R51 questions

[thinkpad1]

I need to speed up my R51. It's driving me crazy.

I need some advice. I will need to re-install XP. I am wondering if someone can give me some customization tips.

I want it fast and light but can I put a Windows 7 skin on it? I think there is a skin on it right now (when I bought it) and I like it if it doesn't slow the system down. How do I tell what it is?

It looks like it's applied to Firefox as well?

I will need the drivers as well. I have a T41 disc which is no good now so I will try to do a better job with creating a disc this time.

I also recall that I only have 512MB of RAM in the laptop! UGH! I suppose that sure doesn't help! I think it's the same RAM capacity as a T41, right? I can move that over.

Too bad about the screen, though. I need to get it faster, though. It is freezing up on me often and although it's probably OS-related, I think the lack of memory is contributing?

What do you R51 owners do when you set up your machine for XP?

[jronald]

Im kind of un-impressed with my wife's 51. I could be prejudiced but I swear my T30s are faster.

That said here are some tried and true tips:
Increase the memory to at least 1.25 gigs, there really is not need for more than 1.5 gigs.
Swap the hard drive to at least a 5400, but ideally a 7200 RPM type. Western Digital or Seagate are both great.
Load Note Book Hardware Control, and set for max speed http://www.pbus-167.com/

Warning this will seriously effect your battery life!

Ron

[RealBlackStuff]

Try for Windows FLP, if you can find it. It's the skinniest XP around, and flies on older machines, even with only 256MB.

[frankiepankie]

If you have some spare money, up the RAM to 1GB / 1.5GB / 2GB and/or put in an SSD, and your R51 will fly again.

With the above modifications it is also fine to use Windows 7

[ajkula66]

If you want it fast and light, you'll stay away from W7 which has a higher RAM consumption (in my experience) than XPP.

That being said, a fresh install from recovery discs, then trimming all the bloat and upgrading the RAM to 1GB could do wonders for that R51.

PM 735 that you have in there is one of my all-time-favourite CPUs. It's cool and runs quiet but not sluggish. For most people's needs - unless you're doing some really serious stuff - there's plenty of power in that old dog.

One more thing: if you're still running the original 4200rpm hard drive, get rid of it.Yesterday. Replacement drives are inexpensive nowadays and will make your machine feel much younger...

[thinkpad1]

I'll take the RAM sticks out of the T41 and use it in the R51 so not worried about RAM.

I have no plans to put W7 on the machine. I just liked the skin if that's what it is. It doesn't look like the traditional XP screen on this install.

The R51 has the original HDD so yes, it's a 4200rpm drive.

[thinkpad1]

Is there any consensus on the WD v.s. Samsung drives? I'm leaning towards the WD 120gb or 160gb. I had a Samsung in the T41 and although it died (not sure whether I can salvage the data but I hope so), I am not anti-Samsung since I think there was an impact on it at some point. However, at least with the WD, there are more size capacities to choose from. But, I wondered with those the only drives to choose from, whether there's any consensus or popular choice? It also seems as though there's only 5400rpm choices.

One plus or positive is the keyboard with this particular R51: I like it! I need to cross my fingers nothing happens to it. The keyboard replacement on the T41 was awful. The seller of it lived too far away and I was insane to drive all that way to obtain a crappy deal on a HDD upgrade (later upgraded again to the Samsung) and the awful keyboard that was used/installed.

I notice on ebay, a few screen assemblies for about $60. They are XGA resolution but I think I'll just wait for now. If I get a new one, I think I'll just take whatever is cheapest (as long as quality is 'Grade A') even if it's XGA resolution. Not worth it to me to pay more and get SXGA or whatever screen. I prefer an easy uninstall old defective screen (w/ assembly) and basic replacement of 'newly' purchased screen assembly from ebay.

[thinkpad1]

How much are these machines worth? I think I might be selling mine. The wifi card won't connect to my internet. I'm using XP and it's attempting to but there's never a connection. I have had it with these machines. I have one more thing to try - the same model of card is in my T41. Failing that, I'd put it up for sale.

The main defect is the screen and maybe the wifi card.

[Harryc]

Lets see, an R51 with a borked XGA LCD, and a questionable WiFi card, with a 4200rpm hard drive and 512MB RAM. There's not even a lot of salvageable parts there. Maybe $50 on this forum. Maybe $70 on Ebay. My best guess ...

