Upgrading T400 from 32 bit to 64 bit Win7

[nathantpham]

Call me foolish, but I purchased 8GB of RAM to upgrade my wife's T400 which was running on 2GB. I did not think to check which version of Win7 she was running, but it turns out that she has the 32 bit version. What is the best way for me to upgrade to a 64 bit system that can utilitize all 8GB?

Do I just need to purchase a 64 bit version of the OS and do a clean install? What do I do with the Thinkvantage product? If I need to download and install Thinkvantage separately, can I? How many components are there to Thinkvantage must I have, or can I just not install it altogether?

[dr_st]

I believe your license is valid for the 64bit version. You just need to get OEM media / original 64bit Lenovo recovery disks somewhere.

[JohnD.]

Hi Nathan,

I am kinda new here, been much of a reader vs. a poster.

The best way to upgrade you ask. I don't know what the best way is. I am guessing that doing a clean install with Win7 Pro 64 bit (I have been told Pro is better then Home by someone on this board with expereince) would be the course of action to take. Then downloading ThinkVantage software from this link:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... 432#update

Now there is a list of components on that web site. I would install the Power Manager, Rescue and Recovery, System Update, Fingerprint software (if you have a finger print reader), Active Protection System, Access Connections. If you have a Mobile/WWAN card then I would install Lenovo Mobile Broadband but maybe you don't need this if there is other software that runs the card.

I know that I use Access Connections for my wifi/bluetooth, System Update (if you like to manually update your drivers then you don't need this), Fingerprint software and I am guessing that I have the Active Protection System software installed.

Also, I would think IBM/Lenovo would have just one software package that downloads what you need based on your machine type so one would just do one install.

I am sure I there are other with more experience then me, that can help you also.

John

[nathantpham]

Thanks for your help. Would I need OEM media or recovery disks if the recovery software/OS is all on the recovery partition of the T400? I don't think the laptop came with separate disks. Not sure what to do with that partition if I'm doing a clean install of a 64-bit OS.

I supposed, then, I could try to install the Thinkvantage from the partition? What do you think about backing up the partition on an external and reformatting the whole drive as one partition?

[dr_st]

The laptops indeed do not come with the recovery disks, but they can be either ordered separately, or created from the recovery partition using the "Create Rescue Media" program which comes installed with the preload.

I would suggest that you create recovery media for your current 32bit installation before installing the 64bit flavor, should you need it later.

OEM media is all you need, however using original recovery disks will also install all the drivers and software, saving you the time to do it manually. Although some people don't like that Thinkvantage software to begin with - it's up to you.

[underclocker]

1) Assuming you have a Win7 COA, you can install either the 32-bit or 64-bit version
2) You cannot upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit - a complete reinstall is required
3) If you have a recovery partition with Win7, it will either be 32-bit or 64-bit, not both
4) You can either contact Lenovo for a copy of 64-bit recovery media (there may be a charge) or find them elsewhere
5) Downloading a copy of Win7 64-bit media directly from Microsoft and using your Lenovo COA serial number MAY work, but sometimes it does not, here are some download links for the media --> http://www.mydigitallife.info/download- ... oad-links/ (I'm not sure if you have to delete the existing recovery partition, but you will find out - create desired recovery media before attempting new install!)
6) If you go with option 5, then follow the installation with 1) Microsoft updates and 2) Lenovo updates (via Lenovo's driver update tool)

Don't forget to backup your data! Good luck!

[twistero]

You can try backing up the activation information from your 32-bit installation, and restoring them to your new 64-bit installation. http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... p-Solution

[JohnD.]

Nathan,

I wanted to say that I was in Control Panel two nights ago and I believe I ran across the icon to create the restore disks. I forget what the icon was labeled as and my t410i is at home plus the 420 at work that I use has a custom install of WinXP and most of the ThinkVantage software has been removed (except Power Manager). When I get home I can check for you and get back to you on this.

Also, I have been told that when you create your restore disks, the first disk is a CD and the next ones are DVDs. I will be creating a restore set this weekend for the t410i.

As underclocker stated, if you call Lenovo to get the restore disks and since your running Win7 32 bit, see if they can upgrade you to a Win7 64 bit. You can be honest and say that you bought 8 Gig of RAM and did not know that the ThinkPad only supports 4 Gig with a 32 bit OS. Now it’s been a good number of years since I last ordered restore disks from IBM/Lenovo and it was for my T30. The price was around $35 which is not bad. So I don’t know what the price is currently for a set.

I will be in touch,
John