ThinkPad SL-500 Bios 1.25 update

[trawlerphil]

I installed the BIOS update 1.25 from my Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit system, then built a new 64 bit system on new clean hard drive by physically swapping drives in the bay, installing win 7 Ultimate RC, then "upgrading" it to Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit. My plan was to use USB-1 to boot from to test the 64 bit O/S.

Pressing F12 doesn't get me to where I can select a USB drive to boot from so I went back to see if there was a new BIOS upgrade and found there wasn't. I did find a note in the text file that said "If Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit version or Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit version has been installed on your system, use the BIOS Update CD for the BIOS update".

If I'm going to be swapping back and forth between 32 bit and 64 bit, do I need to re-install the 1.25 update using the BIOS update CD?

[K0LO]

No. Once the BIOS is updated, then it is updated.

The issue with BIOS updates is that the program that installs the BIOS update must run on a 32-bit operating system. You won't be able to run the updater program on a 64-bit operating system. But the CD version of the updater has its own 32-bit OS on the CD, so in the future you boot from the CD to update the BIOS.

If you don't see the F12 key when booting the PC, check the settings in your BIOS to be sure that this feature is enabled. Also, if you plan to test boot Windows from a USB disk, forget about it. Windows cannot boot from USB devices.