Fresh OS - what about drivers?

[catalogguy]

Hi All and thanks for reading the message,

I just bought a used T42 with no HDD.  I installed a HDD and Win XP Pro and everything seems ok, but there seems to be no drivers for many things including ethernet, wireless nic, audio, etc.  I downloaded system update 3.14 from the Lenovo site; it runs ok but says there are no updates for me.  Perhaps because the drivers have not been installed, they cannot be updated?

Also on this site I found a list of many of the drivers to download, but downloading them and executing them did not install them.  For example, I cannot choose to have the system enter stand by mode when I close the lid.  I installed the files for power management, but nothing seems to have changed.  I repeated this with several of the files, and they install, but it does not seem to be getting me anywhere.

How can i acquire and properly install the files I want?

Thank you for any help!

[carbon_unit]

After you downloaded the drivers you ran the extractor for the driver files but you did not run the installer. Now the files are extracted in C:\Drivers\ in folders with strange names. You will have to go into each of these folders and run the driver installer from there.
You will have to look for clues to figure out which driver you are installing from a folder, or re-run the files you downloaded and pay attention to exactly where it goes to.

[catalogguy]

With your explanation I have made some progress.  Here are a few remaining issues that have me stumped.

1.  Wireless card not found.  I am wondering if there is actually a card inside.  Looks like I have to remove the palmrest to access the card bay?  Maybe I will give it a try, although I don't like to remove tiny screws.

2.  No Stand By mode.  I am not sure if this is a Windows question.  In the power management there is no option to select Stand By (with closing lid, pushing button, etc) and the system does not respond when I press Fn-F4. 

3.  When installing WinDVD5 software I got a fail message stating that this upgrade requires a previously installed version.  Something similar trying to install RecordNow.  It's a catch 22.

Thanks again for the initial reply which got me a long way.  I would love to get the wireless working so will appreciate any ideas especially on that.

Message Edited by catalogguy on 06-08-2008 10:21 PM

[carbon_unit]

You may have to open it up to see if there is a wireless card installed and see which card it is. It may not be the same card originally installed in that unit.

[catalogguy]

This may seem like a silly question, but how do you replace the little plastic stickies that cover the 5 screws at the front?

[carbon_unit]

They have an adhesive on the back of them. They just stick over the holes. If they are dirty they won't stick. Either glue them on with contact adhesive or get some new ones.