Windows 7 on t4x generation - whats's your verdict?

[louischow192]

I fix the unknown device issue. Actually the device is "Atmel Tpm Pnp Device". Thanks a lot.

However, The lcd flicker issue still exist. The Version In my system which provided by win 7 update V.8.561.0.0 is the same version that snabjab mentioned to fix his problem.

As In my early post, I find a ATI mobility video 9700 driver version for Asus notebook ( same version of my system, V.8.561.0.0. ). Anyway, I do try to install it and hope to make the change. However, Nothing change. problem still here.

I also aware that the ati driver only provides 50Hz refresh rate for all resolution and I remember that the xp version is 60Hz that has no issue of the flicker before upgrading to win 7.
It is hard to the eye for the flicker issue of my system I have to find the way to fix it or switch back to xp.

Thanks

[portgrimaud2]

I've just installed (32bit) Win7 Professional (upgraded VISTA Professional) and I'm pleased to say, that on my T43, the Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG (WM3B2915ABGNAX) Network Card works just fine - so I guess that Win 7 will work on any ThinkPad after my T43 2668 F5G

[w0qj]

On a slight tangent but still related to your topic, the Thinkpad T4x generation is infamous for its GPU graphics board coming loose from motherboard, due to insufficient body chassis rigidity.
(For the record, this T4x soft body chassis problem was by IBM, not Lenovo).

I own a T42s computer, did consider to upgrade to Win7 with it a few months back, but never got the chance.

The loose GPU problem cropped up for my T42, and since I still had warranty on it, Lenovo was very kind to repair it twice. The key word was *repair*, since Lenovo told me that "there are no more new motherboards for T42 model, so you only get a refurbished motherboard instead".

Despite Lenovo's kind attempts to repair my T42 twice, they could not fully get rid of the problem.
My notebook computer still freezes (need cold reboot) 2-3 times each week, which is still far too frequent.

I'll be upgrading to a new Thinkpad soon, once that T410's actually come out (it's vapourware to me right now).

[Tasurinchi]

Well, now I have Win7 in my T43p (see details in my sig) and it's working with no problems. Wireless drivers installed from the beginning, the graphic drivers via Windows Update and the Lenovo specifics via Lenovo System Update. The only things I had to do manually were TPF and NHC.

Aero is working, it's very nice but I cannot share the terrible exciment other members in this forum felt.

If someone has a T43p like mine and is thinking on upgrading from XP, I can recommend Win7 without any objection!

(btw, Ubuntu 9.10 worked great too Sorry... couldn't resist...)

[marYn]

Win 7 is running flawlessly with Aero on T42, 1.6GHz Dothan, 2GB RAM, Radeon 9600 64MB, SXGA+. Absolutely great OS for this configuration. T42 is running quietly and not very hot.

I also have X31 and I'm running it undervolted (NHC) with Win XP . When running Win 7 it gets very very hot despite my attempt to undervolt with RM clock. In this case I prefer Win XP.

[Tasurinchi]

When running Win 7 it gets very very hot despite my attempt to undervolt with RM clock

That's weird, my X31 has almost the same specs as yours and I never had temp problems... Are you running CPU intensive software?

[marYn]

That's weird, my X31 has almost the same specs as yours and I never had temp problems... Are you running CPU intensive software?

No I'm not, just browsing the web and sending emails.

With notebook hardware control (NHC) and it's undervolting I got around 45 deg. Celsius temperature in XP (ambient temp. around 20deg. Cels.), fan isn't running most of the time. When letting it run at full speed the temp goes down to 35 degrees.

In Win7 I reach easily 67 degrees Cels.
I may do more testings in the evening....

My CPU is 1.4 GHz Banias, Dothan would be much better. It's a pity it can't be upgraded as T4x series.

[Tasurinchi]

My CPU is 1.4 GHz Banias, Dothan would be much better

I also have a 1.4GHz, but I don't know if it's a Banias or a Dohan (provided there are/were both version with the same speed. I have no clue)

[marYn]

I also have a 1.4GHz, but I don't know if it's a Banias or a Dohan (provided there are/were both version with the same speed. I have no clue)

Thinkpads X31 use Pentium M - Banias core, X32 use Pentium M - Dothan.
Thinkpads X40 use both cores, it just depends which model you have bought.

The difference (simple way) is that Banias core use older fabrication process and the CPU gets more hot than Dothan core on the same speed. Due the newer fabrication process Dothan cores can be underclocked to lower voltages thus we get lower heat emission, lower power drain and subsequently longer battery life and less need for having cpu fan running.

Isn't Dothan core cool?

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Pen ... 8Banias%29
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Pen ... 8Dothan%29

-------------------
Sorry for being OOT.

[Tasurinchi]

Sorry for being OOT.

Oh no worry... learnt something new today...

But again "my Banias" doesn't get hot. In fact the fan does rarely power up under Win7. Have you check dust or any "disturbant" elements inside your X31?

[marYn]

Oh no worry... learnt something new today...

But again "my Banias" doesn't get hot. In fact the fan does rarely power up under Win7. Have you check dust or any "disturbant" elements inside your X31?

It gets only hot under Win7. There might be some malfunctioning driver or something. I have to search more

[Tasurinchi]

Which version of Win7 are you using? The ultimate got all drivers working from Windows Update, also the installation on my T43p went very smoothly (for M$ standards )

[marYn]

Which version of Win7 are you using? The ultimate got all drivers working from Windows Update, also the installation on my T43p went very smoothly (for M$ standards )

It was Professional, downloaded from MSDN for the evaluation. I'll try Ultimate then, thanks for the hint.

