New (used) Thinkpad is in and much better! If only Windows would play nice...

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
06/18/2019 at 12:23 • Filed to: computerlopnik

After my quest for a cheap Thinkpad, no I don’t know why I want one, started poorly, I spent the weekend pouring over eBay listings trying to find a good alternative.

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I ended up with a $200 W520. Rocking an i7 and 12 gigs of RAM, the only issue with this bad boy was that it has a 500GB 7200RPM spinning rust drive.

No matter! SSDs are cheap these days! I’ll just buy one, pop it in, and away we go!

The laptop arrived and let me just say: It is immaculate. Compared to the disgusting piece of crap I bought off Amazon, this thing looks barely used.

The keyboard, nipple mouse, and all sides look untouched. There is some light scuffing on the bottom and a little wear on the touchpad, but that is all.

There were a couple of problems. First, the computer hadn’t been wiped. No big deal. Second a few drivers were missing and as-is the USB 3.0 ports and wireless weren’t working. Annoying, but workable.

After some messing around I confirmed those worked, so now it was time to upgrade to the SSD. Just need to download a copy of Windows 7 Professional from Microsoft...

Hmm...

Apparently they won’t give me a copy because the liscence is an OEM liscence. But hey it looks like Lenovo offers backup media!

Enter serial number? Ok.

I have to make an account now. Ok sure.

Oh now I have to activate the account. Yeah ok sure.

“This device isn’t eligible.” WTF? You knew that going in but you still made me make an account!? Eat a dick Lenovo!

Ok, on to the wide world of piracy! Downloaded a Win 7 Pro ISO from a torrent and then were ready to go!

Just need a DVD-R...

... surely I have one around here somewhere....

Damn it. I threw them all away a couple of years ago BECAUSE WHO NEEDS BURNABLE MEDIA THESE DAYS!

Crap.

To Office Depot!

DVD-Rs in hand, the burning process was easy and shortly thereafter I was good to go.

Windows 7 when on the new hard drive, no problems.

I downloaded the update tool, which in turn downloaded the Win 10 update and away we went.

Right up until the install failed.

Ok, try again.

Download and format the update. Get started.

Fail.

Heh.

Luckily I already had physical Window 10 Pro media, so I popped that in and we were off to the races!

Got to 75% and then, you guessed it, fail.

I’ve tried this a couple more times, but it appears there is more troubleshooting to be done. After changing the BIOS boot settings a little I did get it to produce a different error, but ultimately still fail.

Not ready to give up yet, but damn this is frustrating.

DISCUSSION (25)

Nibby > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 12:28

install via USB flash drives or external drives dude... also that better be 1080p screen!

benjrblant > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 12:28

between this, tooty scooty, disco inferno, project dumpster fire, and project golf ball, i’m 99% certain you’re some sort of masochist.

chaozbandit > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 12:28

I got an old T510 for dirt cheap. Threw in an old ssd, flashed Linux Mint, and good to go as a throwaway laptop.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 12:32

Do you h ave another machine you could use to install the OS onto the SSD ?

Also, once you have it running get a program called Lenovo System Update. As long as you have some network connection it’ll automatically download all your drivers for you. It’ll even do BIOS updates.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Nibby
06/18/2019 at 12:34

Ehhhhhhhhhh I didn’t want to complicate things by adding another device to the mix. Does USB make the process easier in some way? Or just not having to deal with physical media.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > benjrblant
06/18/2019 at 12:35

And that isn’t counting my other “hobby” (second job I have to pay for) that I don’t talk about on Oppo!

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > chaozbandit
06/18/2019 at 12:36

Bingo. Also I was tired of dicking with my Surface as a primary laptop . That thing is... annoying.

benjrblant > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 12:38

USB 3.0 is faster and you can flash the usb stick from a disc image. works better than a dvd imo.

7:07 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 12:40

I use the USB installation method, and it has worked without issue many many times. Make sure to completely wipe the drive you are installing on (wipe all partitions, and let the tool create the partitions it needs) and you should be good to go: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

It will activate itself after installation is complete.

