T61 experience on Windows 10

[kfzhu1229]

What have people's experience been in getting the hot keys to work on Windows 10? I have found the mute button on my T61 to not work in Windows 10, but all the other hot keys appeared to have worked fine.

If the media buttons on the T6x are any similar to the T4x, they are independent from the windows volume control and has 15 levels (including mute) instead. If that's the case you should still be able to control but you can only hear the difference if you dont have the on screen display. For T43 in windows 10 I use an older version of hotkey win vista/7 and it has that white on black backdrop kind of display
it's like the situation for brightness control where the controls on your keyboard cant be seen by windows itself and every CCFL backlight laptop that I've seen is like this.

[shabba]

What have people's experience been in getting the hot keys to work on Windows 10? I have found the mute button on my T61 to not work in Windows 10, but all the other hot keys appeared to have worked fine.

At the present moment, my mute does not work nor does the ThinkAdvantage button or the FnF5. I've not tried to get them to work yet though so I cannot speak to either the level of success in making them work or the level of frustration to get them there. The fingerprint reader works flawlessly though which I am happy for.

[MEA707]

Thanks for the info. I've been away from my T61 for almost a month now and will be away from it for a while longer, but will look at trying Windows 10 again on it at some point.

Quite happy running Linux Mint on it though, it's very fast.

[kfzhu1229]

I have not used VLC in that case, at least not on this laptop. I am currently installing it to try out. Screenshots linked below of 2 different videos and the results on this here T61.

Okay so I am trying this with a fresh install of Firefox with just the h264ify and adblock plus running, and yeah it does seem to play the video better than Chrome did. However, I get stutters every few seconds as the contents in the VRAM keeps getting dumped out due to the lack of VRAM.
So now the only thing left in the equation is that I am using Windows 10 1903 and you are using 2004. Is this saying that the version 2004 is less taxing on the VRAM? I have a hard time believing that.
Also do you have any of the Windows 10 Aero animations turned on? I turned on everything except for transparency which I have completely disabled. It doesn't seem to lag in much ways unless I use Windows+Tab combination.
Either way 1080p playback taxes the system really really hard though even if the VRAM isn't an issue. So hard that the $5 battery overheated and threw me blinking red and green battery LED warning!
Something like a NVS160M handles this much more smoothly. Can't ask for too much for the first generation of NVidia GPUs capable of h264 decoding.

[shabba]

I actually did have animations turned on (it's default I suppose). I have turned them off but no real performance gain has been noticed yet. Surely 1903 is going to be less of a burden on VRAM but 2004 does not seem to make a difference either. I am running 8GB of RAM on this computer which surely has an affect on the overall video performance.

[kfzhu1229]

I actually did have animations turned on (it's default I suppose). I have turned them off but no real performance gain has been noticed yet. Surely 1903 is going to be less of a burden on VRAM but 2004 does not seem to make a difference either. I am running 8GB of RAM on this computer which surely has an affect on the overall video performance.

8GB of RAM means dual symmetric DDR2 mode which definitely helps in improving the performance of the data dumped onto the system RAM from the VRAM. I have 8GB as well as a X9000 overclocked to 3.4Ghz though. Oh well 1080p YouTube is a gimmick on these things either way anyway and there are only so much life left in these older boards.

[kfzhu1229]

Yes I did as that is the only way it was working in conjunction with the Bluetooth. My T61 did not have a daughter card so I figured the 7260 with one of those cheap adapters was the best way to go. The only downside to that is the wireless does not light up underneath the screen and I've tried the registry fix to make it work with no success. But I have AC wifi and BT so it's a fair trade off. I don't get the download speeds my desktop does at home (I've upgrade to the FIOS AX router from the older AC router) but it certainly does well and has been better than the stock N card that was in it. It's also consistent as I use it at home and here at work. No issues at all. For reference, I am running WIN10 2004. I installed it at 1803 and have upgraded it each time. No problems. The May update (2004) went off without a hitch.

