Can / should I upgrade to Win 7??

[steerpike100]

Hi,

I have a T60 which I have just upgraded from 1GB Ram to 3GB.

I'd like to format the drive and start afresh as part of the sprucing up job I am doing on tha machine.

My questions are:

1. How can I format and retain the Lenovo security features? (finger swipe etc...) Or do I even need these?
2. Should I consider upgrading to Windows 7? I have run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and it recommends 32 bit. I wonder if my system can cope with 64 bit? I don't want to run any hugely resource hungry programs.

My spec is as follows:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/19/2013, 13:17:56
Machine name: LENOVO-66755D12
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.120821-1629)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: LENOVO
System Model: 2007GCG
BIOS: Phoenix FirstBIOS(tm) Notebook Pro Version 2.0 for ThinkPad
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Page File: 1284MB used, 3160MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

Thanks in advance for any help!

[craigmontHunter]

Welcome to the forum.

In answer to your first question, the easiest way to get them is to run lenovo system update, and select the tools you want/need - I reccomend at the bare minimum all the drivers and power manager, but you can scroll through and select what you want.

Secondly, I strongly reccomend you upgrade to windows 7, since xp will be out of support in just under a year; while your system will run 64-bit, IMHO you will not see any benefit over 32-bit, especially since you're limited to 3gb by the chipset.

[steerpike100]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for the useful advice.

I intend to download Win 7 from Digital River website: Windows 7 Home Premium SP1-U ISO.

As this is an ISO file, I assume I just need to mount the image, run the program and it will install fine. Is there another sequence I need to do in order to retain the lenovo tools?

Thanks
Steve

[ajkula66]

Install the System Update from Lenovo's website:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc ... 3-2012.exe

Run it and it should take care of the most - if not all - drivers and utilities for you.

[ThinkDan]

Steerpike - your processor supports the 64-bit extensions, but the main point of switching to 64-bit is to get round the 4GB memory ceiling of 32-bit. According to ThinkWiki, the T60 has a maximum addressable memory range of 4GB due to chipset limitations. Basically you can go 64-bit or 32-bit with neither having a great advantage or disadvantage over the other IMHO.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T60

[steerpike100]

Thanks all for the advice.

Can anyone advise the best way to get Win 7? I have found a valid and legal link from Digital River but I think this expires after 31 days without a licence. It also requires mounting of an ISO which I'm not 100% clear on.

[craigmontHunter]

The best way to get windows 7 is to buy a license. If you don't want to spend the money and have a vista COA, I would reccomend going with vista, since in the grand scheme of things when vista is fully patched, it is comparable to windows 7. Otherwise you are either stuck with xp or have to switch to another os (probably linux).

You may want to look at windows 8, Microsoft has a deal for $40 it seems, at least in Canada - thats probably the cheapest option to get a licensed windows install, provided that you can cope with learning windows 8.

[steerpike100]

Hmmm - thanks Craig. I just ran Windows Upgrade Assistant and it recommends Windows 8 Pro for only £24.99! Seems a bargain.

Do I need to worry about Windows 8 being more hungry for my machine or it is actually less so?

On that point, am I able to remove the 1GB memory card and add in another 2GB one to make 4GB total or is 3GB my limit for this machine?

[craigmontHunter]

3gb is the hardware limit - it will boot with 4gb, and the bios may show 4gb, but any operating system (32 OR 64-bit) will only be able to use 3gb, so there really isn't any point in upgrading to 4gb.

From what I have heard and seen, windows 8 is about the same, if not less demanding than windows 7 in most areas, and in any case your system is more than sufficent to run windows 8 well. the prices for windows 8 will be going up at the end of the month, so you will probably want to make a decision before then.

EDIT: one thing I forgot to mention is that system update no longer seems to support the T6* or older systems for windows 8, so you will have to install the drivers manually, which isn't too bad since there aren't any corresponding windows update modules that need to be installed.