Nibby > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 12:42

way way way faster, even an 8GB USB 2.0 stick will fly compared to installing via DVD. 2007 called...

also ditch the DVD drive for a 2.5" SATA caddy and toss in a 1TB or larger HD (or 2nd SSD)

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Nibby
06/18/2019 at 13:02

Fair enough, I’ll give it a go tonight!

Yeah the plan is to rm the DVD in favor of a bigly spinning rust drive once I get everything setup. Actually one of the reasons I sought out a Thinkpad of this era. (Also because cheap) I’m waiting because I d on’t want to blow any money until I’m sure I like it.

NojustNo > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 13:09

You get you get far enough in the install process you can use the Windows 7 licence code on the machine to activate Windows 10.

You you probably should have just upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 10 while Windows was working..you always clean install after but you’d have the activation ready at that point

Future Heap Owner > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 13:28

Professional bottom?

jminer > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 13:41

Use a USB drive installer. If you want Windows 10, download it from MSFT and write it directly to a USB drive with the tool. Makes it much easier and you can activate Windows 10 with your OEM Windows 7 key.

I LOVE old thin kpads. You even have the awesome 7 row non-island keyboard. I did just buy a new E480 with an i7 8500 and both a NVME and 2.5 slot and this guy is awesome.

My house is littered with old thinkpads though, I even have an actual IBM one that is glorious to type on but has a PATA drive and an Intel M so it's slow as hell.

facw > Nibby
06/18/2019 at 13:44

Lenovo was shockingly content to offer only 1366x768 on some Thinkpad for a while (I had a 1440x900 X200s, but my next too machines were a Vaio Z and a Zenbook Prime because Lenovo was playing the low-res game). This one is chunkier, so I imagine it’s more, but I wouldn’t be shocked by 1600x900 at all.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Future Heap Owner
06/18/2019 at 13:48

Kinja'd!!!

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > NojustNo
06/18/2019 at 13:55

Oh really? I thought you had to go fro Win 7 to Win 10 to do the free upgrade. If I could have skipped straight to 10.... well shit.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 14:25

“Not ready to give up yet, but damn this is frustrating”

I think this describes most careers in IT, I a nutshell. :(

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > BaconSandwich is tasty.
06/18/2019 at 14:46

Know many IT people. Would not do their jobs for all the tea in China blow in Vegas.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 15:12

FYI, buy a completely legal Win7 CD key from here on Ebay for ridiculously cheap and they send you the key instantly through Ebay messages :

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Activation-Windows-7-home-premium-32-64-bit-Genuine-key-Lifetime-license-Instant/312603540763?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Get the ISO from here using the legit license key you just bought:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows7

Install Win10 using a LiveUSB upgrade. Profit? (For reference, I did everything I just said to a computer 2 days ago and all is well and the CD key is activated and it’s upgraded to Win10 no problem!)

Also, do you NEED Windows? If you’re only doing basic everyday stuff, I am sure Linux would be fine for you! (Have to be one of ‘those’ Linux nerds - I run Win10 on my high-power desktop, but my ‘daily driver’ laptop has Linux Mint 19.1 MATE!)

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 15:13

Not always, I think OEM keys will only let you UPGRADE to Win10 to activate, but if you try to use them to insta-activate Win10 from a fresh Win10 install, I think the activation fails.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
06/18/2019 at 18:46

Maybe it's just been a rough day at work today. :P

thebullfrog > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
06/19/2019 at 08:58

Nope. An OEM 7 key will activate 10 just fine. I do it multiple times a week. It's also how I installed 10 Pro on my own old Thinkpad. Clean install of 10, then type in the OEM 7 Pro key from the sticker. Done.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > thebullfrog
06/19/2019 at 11:11

Odd...was trying to activate Win10 on an older Dell laptop and it would not activate using the Win7 key on a fresh 10 install...I ended up having to install 7 first and then upgrade to 10 before it would activate...same license key!

thebullfrog > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
06/19/2019 at 15:19

Yeah, I’ve run into some random cases where it won’t work for some reason, but in general it almost always does for me. It’s a weird loophole that MS left mostly open.