Hmm well I think at this point I can just say that my problems with the that 7260 card was just Dell not playing nicely with Intel cards. It seems like despite them coming with Intel cards as an option, they work much more stable with the Broadcom based ones that Dell offers with their own brand slapped on it. I put an Intel 3945ABG card from an old Toshiba onto a Latitude D630, it would work but you have to reset the card every time you boot the computer up. And now I am having problems with disappointing signal range and stability on Wifi Link 5100 on a E6500 and a Wifi link/WiMax 5150 card on the verge of dying on a E6400. The latter craps out in a few minutes if 802.11n mode is on even when I tried that card on a desktop with a passive mPCIe to PCIe1X adapter.
Also the driver support for older Intel cards have been absolutely horrible since Intel removed their drivers from their website a year ago. Can't believe I have to hunt on Google to find the latest driver for those Wifi link cards and especially the Wimax driver.

[cadillacmike68]

I have not used VLC in that case, at least not on this laptop. I am currently installing it to try out. Screenshots linked below of 2 different videos and the results on this here T61.

Okay so I am trying this with a fresh install of Firefox with just the h264ify and adblock plus running, and yeah it does seem to play the video better than Chrome did. However, I get stutters every few seconds as the contents in the VRAM keeps getting dumped out due to the lack of VRAM.
So now the only thing left in the equation is that I am using Windows 10 1903 and you are using 2004. Is this saying that the version 2004 is less taxing on the VRAM? I have a hard time believing that.
Also do you have any of the Windows 10 Aero animations turned on? I turned on everything except for transparency which I have completely disabled. It doesn't seem to lag in much ways unless I use Windows+Tab combination.
Either way 1080p playback taxes the system really really hard though even if the VRAM isn't an issue. So hard that the $5 battery overheated and threw me blinking red and green battery LED warning!
Something like a NVS160M handles this much more smoothly. Can't ask for too much for the first generation of NVidia GPUs capable of h264 decoding.

Why don't you DL to disk and watch from there? That takes the internet and browser out of the equation.

I don't watch hardly anything from the Internet, especially something longer than a few mins. If it is worth keeping, it goes onto disk, if not "bye Felicia", unless it is of a technical or reference value in which case I'll bookmark it.

[kfzhu1229]

I actually did have animations turned on (it's default I suppose). I have turned them off but no real performance gain has been noticed yet. Surely 1903 is going to be less of a burden on VRAM but 2004 does not seem to make a difference either. I am running 8GB of RAM on this computer which surely has an affect on the overall video performance.

Hmmm actually I also got 1080p YouTube to work with 128MB VRAM in Windows 10, but that is with h264ify turned off and uses VP9 codec!
I suppose for the few times that I really need 1080p over 720p to be displayed on my WSXGA+ I guess I can keep that in mind, but otherwise the result of using VP9 codec is that it puts a lot more strain on your CPU and GPU and gives it a much harder workout than using 720p h264 codec, in which case the CPU almost sits idle and the GPU does all the hardware decoding. And also obviously more strain on your CPU and GPU means shorter battery life.
The Quadro FX 360M and NVS160M that I had my hands on, in the other hand, does 1080p h264 YouTube just fine because it has 256MB of VRAM, but I won't have any advantage in battery life with the former because the 360M has higher TDP than my NVS 135M which only consumes like 10W

[MEA707]

Some updates on my T61, I decided to give Windows 10 a try again. I've done the following:

1) Upgraded from 4GB to 8GB RAM.
2) Removed the useless 1GB Intel Turbo Memory.
3) Replaced the Intel 4965 AGN WiFi card with the Intel 6300 AGN WiFI card.

Everything is running great, the 8GB versus 4GB made a noticeable performance difference and the Intel 6300 AGN WiFi is working great with no more blue screens that the 4965 AGN caused.

Only thing not resolved, and this is very minor, is when turning off the Bluetooth, the LED stays on. Anyone found a way to fix this?

Overall I'm impressed with how still functional the T61 is after more than 12 years.

[kfzhu1229]

Only thing not resolved, and this is very minor, is when turning off the Bluetooth, the LED stays on. Anyone found a way to fix this?

Overall I'm impressed with how still functional the T61 is after more than 12 years.

