Thinkpads Forum

How long is this suppose to take to upgrade the BIOS? It's been about 45 minutes so far and I still see the "Reading the system program file. Please stand by...." in the information box.

Is it hosed or do I just need to be more patient? Thanks for your help!

I don't remember the exact wording, but have you passed the point where it says to not interrupt the power?

I would let it run as long as it takes, but it usually takes less than 5 minutes.

Yeah, I'm past the 2 pop-ups that say to make sure the plug is in the wall securely and that I should have a fully charged battery installed. The disk drive light is still on, but I'm not really hearing it cranking away or anything. It's been over and hour now and I still have the "Please stand by...." window. Hmm... Not sure what to do now.

What is the type number for the 600E (ie. 2645-8BU) and which version BIOS did you download?

I have the 2645-4DU and I downloaded the BIOS version INET36WW (1.16)

Well, that matches up. How out of date was the previous BIOS version, if you know?

I have no idea. I'm trying to install a new 40GB because the old 10GB drive took a dive. Should I just turn the computer off and try again?

I was thinking that it might be taking longer if the BIOS had never been updated.

Turning it off is risky...are you able to wait until tomorrow, and let it run overnight? If the BIOS gets botched, it might not reboot.

I can leave it run until tomorrow. I'd rather do that than killing the laptop by turning it off too soon. <crossing fingers>

Ooh! Update. The screen went black.

Wiggle the trackpoint...the display might be shutting off.

But it could also be progress.

No response. Still blank... I guess now I have to wait since I can't see what's going on.

Try pressing the Blue FN key...

D'oh! That worked. Status is still the same. It's probably obvious that I don't know much about this laptop. It's relatively new (to me).

It is a very nice laptop, I think that you will definately like it.

Give it as long as it takes...if by morning it still doesn't work, then switch the power off and then on again.

A dead laptop can't be worse than a laptop that just says "please stand by..."

True... true... I'll give it 'til morning and go from there. If it doesn't work I'll just sell the new parts on eBay and use it as an excuse to get something else.

Thanks for you help.

Actually, if you end up switching the power off and on again, do it with the BIOS disk still in. DON'T Initialize the BIOS until after you successfully complete the process.

Will do. Thanks

Let us know what happens in the morning.

Also, be sure to post again before you just part it out on eBay.

Yeah, I will. I'm not going to give up too easily.

Well, nothing changed in the morning, so I just turned it off and brought it to work. Thinking there might be something wrong with the disk, I downloaded the update and put it on a new disk. This time it went all the way through and took all over 30-45 seconds to update. Now all I have to do is install the OS. Will XP Pro run okay on this 600E with 196MB or memory or should I stick with installing 2K Pro?

Congrats, I'm glad that everything is ok.

Yeah, XP Pro works great on the 600Es. I am using in on the one that I am typing with right now.

The great thing about XP pro is that you don't need to d/l all of the additional drivers, because everything is recognized with XP Pro.

Whew... I'm glad everything worked out. I hope to XP install will go much easier. Will I need a boot disk to install XP Pro or will it run fine off the CD?

The 600E will boot CD's, so if you have the retail or OEM XP CD, it will boot just fine. I don't know if the upgrade CD boots or not, but I would expect it to.

You do need to install a bunch of drivers from the support site, though. Power management, onscreen display, personalization editor, ... a mouse driver was released two weeks ago, and get the XP installation supplement files and configuration utility. You won't need the rest.

With 196MB RAM, you may wish to turn off some eye candy, or not, depending on your taste and patience. You can put two 256MB sticks in there, if you shop carefully.

XP Pro appears to be installing just fine.

I'll be turning off the fancy display settings and optimizing it for speed, but extra memory would be nice. I'd be interested in upgrading the memory to 512. What kind of memory should I be looking for and where is a good source to find it?

The 600E is one of the most popular laptops ever made, so I'm sure someone will speak up soon.

It likes PC66 SO-DIMM. I'm not sure PC66 was ever made in 256MB sizes.

I think you can use PC100 up to 256MB, but if you do get a 256MB part, it must be low density, meaning it has 16 memory chips on the stick, 8 on each side. It's considerably more expensive than the high-density parts.

I've used IBM, Crucial, Kahlon and other brands, but I recently got a deal from a local laptop repair shop, so try your neighborhood. I got two (Kingmax) 256MB parts for $45 each, and I could return them if they didn't work.

Some online configurators will not sell you any 256MB parts, so a local store may be your best bet.

Hello again VanillaGorilla,

With regard to the memory, I am not sure about your model, as IBM's doesn't list this model as one that can be expanded to 544mb (512mb+32MB on board), see here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... WIK-3TLS8K

On the 600Es that I have worked on, most of them have taken the 256MB low density ram. Like whizkid said, they have to have 16 chips (8 on each side).

I would recommend going with the 288MB (256MB + 32MB onboard) though. It will definately make a difference with XP.

As far as the downloads that whizkid mentioned, they are helpful but not necessary for running XP Pro on a 600E. I have loaded XP Pro on about 30-35 600Es and haven't used any of the extra downloads until yesterday. Yesterday, I downloaded the Power manager, because there was a problem with one of the 600Es getting an XP blue screen when switching from AC power to Battery Power, and it helped...so far. So, I would recommend downloading that one...the rest is really up to you, as a matter of preference.

I forgot to mention that with the RAM, your model should take either PC66 or PC100. Trying the low density 256MB (PC100) modules might be risky, but atleast if you pick one up to try and it doesn't appear to be compatible, you might find someone on here to buy it from you, since they can be hard to find.

As far as sources go....I have picked up some of mine on eBay. Others, I got lucky with a friend that works at a camp that was getting rid of problem laptops, and picked up several of these modules for next to nothing. (Not to mention boxes of old PC parts)

True that most of the downloads are not required. They are still very useful. As you mentioned, power management might be required to keep the system stable, and it provides a few more power saving schemes.

I really like the onscreen display for volume control; not so much for the display confirmation.

I consider the personalization editor crucial if you travel with the machine at all. It will put any message you like on the power-up screen, and that will not go away without knowing the password or re-programming the security chip. I recommend it to anyone who uses the machine outside his or her home.

And the configuration utility is great. It lets you turn on and off devices, check IRQ's and other resources, read your BIOS version and serial numbers (most) all without rebooting.

IBM's TrackPoint driver also provides functionality that XP does not, especially if you need or just like to use some of the accessibility functions.

IMNSHO, you are not getting the full ThinkPad experience without those little utilities.

Hi whizkid.

I agree that you don't get the full Thinkpad experience without all the extras.

Most of the people that I have prepared these laptops are looking for a cheaper means of portability and not interested in the "extras". Infact, most of them wouldn't know how to use the majority of the "extras".

I install all of them on the ones that I try to keep for myself, but generally I start all over if someone comes along and wants one.

My point in saying that you didn't need to download any drivers was just to demonstrate the fact that all of the working parts of the 600E are recognized by XP Pro, versus all of the downloads that are required with Win98, just to get it up and running.

I hope that it didn't sound like I was disputing your advice. I just wanted to clarify that they weren't required.

The system definitely runs much faster now. I'm not sure if it's due to running XP or the new 40GB 5400 rpm drive. My guess is that it's a combination of both. Right now the speed of the laptop isn't necessarily begging for more memory. If I happen across some extra memory I'll jump on it, but for now I'm pleased with the performance. It's not like I use the laptop for anything hardcore anyway. I have XP configured for performance rather than the appearance.