Windows 10 on X230

[murak]

So I got the icon just sitting there in the bottom right corner, saying that most PCs are ready for W10 but mine is not.

I am surely able to install a copy from less reliable sources, probably requiring driver workarounds and possibly nonfunctional hardware, even though the most essential things should work as it is Intel etc (?). But that would be wrong in many ways so I would rather that I could just install the regular way.

So is there any word on why it's taking so long?

The plan is to upgrade the proper way, get the key and do a fresh install from a USB drive. Any legal shortcuts?

[kccheng]

I got win10 on 13rd Aug.

[skinnie]

I used this tool:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... ol-install
Updated it, got the key, created an usb media, format, put the key and voilá perfect.

[elipsoid]

Hi, does anybody solved the audio issue with X230 running Win10? The new realtek drivers sound like crap and I can't get Dolby Audio to run since the update to Win8.1. When I uninstall the drivers, the sound gets better, but when I plug in my headphones, new drivers are installed again. Did anybody solve this? Thanks.

[EvoT61]

how does windows 10 spins on x230 in these days ? ive tested few months back and i was disappointed .. slow, laging .. and impossible to use... 4GB ram was not enough, tested on 8GB but modules where different - this same unusable experience and to point out i was 7200rpm hdd.

[ckayte]

I just put Windows 10 on a X230 tablet and so far, so good. It is actually working better than the Windows 7 that the laptop shipped with. I've only had the laptop for a few days, bought it used off of ebay, but it was running a bit warm and the fan would not stop running under Windows 7. I am glad that it is no longer doing that.

Specs I have are 8GB RAM in dual channel mode, 250GB SSD, and i5 processor.

I also had a few more issues that, so far, have not repeated under W10. When I flipped the screen around and put it into tablet mode, the whole computer would suddenly shut down. The same thing happened if I pushed the screen rotation button (when not in tablet mode.) The power button also had issues, sometimes it would not turn the computer on unless I unplugged the laptop and pulled out the battery first, then put the battery back in and clicked the power button. I've been seeing some weird issues. I don't know if the issues are caused by the OS or if the laptop needs to be serviced.

[RealBlackStuff]

I'd say your laptop needs a good clean-up, beginning with cleaning the fan/CPU and replacing the thermal paste with AS5.
You may find enough breakfast remnants under the keyboard keys to feed a bird, together with enough tobacco to roll a cigaret.
LCD-cable(s) probably need to be reseated, or even replaced if it was heavily used.
My suggestion: next time check around on our forum before you buy from feebay.
Here you'll know what you get, on feebay (or Craigslist) it's pot luck.

[ckayte]

Thanks for your input, RealBlackStuff,

I did look on the forums here before buying from Ebay and I didn't see any x230 tablets (or even non-tablets), I didn't see any x220's either. Ebay is most certainly NOT my first choice in buying electronics. I checked Craigslist too because, at least there, I would be able to inspect the computer personally before buying it. I did online general searches for other options but the only units that I found that I would be in the least bit interested in were way overpriced (defeating the purpose of buying a second hand laptop for carrying with me... I wanted something cheap enough that I would not be overly concerned if it were broken or stolen.)

The laptop was sold as refurbished from a computer shop on ebay (they had pics of their brick and mortar store.) IMO, it looks like they did a pretty good job. The computer appears totally clean - even the trackpoint nib was spotless (possibly new since those are cheap.) The trackpad looks like it's never been used (and I can tell why, I'm not using it either due to the rough texture), the keyboard is not worn or shiny at all, the screen is a 9.5/10 condition (a few very light wear marks.) The only issue that I found is a small crack on the keyboard bezel - I will either fill that with epoxy putty or replace it. On your suggestion, I did pull the keyboard to check underneath and it looks spotless too. I saw no wear on the portions of the cables that I could see. I haven't completely taken it apart but I did run diagnostics on the hardware and it passed everything. I had already pulled the RAM, when I saw that the RAM was mismatched I replaced that with matching RAM ("just in case".) I also bought a brand new Samsung Evo SSD and installed that (it came with a SATA II Seagate 7200 RPM HD.) I am sure that it will benefit from replacing the thermal paste but I have never done that before, I have watched youtubers do it for the purpose of learning how to do it myself but I need to buy the paste (on my "to do" list.)