I believe you need to use the utility or the wireless switch for the LED to come off. Unlike wifi which the LED is controlled by the wifi card, I don't think that's the case with the bluetooth.
Well what's helping the T61 and all the laptops of this generation is the generous CPU and RAM choices. The top X9000 CPU is easily 3-4 times the performance of a PM 780 in a T43p just 2 years older, and the 8GB RAM limit is like 4 times the RAM limit on the T43p.
What helps the discrete GPU ones even more is much more recent GPU drivers and the capability of decoding h264 which come really handy. The T43p has the newest GPU drivers dated in 2006, while the T61 has the drivers dated in 2016.

[MEA707]

I believe you need to use the utility or the wireless switch for the LED to come off. Unlike wifi which the LED is controlled by the wifi card, I don't think that's the case with the bluetooth.

It's strange how when I had Linux on it, the default Bluetooth on/off switch controls the LED light, yet in Windows it doesn't.

[kfzhu1229]

I have VLC hardware acceleration issues on my W510s on Windows 10. So this may not be hardware but rather OS related. Works fine when I turn off hardware acceleration.

Well if you disable hardware acceleration it's gonna use your CPU power to do the rendering instead. The result is that your system runs really hot and drains lots of battery.

[Rob Mayercik]

The only complaint I've had thus far on mine is that if I close the lid (suspend), more often than not when I reopen and try to resume, the display's messed up - the full screen is reduced to about 80% size, the colors are screwy, and there are weird patterns all over. Basically unusable.

Doing full reboot clears it, and with the SSD that doesn't take very long. Since I don't suspend often, I've not really dug into figuring out how to resolve it.

[kfzhu1229]

The only complaint I've had thus far on mine is that if I close the lid (suspend), more often than not when I reopen and try to resume, the display's messed up - the full screen is reduced to about 80% size, the colors are screwy, and there are weird patterns all over. Basically unusable.

Doing full reboot clears it, and with the SSD that doesn't take very long. Since I don't suspend often, I've not really dug into figuring out how to resolve it.

This is a driver glitch I am pretty sure. On this Dell with the same hardware I only have this problem when I put the thing to sleep immediately after I undock.

[MEA707]

The only complaint I've had thus far on mine is that if I close the lid (suspend), more often than not when I reopen and try to resume, the display's messed up - the full screen is reduced to about 80% size, the colors are screwy, and there are weird patterns all over. Basically unusable.

Doing full reboot clears it, and with the SSD that doesn't take very long. Since I don't suspend often, I've not really dug into figuring out how to resolve it.

Do you have the integrated Intel X3100 GPU or dedicate Nvidia NVS 140M GPU in yours?

[cadillacmike68]

Set to do nothing when you close the lid.

[kfzhu1229]

Well I have just got my hands on a higher end Dell D830 but with a NVS 140M with 256MB of VRAM.
Gotta say under higher resolutions (especially WUXGA), 256MB of VRAM makes the animations and such much more consistent. And now it natively decodes 1080p YouTube in h264 codec and can output it to a WUXGA screen all without running out of VRAM!
Just that somehow this WUXGA screen has a noticeably worse display quality than my WSXGA+ panels. The colours are just a little more washed out and blacks are not as deep. It seems like Samsung panels are just bad at contrast ratios and viewing angles compared to the competition (my WSXGA+ screen is LG Philips).

[MEA707]

What Synaptics driver version are T61 Windows 10 users running?

I have found 18.1.27.43 to be the best one as it allows middle button scrolling to work in the Windows 10 metro apps (such as the Microsoft Store):

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds101836

The latest Windows 10 driver, 19.0.17.142, does not recognize one finger scrolling on the T61, though middle button scrolling works.

[kfzhu1229]

I have found 18.1.27.43 to be the best one as it allows middle button scrolling to work in the Windows 10 metro apps (such as the Microsoft Store):
The latest Windows 10 driver, 19.0.17.142, does not recognize one finger scrolling on the T61, though middle button scrolling works.

Have you tried the registry trick to enable two finger scrolling as well? It's not the same kind of real time gravity like scrolling on the T520 and later touchpads but still pretty neat.

