HOWTO: Installing XP on T61 (quick-ref)

[Redmumba]

I just finished removing Vista, and re-installing XP, and I thought others out there might appreciate a quick-reference for the downgrade. Plus, if anybody has any problems, this would be a great thread to centralize the requests.

I haven't really run into any roadblocks yet, but if I do/did, I will make note of them here!

INSTALLING WINDOWS XP

Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver (See below): http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62909 (read instructions)
General Instructions: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-66020

NOTE: Windows XP does NOT include the drivers required for the Intel Ethernet adapter. Make sure you grab a copy of the drivers _before_ removing Vista, as you will NOT have internet access out of the box.

Intel LAN: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67829
All Intel PRO Wireless Adapters: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62875
Thinkpad ABGN Wireless Adapter: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-66449

DRIVERS

System Update 3.0 (will install chipset software, video drivers, and several ThinkVantage programs)
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-66956

List of all drivers:
Click here

Fingerprint Reader
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... VAN-EAPFPR

Client Security Solution 8.0
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46391

Rescue and Recovery 4
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... Q2QAK.html

Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver/SATA Hard Drive
Windows XP does not include support for the SATA hard drive out of the box. To install, you have two options. ONE, have the hard drive in "Compatibility" mode, which will allow you to install XP without worrying about drivers. SECOND, you can download and extract the drivers to an external storage device, and install them when the XP installation asks if you'd like to manually install any drivers. Note that, in my experience, the first option is easiest--afterall, you can easily install the drivers after XP is installed, and then switch back to AHCI mode.

If you're interested, the drivers are available here (they also contain detailed instructions on both methods of installation):
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62909

[msteudel]

First off thanks, found this via google and it helped me figure out the compatibility mode for the sata drives. I just got our T61 last night and I am putting xp on it this morning. One thing I found was that in order to install the System Update 3.0 I had to install SP2 and .NET 2.0 first:

Windows XP SP2:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

.Net Direct Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/than ... layLang=en

Ill continue to post if I run into anything else.

[GomJabbar]

Only one thing missing: Before you do any of this, burn yourself a set of Product Recovery Discs.
Start > All Programs > ThinkVantage > Recovery Media > Product Recovery.

[neozengar]

Recently, I bought a t61 and had decided to downgrade from vista to xp pro sp2. I installed all the drivers, but I don't have sound. On my computer's device manager, there are two uninstall devices: PCI Device and ethernet controller.

Also, everytime I tried to shut down, my computer hang. Any help would be greatly apreciated!!

[Redmumba]

Thanks for the heads up, Gom! Wish I had done that... -.-

Anyways, I received a private message that asked the following:

Whenever I boot the system with an xp cd, it says that there is no hard drive installed in the system, which might mean xp can't find hard drive???

The solution is as follows:

1) Go to BIOS setup (F1 at BIOS screen)
2) Select Config
3) Select Serial ATA (SATA)
4) Select "Compatibility"

Once you've installed Windows XP, be sure to download the "Intel Matrix Storage Management Driver," as specified above. Once the software is installed, you may go back into the BIOS setup, and do the same as above--but set it to "AHCI" instead.

[Redmumba]

Recently, I bought a t61 and had decided to downgrade from vista to xp pro sp2. I installed all the drivers, but I don't have sound. On my computer's device manager, there are two uninstall devices: PCI Device and ethernet controller.

Also, everytime I tried to shut down, my computer hang. Any help would be greatly apreciated!!

My guess is, the PCI device if the SoundMax sound card. Have you installed the SoundMax software, located here?

The ethernet controller is most likely your Intel Gigabit Ethernet adapter. The driver for this is located here.

Hope this helps!

[kouloubj]

Recently, I bought a t61 and had decided to downgrade from vista to xp pro sp2. I installed all the drivers, but I don't have sound. On my computer's device manager, there are two uninstall devices: PCI Device and ethernet controller.

Also, everytime I tried to shut down, my computer hang. Any help would be greatly apreciated!!

I am having a similiar problem but the device manager shows a PCI Device and PCI Memory Controller.

I also don't have sound and the system also hangs at shutdown. Whenever I try to install the audio drivers I get the following error..

"the hda audio bus driver is required and not found."

Thanks in advance for your help!

[GomJabbar]

Whenever I try to install the audio drivers I get the following error..

"the hda audio bus driver is required and not found."

You need to install the following first, then install your Audio Driver.

Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) High Definition Audio class driver (Q888111) for Windows XP with Service Pack 2

[kouloubj]

Whenever I try to install the audio drivers I get the following error..

