Internet Download KPS

I have just received a new T61 and I noticed that my download time was very slow, sooooo I went to pcpitstop.com and ran a download test. I am wireless at my house and was receiving test scores of 271 kps to 370 kps. I have a dell notebook that is 4 years old and compared the two. The Dell was twice as fast as the thinkpad in all tests. I also tied both machines into an ethernet cable with the same results. With ethernet dell was 4500 kps and thinkpad was 2000 kbs. I spent several days with tech support and they wanted to send tech to install a motherboard. The thinkpad is only 8 days old. I would hate for them to install a refurbished mother board. The only tests tech support told me to run was diagnostic (PC Doctor) and disable Antivirus. Diagnostics passed. I have not let them install the replacement motherboard. Everything else works fine. Should I perform a clean install? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

I would suggest you do a clean install and make sure you have the right driver for the Ethernet and wireless card

 

Thanks for the info. At this time I am a little cautious about doing the clean install.

 

^^^^^^why?

 

First of all, I want to thank you for your help on your input to help other computer users on this forum. I have read your guide on a clean install and it does seem simple. However I feel that I am a little inadequate when it comes to those type of things and I am a little afraid that I might be sucked into that "black hole" never to return again. How long does a clean install usually take and do you think that it will help my problem that I am experiencing?

T61, 14.1 SVGA, 2GB, Turbo Mem, 120 GB 7200, Pro/Wireless 3945 a/b/g, Vista Ultimate

 

Another thing you can try is taking your dell notebook and your lenovo notebook to a starbucks or school where they have free wifi access. Compare how they perform somewhere other than your home just to make sure it isn't something configured wrong with your router/network at home.

Doing a clean install is kinda time consuming. I think it might help your problem. I would say that after doing a clean install you shouldn't have any problems. If you do, then it is probably a hardware issue.

To save yourself some time doing the clean install. Instead of downloading the drivers yourself, you could download and save ThinkVantage System update to a USB drive. Found here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=TVSU-UPDATE

Then after the clean install of Vista is complete just install and run system update. It will install download and install all of the drivers for you. The whole clean install process should take 2 hours (3 hours tops) from start to finish if you use system update to take care of the drivers for you.

If you try, just make sure you make the recovery disks as outlined in the guide. If you get "sucked in", do something wrong, or just change your mind, you can restore to your previous installation with the disks.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks Stallen, you have been very helpful.

 

Stallen, I went here as you pointed out earlier:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...id=TVSU-UPDATE
and I followed the instructions at the bottom and and the following was shown:

Determining which version is installed

Click Start, then click Control Panel.
Click System and Maintenance.
Click System. From the left pane, click Device Manager.
Click Modems.
Double-click Intel(R) PRO Wireless.
Click the Driver tab. The driver version will be displayed.

All I show is 1. Thinkpad Modem 2. Sierra Wireless Card that I installed.
I did not see Intel (R) PRO Wireless. Could it be somewhere else? I also pressed start and did a search for intel pro and show nothing.

 

You could also attempt to speed up your internet browser. If you have firefox, its quite easy to do . Most browsers are designed for dial up, so they can be tweaked to perform better with broadband.

 

Thanks Wrath, I am considering the clean install and then I may add firefox.

 

If you do the clean install, I do think it would be best if you download the Intel chipset driver from Lenovo prior to Vista installation and install it after Vista installation. It is the most important driver for system stability and should always be installed first.

Speaking of important drivers. It just occured to me that you won't be able to use System update until after the wifi driver is installed. System update requires an internet connection to download and install drivers. So you would need to download the chipset driver, wifi driver, and system update prior to installation then install them in that order after installation. Connect to the internet and run system update.

 

Thanks, I will attempt this after I receive my cd from compusa.

 

I should also mention that when using the System update utility you will be able to select what drivers and utilities you want to install. You should refrain from installing any of the "Thinkvantage" Utilities. I recommend to people not to install any Thinkvantage utilities for awhile after a clean install. This gives you a chance to see how your system performs. After a few weeks if you really think you need some of the thinkvantage utilities just install one utility every week or two. that way you will be able to identify if a particular thinkvantage utility is slowing down your system or causing any instability issues.

There is really only one Thinkvantage utility that you must have and that is the fingerprint software (for fingerprint users only).

 

Thanks Stallen. I am calling lenovo tmw. for my windows anytime upgrade disc. I am thinking about installing the drivers individually as outlined in your document. When I get everything together, I will probably try this on a weekend so I will have more time. I was just wondering.....should I send a check to you or just send the notebook?? Thanks, you have been a big help.

 

Ha, Ha. If you lived close by I would do it for you.

Did you have any luck with Lenovo sending the anytime upgrade disk. I doubt it. I don't think they send them any more. You'll probably have to buy it direct from MS, or Amazon or CompUSA.

 

I have not turned on computer for several days due to to long hours at work. I am going to order the anytime upgrade disk from comp usa this weekend. I am not going to go through Lenovo because I don't want to waste any more time. I will probably try to do the clean install next weekend and if all goes well I will reply to this thread. Thanks for all of your help, it is always nice to know that there are still people who try to help others. Thanks, Stallen.

 

Sure no problem!

I think CompUSA is a good place to order it from, but some people didn't get theirs for almost two weeks. You also might get a strange e-mail that looks like they want you to download the software. Jusst ignore that. the disk will come. Just call them if our disk hasn't arrived in about 1 week.

 

Would MS or Amazon be faster with delivery?

 

It seems to me like I heard the amazon version is a download, but I'm not sure about that. If so that would be the best/fastest option for those that are comfortable burning the disk.