[thinkpad1]

Lets see, an R51 with a borked XGA LCD, and a questionable WiFi card, with a 4200rpm hard drive and 512MB RAM. There's not even a lot of salvageable parts there. Maybe $50 on this forum. Maybe $70 on Ebay. My best guess ...

I have 2GB of RAM total that can go in it. Two sticks of 1GB each. I hope the wifi card of the T41 would solve the problem but who knows. If it's an antenna, would that be part of the laptop? Then I'm in trouble, right? The wifi card in the T41 worked fine for the most part. At least, in the same location, it worked. That's why I thought it might solve the problem but if the antenna is bad? I'm trying to remember if the wifi card in the R51 worked at all. I guess I need to experiment... move the R51 to a different location or nearby and see if it connects...

Either way, I'll have to use up time disassembling TWO Thinkpads now without any guarantee it will work...

[ajkula66]

Before you start ripping the machines apart, download and burn a copy of a "live" Linux CD, such as Mint:

http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=13

Boot from it and see whether you can connect through the wi-fi.

In my not so modest experience, in 90% of the situations it's the settings and/or the router that cause issues as opposed to the card itself.

[thinkpad1]

Before you start ripping the machines apart, download and burn a copy of a "live" Linux CD, such as Mint:

http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=13

Boot from it and see whether you can connect through the wi-fi.

In my not so modest experience, in 90% of the situations it's the settings and/or the router that cause issues as opposed to the card itself.

I have Live CDs lying around but yes, a good idea of a recent CD to test is good.

Problem is, the other machines have had wireless work including the T41 before the drive kinda failed. I doubt it's the router.

[thinkpad1]

I'm downloading a Mint Cd. I'll try to connect via wireless in the locale it hasn't been working then I'll try again closer to the router with both the CD and in Windows. I'll get to the bottom of it soon, I hope. If it's just the wifi card not working, I don't care. I have a replacement. I just hope it's not something worse like the connectors are bad or something like that.

[thinkpad1]

Before you start ripping the machines apart, download and burn a copy of a "live" Linux CD, such as Mint:

http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=13

Boot from it and see whether you can connect through the wi-fi.

In my not so modest experience, in 90% of the situations it's the settings and/or the router that cause issues as opposed to the card itself.

With the Mint 10 CD, I can connect to the internet so the problem must be inherent in Windows XP Pro (the XP Pro installed on the machine)?!?

I was getting between 77 and 82% signal strength.

When I'm using a CD, is there supposed to be a lot of screeching and 'scratching-like' sounds? It sounds different than my T41 burner but that drive was definitely defective. Anyway, is the noise....normal?

I liked the look of Mint 10 and I think I might use it for my IBM Netvista machine. I was going to use a xfce derivative or Xubuntu but Mint 10 Gnome seemed okay even on the Thinkpad although it's slow as it's a live DVD.

I guess I have two concerns now: The wifi NOT working in XP and the screeching sound when using a disc. I hope it's just reading a disc but the sound is disconcerting. Those things are expensive, too. As long as it's not scratching the disc, it's just something that might deteriorate over time? Or is that a typical sound?

And what to do about the XP Pro wifi problem? I've had similar issues before with the T41. Do these machines just not work well with XP or what? I have witnessed the problem before but thought there's no way it's happening again!

I enter the password and it tries to connect.... it doesn't. It tries again and it's a continuous cycle. I try the 'repair connection' utility which I find to be useless. Never works. When I do, it just hangs there forever. I'm not sure what to do next. I think the drive is too slow to bother installing Linux. I'd upgrade the drive if A) the XP wiki problem can be solved and B) if I can diagnose the cd/dvd drive noise. The display assembly is $60 if I ever want a flawless screen.

[ajkula66]

In XP, are you using Access Connections or Windows Zero configuration for wireless?

It's hard to say whether the sound you're hearing from the media drive is normal or not. Booting and running from a "live" disk is always audible.

I've installed Mint 10 on a T40 with only 512MB of RAM, and an old 4200rpm drive and it runs OK. It's beyond usable.

As for the XP, a fresh install from the recovery media usually gets rid of any bugs that were previously hidden in the system.

[thinkpad1]

In XP, are you using Access Connections or Windows Zero configuration for wireless?

It's hard to say whether the sound you're hearing from the media drive is normal or not. Booting and running from a "live" disk is always audible.

I've installed Mint 10 on a T40 with only 512MB of RAM, and an old 4200rpm drive and it runs OK. It's beyond usable.

