power Manager (Win7 Beta), but it crashed the system (blue screen). I made a System restore to a past point and an uninstall, but the icons of Power Manager are still in the right-button menu of the battery.. Maybe the issue is caused by the Power Manager? Or some of its drivers or registry entries which I don't know how to remove (tried System Restore and Uninstall but they are still in the menu). Please help - the issue is alful and I practically CAN'T watch full screen online video!!!

Thanks in advance
George

[craigmontHunter]

I am also running windows 7 on a t41, and I am very impressed- it is as fast if not faster than xp. For the FN+F3, download the powermanager from Lenovo http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... BETA.html#, this will give you more powermanagement options and the option to turn off the display. I have not gotten powerplay to work,but I have found that the windows vista driver http://rapidshare.com/files/227392727/A ... _XDDM_.zip works, I have no problems watching Youtube videos. the only problem is that powerplay does not work, and in xp I get about 2:30, in 7, with the same settings I get about 2:00, on a battery that holds 43% of it's origonal charge (6-cell) For the wireless, install keyboard customizer, assign a windows key, and when you hit winkey+X, it comes up with the mobility center which has an option to turn off the wireless.

Jack