[pianowizard]

If you happen to be buying a new Windows 7 computer by the end of the month, the purchase would qualify you for upgrading to Windows 8 for only $14.99 (perhaps £10 in the UK?). I bought two Windows 8 licenses that way, when I bought two Windows 7 desktops in the past several months. This is the cheapest way to get Windows 8 legally.

[steerpike100]

Ok, so I downloaded the Windows Upgrade app and from there, bought Windows 8 for £24 and gone through the download and install process. Message at the end of a 1hr 30min install: 'Windows8 installation has not been succesfull". Great.

So I've been rolled back to XP with no advice on where to go from here.

Any ideas?

[craigmontHunter]

did you select for a clean install or an upgrade, how much free space do you have, and did you choose windows 8 32-bit or 64-bit?

[steerpike100]

Hi,

I used the Windows 8 Update app for which I chose 64 bit and Upgrade but checked the options for not keeping any existing files so assumed it wpuld effectively do a clean install.

I have formatted the Thinkpad back to factory settings so I now have 60GB back and am thinking of trying again

[pianowizard]

The Upgrade Assistant automatically downloads the same bit version as the one currently on the laptop. I have tried both upgrading and clean-installing and both went well. Out of the 3 possible causes, running out of HDD space seems the likeliest. Try again by burning the setup files onto a DVD, then delete the downloaded files to free up a couple gigabytes, and upgrade/install from the DVD.

I chose 64 bit and Upgrade but checked the options for not keeping any existing files so assumed it wpuld effectively do a clean install. I have formatted the Thinkpad back to factory settings so I now have 60GB back and am thinking of trying again

I didn't see your post while typing the above. Why did you choose 64bit? Compared to 32bit, 64bit needs more HDD space and more RAM. Considering you HDD is only 60GB, I think it would be wise to opt for 32bit.

[steerpike100]

Hi pianowizard, actually, I think the Windows 8 assistant simply chose the version for me - I'm not clear whether it was 64 or 34 - I just went with its recommendations.

I'm not sure where to go from here as I have a Win 8 serial number but no idea how to re-download. If I choose the wizard again, I don't recall being able to specifically choose which bit version to run.

[ThinkDan]

How to re-download the Windows 8 ISO:

http://www.ghacks.net/2012/11/10/how-to ... ows-8-iso/

Any help?

[steerpike100]

Hello Thinkdan - many thanks, looks like that's just what I need!

It's not clear to me whether it will allow options of 32 or 64 or will it force my hand? Given my previous problem, I was going to try the 32 bit version.

[ThinkDan]

I'll have a look. PW's comment about space usage was something I'd overlooked although since I spend a lot of time working on older Windows I've lost any rational concept of how or why current(ish) versions use so much RAM!

[ThinkDan]

From here:

http://www.zdnet.com/the-ultimate-windo ... 000006815/

"As you discovered, the Windows download from Microsoft matches the system from which you initiate the download. So if you purchase the download on a system running 32-bit Windows, your downloaded setup file will also be 32-bit."

There is plenty of information out there accessible via Google, just make sure you use reliable websites

[steerpike100]

Hmmm. Many thanks for the link. Looks like I can rule out a mismatch on the 32 system / 64 bit OS front.

I've reset the thinkpad back to factory settings, then ran XP SP3 update and am trying afresh using the Win 8 downloader.

[steerpike100]

It's worked!

thanks fo your help y'all.

[steerpike100]

Final post! (perhaps!) - any advice on which, if any, of the 'old' Lenovo devices, security features or apps are worth downloading again? I'd like to get the finger swipe working again though maybe that's it.

[craigmontHunter]

If you go to the lenovo support Site, there are only 4 or 5 drivers for windows 8 - the fingerprint software, power management driver (no more powermanager) ultranav utility and active protection. If they don't show up under the t60 section, you should be able to use the t61 versions without any problems.