As for the XP, a fresh install from the recovery media usually gets rid of any bugs that were previously hidden in the system.

I don't want to re-install XP! The drive is slow, 4200rpm and I don't intend to keep using it. Didn't a mod already say this drive is slow?

This is crazy. Now, no wifi network connections are being found at all... I don't understand how anyone uses these machines with Windows!

Connecting wireless in Windows should be the easiest thing in the world! These are old wifi cards and I'm a few feet away from the router! I'm using Wireless Network Connections. "No wireless networks were found in range. Make sure the wireless switch on your computer is on...." Blah, blah, blah... THIS WASN'T EVEN THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM!!!! Thinkpad + Windows = crap!

I guess re-installing the wifi drivers is something to try? I don't want to waste time re-installing the OS. I don't have the recovery discs. I bought the laptop as is for $50!

[ajkula66]

Chances are, the buggy aspect of your wireless has absolutely nothing to do with the ThinkPads and everything to do with the XP. Works well in Mint, right?

Uninstalling and re-installing the wireless driver may or may not help, but I'd give it a shot. Also, get rid of Access Connections if you have it on that R51.

How people use Windows on ThinkPads? For the most part,as easy or as difficult as on any other machine...

[thinkpad1]

Chances are, the buggy aspect of your wireless has absolutely nothing to do with the ThinkPads and everything to do with the XP. Works well in Mint, right?

Uninstalling and re-installing the wireless driver may or may not help, but I'd give it a shot. Also, get rid of Access Connections if you have it on that R51.

How people use Windows on ThinkPads? For the most part,as easy or as difficult as on any other machine...

Yes, Mint 10 seemed to connect via wireless and although I didn't use it long (was just a test), at least I had a connection and signal strength wasn't bad, I guess.

Not sure what is going on with the wifi on the Windows XP side. I had a problem connecting via wireless with my T41 at one point, too. 'Don't remember what was wrong.

This seems like a different problem, though. I thought maybe a firewall was causing a problem but now the situation is worse. I don't have any connections so it's not scanning or won't scan.

[thinkpad1]

So, perhaps, there is no solution to wifi issues in XP Pro and these Thinkpads?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=88327

Apparently, both MS and IBM/Lenovo (I guess just Lenovo now) don't care about fixing the problem...

[ajkula66]

thinkpad1 wrote:

So, perhaps, there is no solution to wifi issues in XP Pro and these Thinkpads?

I don't have SP3 on any of my machines so I wouldn't know, but this is what I do know:

1) Two T43p machines with IBM (Atheros) abg II cards, not an issue anywhere to be found.

2) One T43 with Intel 2200BG, never an issue.

3) One R60e, IBM (Atheros) card, not an issue anywhere in sight.

4) One A31p, Intel 2200BG, never an issue.

5) One X60 tablet, Intel 3945ABG, no issues to report


All of the above running XP SP2, and connected at all times to the same router, apart from the tablet which is my travel machine.

[thinkpad1]

It might be a driver issue! Can I driver become corrupted or something?

I discovered the most recent driver is from Apr. '09 and one from '07 was installed. I thought there's nothing to lose to try and install the most recent one. I'm posting this from my R51 via wireless! I don't see why it wouldn't work if I move the Thinkpad back in the other room where I want it working! No wired cable going there yet!

I had hopes after googling this problem and there were two posts in which the user claimed a re-install of the driver worked (they had almost identical problem or sounded like it!). I assume this is an XP problem. But, still, XP is still awful with wireless, imho. There's no sign or indication of what's going on. The messages are useless and I don't want to speak too hastily about this 'fix.' I know better. LOL! But, we'll see. It's probably better to have the most up to date driver anyway.

Unfortunately, I can't say I've never had a wireless issue. The last annoying one was when I traveled and I couldn't get it to work with an unencrypted, free link. It would lose connection and other times, I couldn't get a connection at all. That was with the T41, though. Not sure what the solution was as I moved from that location.

Btw, the other 'solutions' people claimed was installing and using W7. I don't want to do that, though. Not on this machine. I don't have a copy of 7, anyway. I figure the solution was due to a brand new driver install, anyway?

P.S. Thanks for your help. This issue was driving me crazy! I hate wireless issues... so much that could be wrong! So frustrating! Lucky I have another computer here with a wired connection. So, I can google while testing wireless...