"the hda audio bus driver is required and not found."

You need to install the following first, then install your Audio Driver.

Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) High Definition Audio class driver (Q888111) for Windows XP with Service Pack 2

That did the trick for the sound. Thanks! All items, except for the Turbo Memory, are clear in the device manager.

Only problem I am having now, is that it hangs at the Window is Shutting Down screen and I have to hard boot it. Anyone have any suggests, other than re-formatting and starting over.

[cadmus]

1-Thanks you all, this thread was incredibly concise and helpful.

2-After switching to XP from vista I had the above issue with audio (fixed it) and was unable to use my Intell wireless, blue tooth, maybe other things. I found the blue tooth buy driving to a land connection and pressing Fn + F5 and the blue tooth started it's own wizard, found the driver. The wireless wizard (i have the INTEL WIFI/LINK4965AGN ) was less successful so i used 7kwc27ww.exe from the IBM/Lenovo site, then went to network setting and created my connection.

UNFORTUNATLY :
-I have no Wireless Radio On/Off or Bluetooth Radio On/Off in the thinkvantage tray, any help in bring those back would be much appreciated.
-When i push Fn+F5 i get a windows warning box titled Change Power Setting of Wireless Radio that read unable to change power state of 802.11 wireless radio. Update the driver of the wireless adapter. then a "do not show this message again" check box. what is this about, and what is the update i need as windows and thinkvantage updates find nothing.
- ALSO the handy little Bars (like on a cell phone) are missing from the Windows Task Bar, i had them when running vista or om my wife's xp. Any help on that is also greatly appreciated.

Thanks Pete
(for reference this problem was also addressed in part here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 531#333531)

[SHoTTa35]

You need to put back on the XP drivers for your wifi card and also install the software that comes with the drivers for the card. Then you need to install Access Connections to get those bars back in the system tray.The FN+F5 think will work and it wont say about problem changing the power of the wireless radio anymore.

Go to the download page for you laptop and download the drivers for your card as well as Access Connection and you'll be good to go.

[GomJabbar]

You need the Lenovo Power Management driver, the Hotkey Utility driver, and (I believe the Lenovo version of) the Wireless adapter driver for the Fn+F5 function to work. Access Connections is optional and must be installed last.

See post by kidtriton: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 003#115003

EDIT: For Vista you also need the Lenovo Interface Driver and version 2 of the Hotkey Utility.

[thejaredhuang]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[theoriginalguru]

hi, this is a great thread with good information. thanks to the OP for putting this together.

I was about to go ahead and do this "downgrade", but for some reason, my T61 won't boot my Windows XP CD? I've set the BIOS setting to ACHI->Compatible knowing that XP doesn't have the SATA drivers. When I boot the CD, it says "press any key to boot CD..." and I press something, then it goes into "determining hardware..." and the screen goes blank. The HD access "LED" is constantly on, but no activity.. i can hear the CD spin down and stop, and it doesn't sound like the harddrive is doing much. It just sits there with a blank screen and nothing else happens. I've tried waiting about 15min to see if maybe it was just having a hard time dealing with the "unknown" hardware... but nothing.

Do i need to wait longer at the blank screen? Or, is there something else going on with my system? I blew away my Vista already...

Any help would be appreciated. TIA.

[ryengineer]

I think you've a bad media (CD).

[theoriginalguru]

I think you've a bad media (CD).

Actually, I verified the media.. it boots and can install on my T41 and other computers. It just doesn't seem to work on the T61. So, no one else has had this problem? Is there some other setting I should look at in the BIOS.

[ryengineer]

Perhaps the "Drive" is not able to properly read from the CD, could require a firmware update or something.

[theoriginalguru]

Perhaps the "Drive" is not able to properly read from the CD, could require a firmware update or something.

haha.. you're one step behind me. thanks for the suggestion though.. i did think of that and i swapped the drive from the T41 to the T61. The CD-ROM drive from the T41 was able to boot and install WinXP from the CD I'm using. Unfortunately, same symptom... blank screen, HDD LED solid on, and no drive activity.

no one else has had this issue with their T61?

[byteheed]

theoriginalguru,

I had the same problem after I removed Windows Vista on my T61p. After messing around with the SATA config in BIOS and some other stuff, it dawned on me that XP's boot CD may be confused about the drive. On a hunch, I booted a trusty old floppy disk with fdisk on it, and ran fdisk /mbr to rebuild the master boot record on the disk.

Boom, at the next boot (with SATA in compatability mode) Windows setup loaded.

Hope this helps.