[MEA707]

Yeah I did, I decided to disable it again as I feel the T61 touchpad is too small for two finger scrolling. I prefer one finger scrolling on it.

On the other hand, two finger scrolling on my T440p is perfect and easy.


For the record, two finger scrolling also did not work with the 19.0.17.142 driver on the T61. Some reason any type of touchpad scrolling doesn't work on the T61 with that driver.

[Rob Mayercik]

The only complaint I've had thus far on mine is that if I close the lid (suspend), more often than not when I reopen and try to resume, the display's messed up - the full screen is reduced to about 80% size, the colors are screwy, and there are weird patterns all over. Basically unusable.

Doing full reboot clears it, and with the SSD that doesn't take very long. Since I don't suspend often, I've not really dug into figuring out how to resolve it.

Do you have the integrated Intel X3100 GPU or dedicate Nvidia NVS 140M GPU in yours?

Mine's got the NVidia GPU.

Kfzhu1229: Agree it's a driver issue, and I plan to figure it out one of these days. Just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

Edit: On the machine now, Device Manager is reporting the display adapter as the NVidia Quadro FX 570M

[robertcikanek]

In case anyone is interested, as of today I am running Windows 11 Enterprise / Office 2021 on a T61, all hardware working perfectly. It's got a 200 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM. Running great, fully licensed (permanent hardware license).

[Alex486sx]

Hi All.

Just installed Windows 10 LTSC IoT x64 on my "new" T61 laptop. Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, integrated video, 100GB HDD.
It works alright, but I wish it was a little faster. I assume it could benefit from SSD + more RAM

In the meantime I could watch 720p youtube just fine, and easily connected it to my tv (via VGA).

So it works. Will try to run google meet and slack on it soon

[axur-delmeria]

Running Windows 10 on a computer with less than 4GB RAM and only a hard drive is an exercise in masochism.

[Alex486sx]

Running Windows 10 on a computer with less than 4GB RAM and only a hard drive is an exercise in masochism.

Yeah, but since older systems are not supported, I have to go with Win10. I'll see if I have 2GB ram kicking around somewhere, and if it's compatible. And it looks like SSDs are cheap these days, I see these sold for around $10

I got the laptop for $35 shipped and wasn't planning to upgrade, but it actually has a nice bright screen and fine sound, so might be worth it
Also might be worth trying Linux on it instead. Maybe it will be snappy with 2GB and HDD...

[axur-delmeria]

Also might be worth trying Linux on it instead. Maybe it will be snappy with 2GB and HDD...

2GB is fine on Linux as long as you don't open many programs simultaneously or open many browser tabs.

2GB on Windows 10? Just opening Excel is enough to send RAM usage to 85%.

[kfzhu1229]

Yeah, but since older systems are not supported, I have to go with Win10. I'll see if I have 2GB ram kicking around somewhere, and if it's compatible. And it looks like SSDs are cheap these days, I see these sold for around $10

I got the laptop for $35 shipped and wasn't planning to upgrade, but it actually has a nice bright screen and fine sound, so might be worth it
Also might be worth trying Linux on it instead. Maybe it will be snappy with 2GB and HDD...

Well if you have to use Windows 10 and 2GB of RAM, at least try to get 32 bit instead. When my ThinkPad T530 came with 2GB of RAM and Windows 7 x64 Home basic back in like 2013, even that was an exercise in frustration, so much so that my older ThinkPad T43 also with 2GB of RAM but Windows 8.1 32 bit was much faster to use... If you have to use 64 bit you really want to get like 5-6GB of RAM to have a comfortable experience (and more than that on newer laptops).
If that's too costly for ya then you might need a T400/T500 instead as 4GB DDR3 low density SODIMMs are much easier and cheaper finds.

[Alex486sx]

After all, Windows 10 on T61 was too slow for me, so I went back to the old, good, warm OS... Will be great for playing old games and watching fawlty towers.

[RealBlackStuff]

If you like "Fawlty Towers", then also have a look at "Keeping Up Appearances".