BIOS and GPU driver for T60P

[taichi]

What is the correct BIOS for the T60P? I'm running 79ETE5WW (2.25).

Also what is the best GPU driver for the ATI GPU? The Lenovo download site shows Version 8.383.1.1

[ajkula66]

What OS are we discussing in regards to video driver?

The latest BIOS is 2.27

[taichi]

[quote="ajkula66"]What OS are we discussing in regards to video driver?

The latest BIOS is 2.27[/quote]

Ah, George... my Flexview friend. Thanks for responding.

I'm running Vista Ultimate 32 Service Pack 2.

Is imperative that I upgrade to bios 2.27 from where I'm at? I just made it through my upgrade to SP2. Updating bioses gives me the willies. Probably because my backup solution is not yet ideal.

Still loving my UXGA Boe Hydis,

Thanks

[ajkula66]

If the machine shows no issues running 2.25 I'd stay with it.

Vista, huh...the newest driver Lenovo site shows is from 2007...the exact one that you were referring to.

Menawhile, there's a XP driver from 2009...go figure...

Tell you what, run this utility:

http://freestone-group.com/video-card-s ... y-test.htm

and post your benchmark...and then we can further discuss the video driver...

[taichi]

[quote="ajkula66"]If the machine shows no issues running 2.25 I'd stay with it.

Vista, huh...the newest driver Lenovo site shows is from 2007...the exact one that you were referring to.

Menawhile, there's a XP driver from 2009...go figure...

Tell you what, run this utility:

http://freestone-group.com/video-card-s ... y-test.htm

and post your benchmark...and then we can further discuss the video driver...[/quote]

Well, George, a funny thing happened. While I was about 4 1/2 minutes through the stability test I got a blue screen... a blue screen that I have had a few times recently... saying that I had a memory parity error... a hardware malfunction... and that the system was halted.

I first noticed this about a week ago, and concerned I took it to my computer repair shop and asked them to run a full diagnostic before installing SP2. The diagnostic showed nothing wrong, and the SP2 upgrade went fine. When I got home I had another one or two blue screens, called the repair shop and explained what happened. The technician explained that it could be a driver issue.

What I sensed when recalling the occasion of the blue screens was that I believed I had played Far Cry a bit before the blue screens occurred. In my mind the two were potentially linked, and I thought about the GPU, and the driver. I noticed yesterday that I was using an older driver than what is recommended on the Lenovo website.

So it's interesting that the memory parity blue screen happened during the stability test. But again, the diagnostic showed nothing wrong with the CPU, RAM, GPU, or other systems.

The other thing in this puzzle is that recently I've begun taking my laptop back into the apartment where the signal is weak. I've lost connection a few times, and the WiFi icon above the keyboard goes out. Will the WiFi icon go out if the signal is completely inadequate? The thought had crossed my mind that the mpcie WiFi card may be going, and that this too could have been the cause of these blue screens.

By the way, finding the FRU number on the Lenovo website for the mini WiFi card is no easy task. Under display driver in device manager it appears I have the Intel card.

[dr_st]

The 2.25 BIOS has a serious bug where the machine will fail to identify USB keyboard/mouse during boot.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85612
(FYI, this was fixed in 2.26, so it's safe to upgrade - no need to downgrade back to 2.23)

Of course, if you don't need it, you may avoid the upgrade for now. There is always a risk, however small, that something will go bad during a BIOS upgrade which will brick the machine.

[taichi]

[quote="dr_st"]The 2.25 BIOS has a serious bug where the machine will fail to identify USB keyboard/mouse during boot.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85612
(FYI, this was fixed in 2.26, so it's safe to upgrade - no need to downgrade back to 2.23)

Of course, if you don't need it, you may avoid the upgrade for now. There is always a risk, however small, that something will go bad during a BIOS upgrade which will brick the machine.[/quote]

I never use a USB keyboard or mouse, and similar stories of BIOS upgrade nightmares dissuade me from changing anything, as long as the BIOS is not causing the memory
parity error.

One thing I discovered was that my Canon Pixma multifunction drivers had been superseded by new drivers for Vista and Windows 7. So, that's been remedied. In the back of my mind the printer and the GPU drivers were reasonable suspects.

[taichi]

Upon the advice of my computer repair tech, I use the Intel automatic driver utility to locate, download, and install some obsolete drivers on my unstable system.

The last that I need to install is the ATI GPU driver.
The version on the Lenovo website is Version 8.383.1.1 from 09/04/2007, which is obviously newer than 8.362.0.0 from 04/05/2007.

Many people on the forums recommend uninstalling a driver before installing the new one, but my technician recommends simply updating. This appeals to me because of its simplicity, and my very adept technician says there is no downside to doing so, as long as the driver you are installing is newer than the one previously installed.

I would be interested in the sagacious advice of any of this form.

Thanks

[dr_st]

[quote="taichi"]I would be interested in the sagacious advice of any of this form.[/quote]Well, one advice I can give you is to untick the "disable BBcode" tickbox in your replies, as it makes all the quotes appear broken like in my current post.

[taichi]

Done.

[dr_st]

Regarding the drivers - I'd say that as long as you are updating to a newer version of the same driver, it should be fairly safe, although it is true that complications may arise. If things suddenly don't work properly, you can always remove and do a fresh install. In some cases, the driver installer will offer to automatically uninstall the old version for you.

Now, when you are doing major changes, such as installing third party drivers (like Omega drivers) or replacing the actual graphics adapter (obviously not applicable to most laptops), then it is generally recommended to do an uninstall and reinstall, as Windows tends to get confused.

[taichi]

Regarding the drivers - I'd say that as long as you are updating to a newer version of the same driver, it should be fairly safe, although it is true that complications may arise. If things suddenly don't work properly, you can always remove and do a fresh install. In some cases, the driver installer will offer to automatically uninstall the old version for you.

Now, when you are doing major changes, such as installing third party drivers (like Omega drivers) or replacing the actual graphics adapter (obviously not applicable to most laptops), then it is generally recommended to do an uninstall and reinstall, as Windows tends to get confused.

Well, with regard to the the GPU driver, upon further reading it appears that both ATI and Lenovo recommend uninstalling the old driver (throwing me, I assume, into VGA) before installing the new one. So I guess that's what I should do...after finishing a project on my Thinkpad.

Knock on wood (or on a laminate) my system seems more stable since updating various drivers through the Intel site.

By the way, it seems I have to uncheck the Disable BBCode each time I respond or post. I don't seem to be able to save the change as a default.

[dr_st]

By the way, it seems I have to uncheck the Disable BBCode each time I respond or post. I don't seem to be able to save the change as a default.

It seems like you can change the defaults in your user control panel --> board preferences --> edit posting defaults. This link works for me: http://forum.thinkpads.com/ucp.php?i=prefs&mode=post

[taichi]

It seems like you can change the defaults in your user control panel --> board preferences --> edit posting defaults. This link works for me: http://forum.thinkpads.com/ucp.php?i=prefs&mode=post

In an article in PC World they talked about the rollback driver function in Device Manager. The article discussed the fact that sometimes a new driver breaks things rather than fixes things. The rollback driver function obviously works only when you have updated the previous driver, in contrast to uninstalling and reinstalling new.

This makes a good point, despite what the ATI and Lenovo websites say.