BTW Which graphics driver do you use? Do you underclock (both CPU and Graphics chip)?

[Tasurinchi]

BTW Which graphics driver do you use?

I've downloaded the XP one from the lenovo site. It is tricky because you have to only extract them to your C drive, and then update the drivers via the device manager, then it works like a charm. A "real" install did not work for me. I have a thread here describing step by step what I did.

Do you underclock (both CPU and Graphics chip)?

Nope

[marYn]

I've just finished Win7 installation. (it's quite fast even on such old HW as X31 is

Drivers have been updated by windows update, I've also installed RM Clock to undervolt the CPU. It works fine, the only problem is it doesn't show temperature.. another thing to fine tune..

See you later..

[Tasurinchi]

It works fine, the only problem is it doesn't show temperature..

I think NHC and TPF as well show temperatures. At least in my T43p...

[fongalv]

I just did a clean install of Win7 on my T41P and it was surprisingly quick for an OS that takes up about 8gb(on a downgraded 5400rpm drive). While I'm still trying to get used to the new interface, initial experiences are quite positive ie. smooth and snappy tho I have to spend some time looking for certain control/settings.

As for the video issues, I initially tried to "have disk" one of the XP drivers but that just didn't work and caused jerky video. This was solved when I did a windows update. Do note that the ATI components were not listed under "critical updates" and you will have to go under "other available updates" before they appear together with the IR ports, wireless, soundcard drivers, etc.

The graphic adapter now identifies as ATI Mobility FireGL T2/T2e AGP and full screen video does not jerk now!

[thinkpad1]

I don't think that specs deviate so much from your T41, probably your specs are better than the R50 I used and surely better than my X31.

My experience is that Win7 is working great in both machines, but without Aero (no big deal for me, I can't understand the Aero Hype ) I can do everything I could do before with XP and to me it seems to run faster (but have no benchmarks done to prove that). For sure it boots faster.

You don't need that. Lenovo's System Update and Windows Update will install all Win7 drivers you need.

Sorry for late reply but which version of Windows 7 would you recommend? For an old Thinkpad T41, Windows 7 Premium is good enough or too much?

[Tasurinchi]

Sorry for late reply but which version of Windows 7 would you recommend

My experience is limited to the RC and now Win7 Ultimate, I tested also Win7 Home Premiun for a very short period of time, too short to make a fair comparison. But I'm sure Ultimate will also work fine on your T41, at the end it's a more powerfull machine than my X31...

[loyukfai]

Sorry for late reply but which version of Windows 7 would you recommend? For an old Thinkpad T41, Windows 7 Premium is good enough or too much?

Have you seen the comparison charts (e.g. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... fault.aspx, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions)...?

If price is not a factor, get Ultimate.

[tannerj]

I have 7 running on my T43p, and it runs fairly well. Issues I've noticed:

-No options for position of displays when dealing with multiple displays.
-Slightly decreased performance vs. XP, but worth it
-Could be something I missed installing drivers, but Power Manager doesn't seem to handle changing LCD brightness, makes me wonder if it's handling the other power management options like CPU throttling

Aside from that, it runs smoothly, Aero works no problem, but I definitely recommend optimizing the aero options and disabling search indexing. All in all, it's worth it.

[bullarded]

Well I am pretty happy so far. Did a clean install of Home Premium on a wiped 80gb hd on my old trust T40p. I know I don't have the best video because I can't figure out how to get the ATI 9000 radeon whatever to load. Reading elsewhere I don't think it can. Windows update added a couple of tweaks as did System Update 4 but I haven't really added a bunch of Lenovo stuff. i do note that to turn off the Wi-Fi I have to go into Device manager and the Fn-F5 key only turns the bluetooth on and off.

But all in all I like the look and feel of W7 considering I use apple most of the time these days.

And it definitely is running faster than XP did but maybe that was my old original 40gb hard drive.

[netzspannung]

Well, to answer my own question.

Installed 7 ultimate on my 1.8ghz/2gig/250g T42 with IPS screen and liking it so far. Everything works, installation was very simple with Windows Update and Lenovo System Update 4 doing all the hard work for myself.

Aero works on 9600, and it really feels like a different machine.

So if you have an ATI 9600, go for it - I finally feel like getting my money's worth from this card provided it is useless for games anyway. Pity the 7500 does not run Aero.

BTW, SLIC 2.1 biosmod with no-1802 really helps. Use Winflash. Google it up or PM me

[RoadHazard]

Interesting that Aero works on ATI 9600 but not FireGL T2. May be I did something wrong?

[tporter]

Aero should work on FireGL T2, it's the same R9600 with 128MB RAM

[GomJabbar]

Interesting that Aero works on ATI 9600 but not FireGL T2. May be I did something wrong?

I got the drivers for the 9600 from Windows Update. Check and see if Windows Update has any video drivers for the FireGL T2.

[elee123]

i believe the flicker problem is embedded controller related, see my other posts.

in essence i sent my laptop in under warranty with flicker problem in vista that i had a workaround by suspending and resuming until it worked 1/10 times. i got the laptop back with a letter saying htey upgraded the embedded controller, although i thought i already done this step. anyway, the flicker went away and i have no longer seeen it since.

fast forward two or three years and i'm now running w7 pro on my r9600 just fine albeit a tad slow compared to my c2d desktop with it's 15 dollar radeon 4350 graphics card.