Anyway, here is where the computer stands now... When it shut down (when put into tablet mode or when I clicked the screen rotation button) it behaved differently in Linux than it did in Windows. In Linux, it ASKED me if I wanted to restart - so there was something triggering the restart, it wasn't just crashing. In Linux, I was able to cancel the restart and continue working. I've never had a convertible tablet computer before so this is just all weird to me.

Back to Windows 10... I kept reading and finding other people who had the same issues. I followed their suggestions, apparently there were drivers that I needed that didn't come up under Windows 10 options (on the Lenovo drivers list.) I had installed Lenovo update manager and that didn't detect and install all of the drivers that I needed. I just went through the list of Windows 7 and 8 drivers that didn't have corresponding W10 drivers, I followed someone's instructions for finding the Lenovo tablet manager (it didn't show up when I clicked on the option but it was sitting in a folder, I added a shortcut link to make it easier to pull up later), and I installed Wacom tablet drivers. Now, the screen TRIES to auto-rotate (I am sure that I need to do some more tweaking, I must have missed something), the manual screen rotation button works, and the computer does not shut down when I put it into tablet mode. So, it came down to not having all of the needed drivers. It is possible that some of the drivers that I have that are not working correctly may need to be installed in compatibility mode but I have to figure out which ones those are. (I've had surgery recently so my endurance level and attention span is not what it used to be, I would probably have gotten this all figure out by now if I wasn't so dang tired all the time.)

Oh, and since I am 95% of the way there with getting this working properly in Windows 10, now I need to figure out how to get everything working correctly in Ubuntu/Linux. I know that I have to look up and install some drivers.... I just need to be alert enough to keep reading, lol. If not for the tablet portion of this computer, I think that it would have worked pretty well "right out of the box" with either Windows 10 or Linux (just to keep this somewhat relevant to the original topic.)

[RealBlackStuff]

The problem with your machine is two-fold:
1) since the T430/T530/W530/X230 came out, their new horrible keyboard layouts have created numerous problems
2) lots of people here also dislike and do not trust Windows 10, so there is less info available
Hence an X230 with W10 can bring up a red flag...
If you can update all the required drivers, then maybe it might work for you.
But I'd suggest to either go back to W7 or change over to Linux.

[ckayte]

I can't argue with that. I originally had no plans of putting Windows 10 on this computer until the issues that I had with Windows 7 on it - I was not able to resolve them after many hours. I might try again but it is tiresome and I thought that Windows 10 would be an easier fix. My initial plan was to buy an x220 non-tablet, if I had done that then none of this would even be an issue - Linux would have worked pretty much right out of the box (I wanted a cheap laptop to tinker with Linux distros and for easy portability.) That was until I saw the tablet option, watched some youtube videos of how useful the tablet mode could be, then I read of ghosting issues and other problems with x220 tablets - it seemed that the x230 was a better bet for the tablet version. I should have just stuck with my original plan of buying the non-tablet x220. I think I learned my lesson not to bid on Ebay within 24 hours of a major surgery and doped up on pain pills . If I can sell this x230 tablet then I'll buy what I should have purchased in the first place but I need to have Windows working correctly to do that - the general population tends to shun Linux (I even saw computers going for less with Linux installed than with no OS at all on Ebay.)

The keyboard isn't all that bad, I had another Lenovo laptop with the chicklet style keyboard so I thought it would be fine. The other Lenovo (B570) actually had the best keyboard I've ever had on a laptop, it's just too big to lug around and it's been put through the ringers by my family so it's not so nice to look at (I have since given that one to my mom.) I've never had a classic-style Lenovo keyboard. If I had the money, I'd have a nice collection of Lenovo computers just for collections sake.

If I can't sell this x230 tablet for what I paid for it and/or if I can get Linux working completely on it then I think it'll be OK. I have it dual booting into Ubuntu (Unity) right now. I tried Manjaro Deepin (I didn't like the interface), Linux Mint Cinnamon (interface didn't work well with the touch screen), and Ubuntu Gnome (didn't like the interface.) Getting all of the screen rotation buttons, auto screen rotation, and everything else working in Linux will probably be just as challenging as getting those things working properly in Windows. This will just be an experimental machine unless someone offers to buy it (I put an ad on Craigslist.)