As long as this keeps working, the optical drive is the last concern. I know it will make noise while reading and working but the screeching sound doesn't sound good. Any way I could find out whether that's normal or that nothing is getting scratched?

[thinkpad1]

Spoke too soon. Again, not working. I'm done with Thinkpads... these trash bins have 'designed for Windows' stickers on them!

Should be designed for the trash heap.

[RealBlackStuff]

Are you leaving the forum too?

[CFoo]

I incase you haven't thrown out the R51 yet. Why don't you just go ahead install a new copy of XP? If you get a new harddrive (or used) it would be better to start fresh anyway. This way you still have the old XP install and can return to it if you like or pull data from it by putting it in an external harddrive enclosure.

I've had an R51 for a long time now and had no issues with the hardware but have re-installed XP 3 times now. Mind you I did upgrade the CPU and max ram.

[thinkpad1]

Yes, normally that is what I'd do but I had problems with it and the T41 before it. However, the wireless is currently working and I don't want to touch it!

I will wait until I have some spare change and probably get the HDD. I just want to be careful how much more I invest in it. I agree, the extra RAM will help but I do have that at least, 2GB total. I think I'll consider the 120GB and 160GB Western Digital IDE drives...

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

[BeeJayEmm]

I don't have SP3 on any of my machines...

Hi George, Would you mind telling us why that is? I'm just curious.

[ajkula66]

BeeJayEmm wrote:

Hi George, Would you mind telling us why that is? I'm just curious.

Call it skepticism on my part if you wish, but I'm always very weary of MS updates and have had some nasty BSOD experiences in the past. The "final straw" so to say was when I received a machine in a trade that previously belonged to me at one point, but came back with all the MS and Lenovo updates applied. Boy was that thing a slug, and was that wireless choppy, with no reason under the sun. After attempting to tweak it for a couple of days, I finally gave up, wiped the drive and re-installed XP from the recovery disks. A completely different ThinkPad emerged.

I'm not prescribing this as a recipe for anyone else's needs. That's what I choose to do, and on my computers only. Security concerns are legitimate, but no amount of updates and AV software can replace one's common sense.

That being said, I do have AV software installed, and I never go anywhere where I'm not supposed to be when it comes to Internet.

My $0.02 only...

[thinkpad1]

So, do you have a SP on your machines? SP2?

I think the idea that SP3 hoses your machine is a bit outlandish. I haven't heard of any others complaining about a SP3 update screwing up their machine. I mean, I read that SP3 might have done something to a Thinkpad user's machine. But, that is it. I figure the Thinkpad software is old and is not being updated much anymore. Lenovo doesn't care anymore. The machines are outdated and businesses have moved to more modern machines or brand new ones. You might see some older Thinkpads around but they don't need the updated software. The general user, I dunno.... maybe. But, I can assert very few positive experiences with my Thinkpads and this is from initial installs to full configured SP3 editions. The latest wireless problem could be attributed to the previous configuration, I guess. Any excuse is possible.

The wireless problem returned and it's now doing the same thing. Will wiping the drive and starting over solve things? Maybe and maybe not. Could it return? Again, I don't think these questions should have to be answered if the support of the machines were better.

I have not been convinced investing in hardware and taking the time for a new install solves anything.

[ajkula66]

thinkpad1 wrote:

So, do you have a SP on your machines? SP2?

Yes. I'd be very interested in finding out what makes SP3 really necessary.

I think the idea that SP3 hoses your machine is a bit outlandish. I haven't heard of any others complaining about a SP3 update screwing up their machine. I mean, I read that SP3 might have done something to a Thinkpad user's machine. But, that is it. I figure the Thinkpad software is old and is not being updated much anymore. Lenovo doesn't care anymore. The machines are outdated and businesses have moved to more modern machines or brand new ones.

You're not making sense with this statement, since there are machines as new as T400/500, W500 etc. which were sold with XP. The drivers and utilities for them are regularly updated.

I'm not expecting Lenovo to refresh the drivers/utilities for my 701C, or for that fact my A31p. These are dinousaurs, although the latter is still a very usable one.

As I've stated in my prevous post: what works for me need not mean anything to anyone else. But as long as I don't run into any serious issues I'll stick with the setups that I have in their current configuration.

[BeeJayEmm]

Just so I understand, George, have you applied any Microsoft updates since SP2 or not? I understand your reluctance because I have had problems with some updates,too. Since the first one I always image my drive before applying. Again, I am just curious and have no agenda.