X31 and Windows Vista

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gonzales · #1 Post by **gonzales** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:35 am

Hi,

I took the plunge and installed Windows Vista Business edition on my X31. Vista seems to have detected all my hardware and everything was usable on first boot. However, I'm missing certain Thinkpad only software and features such as Access Connections, On-screen Display for HotKeys, etc.

I tried installing these software from ( http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... TVAN-EAPAC ) but Access Connections threw an error saying it does not work on my platform. On-screen Display works for items like Fn+F5 but not for the volume and brightness controls.

I realised that Lenovo has a page for beta Vista drivers ( http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... BETA-VISTA ) but X31 is not listed as one of the supported models.

Has any other X31 users tried using Vista and managed to get Thinkpad software working?

DNMonty · #2 Post by **DNMonty** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:19 pm

gonzales wrote:Hi,

I took the plunge and installed Windows Vista Business edition on my X31. Vista seems to have detected all my hardware and everything was usable on first boot. However, I'm missing certain Thinkpad only software and features such as Access Connections, On-screen Display for HotKeys, etc.

I tried installing these software from ( http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... TVAN-EAPAC ) but Access Connections threw an error saying it does not work on my platform. On-screen Display works for items like Fn+F5 but not for the volume and brightness controls.

I realised that Lenovo has a page for beta Vista drivers ( http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... BETA-VISTA ) but X31 is not listed as one of the supported models.

Has any other X31 users tried using Vista and managed to get Thinkpad software working?

I was able to get it all working on mine with the exception of the video driver. Vista's "Connections" seems to fight with Vista over control of the Wifi, but other than that it all seems just fine. I used the drivers listed on lenovo's regular driver page, non-beta

boon · #3 Post by **boon** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:48 pm

try this one

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67283

for video card driver, use vista update

Only thing that doesn't fully work that I know of is the accessIBM button as the driver isn't fully support by vista yet

gonzales · #4 Post by **gonzales** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:33 pm

Thanks boon for pointing out access connections 4.31.

Are you using X31 as well? If you are, are you able to get System Update running? Or do you have On Screen Display for volume, brightness, etc?

Edit: Installing Access Connections and a couple of other system updates that came with it enabled the OSD for volume, brightness, etc.

dc_slim · #5 Post by **dc_slim** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:27 pm

How is Vista working for you? Does it seem sluggish, or do you have enough RAM to make it snappy? I assume that you are not using the Aero graphics, right?

gonzales · #6 Post by **gonzales** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:36 pm

No Aero, the Radeon Mobility 16mb doesn't support it. But I've never been a fan of fancy UI to begin with. Even on XP, I used the Windows Classic desktop theme.

I'm not sure if Windows Media Center would work since I'm using Vista Business edition. However, 1.5gb RAM on my X31 does make Vista feel really snappy for me.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with how Vista is performing so far. I just wish Lenovo would have us X31 users in mind when rolling out future software updates for Vista.

DNMonty · #7 Post by **DNMonty** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:23 pm

gonzales wrote:No Aero, the Radeon Mobility 16mb doesn't support it. But I've never been a fan of fancy UI to begin with. Even on XP, I used the Windows Classic desktop theme.

I'm not sure if Windows Media Center would work since I'm using Vista Business edition. However, 1.5gb RAM on my X31 does make Vista feel really snappy for me.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with how Vista is performing so far. I just wish Lenovo would have us X31 users in mind when rolling out future software updates for Vista.

Pardon my frustration, but what Vista driver do you have installed that supports the ATI Radeon Mobility? Microsoft Update doesn't provide anything better than the Standard VGA driver for me.
All my Thinkpad feature stuff works fine, just can't get a "real" video driver working.

boon · #8 Post by **boon** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:55 pm

I am using x31 too got the hotkey running good as well, the volume and the brightness shows on the lcd when I lower it up and down. I don't remember where I actually got it in lenovo website. It may be hotkey for the vista beta driver section or for the later series. The only file I have left is extracted in c:\drivers so I can't tell which one it is.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 67047.html

These are for later series but they do have same keyboard so it might work.

I run without aero (wish I can try aero on the x31....) and the performance is very good. I don't really see any slowdown or anything. Vista may be a bit slower if you're comparing them too precise though. I am using 768 ram.

even my battery life is good, I got about 2 hours max run with full brightness and wifi on for both xp and vista.

When you are running the update there are options of downloads for high priority and recommended or something like that. It is not in the high priority section. I installed vista twice and it the vista update download the driver for me same way to me

X31 and Windows Vista

X31 and Windows Vista

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