[tyby]

Guys, first of all hi! I'm using ftc for a long time, but I don't really remember my old username, so ... nice to find you (again! ).

Next: I am using Windows 10 Pro x64 on X230T machine, and had no machine related issues other than the ones tied to Windows 10 itself.

My W10 was an in-place upgrade over an W7 Pro x64, which was cloned from several machines and HDDs / SSDs since 2008 (starting with T400, two X200, actual X230T, using three 7200 RPMs HDDs - one Hybrid and two SSDs) - so I cannot say it's the cleanest install I ever saw.

Actual config: Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM (2 x 8 GB), 500 GB Crucial MX100 SSD, extended battery (6 cells I think).

Original config: i7-3520M(2.9Ghz), 4GB RAM, 180GB Solid State Drive, 12.5in 1366x768 Multitouch LCD, Intel HD Graphics, DVD-ROM, Intel 802.11agn wireless, WWAN, Bluetooth, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure Chip, Fingerprint reader, Camera, 6c Li-Ion, No preload + Windows 8 pro (never used it, just cloned my previous disk from last X200).

So, yes, it's working, I cannot name at least one piece of hardware that cannot be used from my laptop.

Apart of this, there are still issues with Windows 10, but not related to X230T (in fact now I'm using a recent Insider Preview build, due to some Hyper V and networking related big issues I had with latest stable).

Short answer: yes, it works!

Hope this helps!

T

[aviography]

My own X230 bought pre-owned had a clean Windows 7 Pro 64Bit installed by the previous owner without the Lenovo Thinkvantage stuff, I then updated to Win 8/8.1 a year ago, then to Win 10 just a couple of months ago, it's working well.

I have now purchased a very similar machine for my sister, it had the original factory rescue recovery partition so the drive has been restored to factory baseline in Win 7 Pro 64 Bit, I noticed one of the screen on power status provided battery s/n and number of charge cycles.

However I no longer can find this feature once I upgraded this system to Win 10, the Thinkvantage button also does nothing now, it seems a bunch of Lenovo utilities which worked properly in Win 7 no longer work, and are discarded in Win 10.

Is there a consolidated Lenovo resource page where Win 10 compatible versions of Thinkvantage can be found?

Thanks in advance.

[USSS]

Go to: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product ... beta=false

[aviography]

Wow thanks, that's a wealth of information, have to spend sometime going through the list to figure out which one(s) to install.

[WVZR1]

Seems more are "liking or have become accustomed to" W10 and the X230. I've a X230T and I've been reluctant but maybe it's worth an effort.

What are the issues with "REALEK"? That seems to be maybe one of the drivers I may have some concerns with. I've the Lenovo restoration DVDs so it's no effort to "go back" if there are issues I can't resolve, maybe just make sure all of the Lenovo W7 updates are done and save the build "as is" to CLONE if I decided to do the "go back".

tyby - any first hand information you could share for the "UPGRADE" using the ICON? I did a latest version "clean install" after the upgrade on my T440 and MS issued me a new COA/Product ID because it wouldn't "auto activate". Took 2 phone calls and a very short remote access from MS Tech to confirm, phone time and remote access maybe 40 minutes.

[jdhurst]

I have a ThinkPad X230 that I purchased 3 years ago on Lenovo.com. It came with Windows 8. Last August, I upgraded it to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. I did have to update all the drivers and I had to reinstall some very technical software I use, but now at Version 1511 Build 10586.164, it is humming along well. Sound works fine and networking is all good. I use System Update to keep drivers up to date.

If you need to fix your installation run the Windows 10 Media Creation Link (Microsoft). Click on Upgrade to Windows 10, allow drivers to update and then select the option to Keep Data and Keep Applications. Make sure your Antivirus is up to date and Office should be V2013 or V2016.

If you are looking for me, you will generally find me in Experts Exchange. That is where I spend much time.

[yankeesamurai]

So I got the icon just sitting there in the bottom right corner, saying that most PCs are ready for W10 but mine is not.

THEIR's an old Addage, that goes like this ..."Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.." Just install Linux Mint
Debian 2 in the correct 32 or 64 bit format, learn to use linux if you have not already, and say goo-bye to to MicroSoft 10, and all the others past and future... your life will be much better for it... that is..unless you like big brother spying on every think you do from the
time you turn on that pc to turning it off... windows 10 even commands your other devices to spy on your for it... in case you didnt
read the research articles on win 10 spying on users.. win 10 reports back to 137 different unknown servers 367 times a min, reporting
everything you do, say, watch, search, read, listen to, everything every device near you sees and hears, it even steals your passwords
and machine ids of all the devices around you..if their communicable....it does all this non stop ...you are being wire tapped, video and audio tapped, your behavior, your desires, your choices, its all going to god knows who...courtesy of windows 10... dont believe it...
google windows 10 spying on users.... its an abomniation against any privacy at all... you have none...zero..when its live and working...

like i say..google it...read..and weep.... then go use linux..and be done with it all... no more spying, no more viruses, no more malware, no more windows drama, ...it just works...like an os is supposed to... yes their is a bit of a learning curve...but its not bad..
a day or two and you got it...

well..ive said my 2 cents worth... you can lead a horse to water...but will they drink ???

Admin edit: Edited to MicroSoft.

[jdhurst]

What you wrote is mostly untrue. A person just needs to know what they are doing. I am VERY good at that.

[jaspen-meyer]

[snip]Sound works fine and networking is all good.[/snip]

Which is to say there haven't been any obvious regressions since Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

[jdhurst]

Which is to say there haven't been any obvious regressions since Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

???

No, it has to do with the machine working properly as it should and as I maintain it.

[jaspen-meyer]

My point was sound and networking are surprisingly primative metrics by which to judge a modern operating system and I hadn't realized such things were still used as benchmarks. But, I see they are (on Windows 10) and I note the same metrics were applied to 3.11.

[WVZR1]

I have a ThinkPad X230 that I purchased 3 years ago on Lenovo.com. It came with Windows 8. Last August, I upgraded it to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. I did have to update all the drivers and I had to reinstall some very technical software I use, but now at Version 1511 Build 10586.164, it is humming along well. Sound works fine and networking is all good. I use System Update to keep drivers up to date.

If you need to fix your installation run the Windows 10 Media Creation Link (Microsoft). Click on Upgrade to Windows 10, allow drivers to update and then select the option to Keep Data and Keep Applications. Make sure your Antivirus is up to date and Office should be V2013 or V2016.

If you are looking for me, you will generally find me in Experts Exchange. That is where I spend much time.

So maybe if a recent W7 install from Lenovo W7/SP1 64 bit (DVD 3 disc) you maybe first remove all of the Lenovo software that was on the supplemental disc through add/remove programs, make sure the BIOS is most recent and then do the "W10 allow drivers update" followed by Keep Data/Keep Applications.

My X230T is a (3437-C59) with an i7-3520M and 8G of RAM - The W10 ICON is there.

It's cold and windy so there's nothing to take me outside SO maybe today is a good day!!

Thoughts anyone?

[jdhurst]

If your X230 is running Windows 7, then yes, uninstall all unnecessary Lenovo software, update necessary drivers, let Windows 10 upgrade and Keep Data, Keep Applications. Should work.

Make certain all Lenovo baggage is gone.

I have a T4xx in the basement that I converted when Build 10240 was new. It would not update to 10586. I had to revert from a backup, gut all old applications, remove all Lenovo baggage and this time updated, did a Keep Data only and it is now happily running Windows 10.

I referred to this in a couple of my articles at Experts Exchange and it was the subject of a lengthy discussion thread there as well.

[jdrou]

So I got the icon just sitting there in the bottom right corner, saying that most PCs are ready for W10 but mine is not.

If you're still having this issue, I found when this happened I could solve it by installing some optional updates (which I normally don't install).

From my notes:
Upgrading Windows 7 SP1 to Windows 10
Requires Internet Explorer 11
Requires optional updates:
KB2952664
KB3035583 (the GWX system tray program)

Also
KB3135445
makes upgrade appear in Windows Update even without running the GWX system tray program.

(I've done Win 10 upgrade about 10 times so far.)