Win 10 to old computer

[mar6]

Hello.

What is the right thing to do when client wants that win10 must be installed to 10 year old computer ?
Example thinkpad t61.
Lenovo webpage have drivers up to win7, but not win 10. I have installed win10 to that computer, but have disconnecting wifi issues, 10 sec black screen on boot, probably video driver problem. And i dont know if other drivers work 100% correctly...
It automatically installed basic video driver, but i dont know how reliable it is. And display does not seem as bright as with win7. Win 7 cant be installed again becouse laptop has no cd, recovery partition and win 7 are no more sold.

Whats your opinion? Is it good idea to install win10 to those old computers that officially have no win10 drivers on pc manufacturer webpages or better avoid it becouse of stability problems?

Thank You.

 

[MichaelEC]

I wouldn't install Windows 10 on anything older than a T500, and even that might be 'iffy' with the switchable graphics. You can safely and reliably install Win 10 on T510's and up however. I've done it and the drivers work. You might have a small amount of trouble with the fingerprint readers on the T500 and T510. Lenovo claims there is no official support for the bio-metric devices, but MS does.

For more information, you can join us here if you like:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/search.php?search_id=newposts

There are very knowledgeable IBM/Lenovo owners and techs here.

 

[Porthos]

What COA is attached to this laptop?

 

[mraikes]

......snipped...

Whats your opinion? Is it good idea to install win10 to those old computers that officially have no win10 drivers on pc manufacturer webpages or better avoid it becouse of stability problems?

Thank You.

Really? Is it a "good idea"? Of course not.

What is a good idea in these situations is to image the old drive before doing anything as . . . challenging.... as this. So when it fails you can at least get it back to what it was when you started.

 

[mar6]

What COA is attached to this laptop?

xp home

Thank You for answers.

 

[Porthos]

xp home

Thank You for answers.

My questions to the client would be HOW was Win 7 originally put on there.
Did it come in to you with 7 or 10? If it came in with 7 it is on you to research if it can handle 10. Most of all to image what the client has before you begin.

If the client did the 10 install, then after I tried the below. I would tell the client all I can do is put XP back on because anything else will NOT be cost effective and will cost MORE than a refurbished computer assuming you do the right thing and do it legally.

Since you have 10 on it is it activated? If so have you tried SDI to install drivers?

 

[Markverhyden]

Kind of depends on what their expectations are. Of course the labor is probably going to be 2-3 times the value of the machine. But many do not look at it like that. They have a machine, while not new, they know the history of. No doubt is has all the ports they want as well as "fitting" into their environment.

I've got a couple of Dell D630's, 9 years old. Using cheap SSD's and RAM I've got one running 7 and one running 10. All I use them for is networking type work. Has all the real ports as well as an optidrive. I'd have no problem updating and old laptop to 10. But it need to be a clean install.

 

[Porthos]

I've got a couple of Dell D630's, 9 years old. Using cheap SSD's and RAM I've got one running 7 and one running 10. All I use them for is networking type work. Has all the real ports as well as an optidrive. I'd have no problem updating and old laptop to 10. But it need to be a clean install.

True but techs like us do all the work for "free" for ourselves. In this case client does not presumably have the 7 disk that XP was upgraded from and a legit non grey market Windows OS is expensive. Then add any labor, Most clients wont go for it.

 

[cypress]

XP Home and no known WIndows 7 COA? Computer is 10 years old and has had a good run, think its time to backup the data and recommend they start looking for a new or refurbished PC.

 

[fencepost]

If they're rabid ThinkPad Keyboard fans, I'd suggest that they get a used/refurbed T420 or T520 - I think that's the last generation with the "old" style ThinkPad keyboards, and both of those should work well enough with Windows 10.

I'd stay away from the T400/T500/W500 series, it used AMD instead of Nvidia and I think it was more troublesome. Frankly, it's also kind of a waste of time to jump from a 10-year-old laptop to an 8-year-old laptop, if you're going to jump then jump to something newer.

 

[mar6]

Hello and sorry for late reply.

Computer came to me with win xp installed and client wanted newer OS. About curiosity i installed my own win 7/10, tested with those (win7 worked ok) and after that removed these, becouse i dont want any problems.

Client desided to sell his computer and buyed refurbished computer with win7. He did not want xp anymore, no retail win 7 sold, win 10 not working correctly.

Thanks again for thorough and useful replies.

 

[nlinecomputers]

The right thing to do is walk away. They need a new computer, not an upgrade.

 

[HCHTech]

When the free upgrade first came out, I used to debate this with customers who asked: "It might work, or it might not. We can't know until we try" - I quickly learned that the right response with something this old was "No - too old, you'll have nothing but problems". That way, it didn't give them the impression that "it might work". If they still wanted to proceed, it was at their own risk, they were warned.

 

[Pixelated Tech]

I look for 2 things when a get a Windows 10 upgrade candidate:

1.) Does it have a minimum Win 7 COA?
2.) Does the vendor certify Win 10 on the model?

If neither question has a yes, its always a clean "No, I would recommend an upgrade." In theory, some of these "might" work but its a risk I don't like taking with my client base. Especially in a commercial environment.

 

[MDD1963]

Hello.

What is the right thing to do when client wants that win10 must be installed to 10 year old computer ?
Example thinkpad t61.
.

Hard to imagine a 10 year old Thinkpad having any more than 1-2 GB of memory; doubt this will seem much like an OS 'upgrade'. You can advise such, then, accept their money for ignoring your advice, and, then more money for rolling it back, then, a week later, perhaps more money for selling them a new system laptop.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

god no, is there something in particular he likes about win 10?

 

[MichaelEC]

In my experience, Windows 7 and up will not run very well on single-core processors. Vista is as new as you want to load to one of these older machines.

 

[fencepost]

Windows 7 and up will not run very well on single-core processors

These days if you're installing on a single-core system and charging for it you should simply offer to replace it. Even if you're not a refurbisher yourself, you can get a refurbed Core2 Duo or Pentium Dual Core for well under $100 based just on a quick skim of Newegg restricted to Intel under $100. That's not a good system, but it's still much better than anything you're going to see on a single-core Intel.

 

[Porthos]

These days if you're installing on a single-core system and charging for it you should simply offer to replace it. Even if you're not a refurbisher yourself, you can get a refurbed Core2 Duo or Pentium Dual Core for well under $100 based just on a quick skim of Newegg

I use NewEgg for 99% of my refurbished computer sales.

 

[MichaelEC]

These days if you're installing on a single-core system and charging for it you should simply offer to replace it. Even if you're not a refurbisher yourself, you can get a refurbed Core2 Duo or Pentium Dual Core for well under $100 based just on a quick skim of Newegg restricted to Intel under $100. That's not a good system, but it's still much better than anything you're going to see on a single-core Intel.

I do not install anything higher than Vista on single-core systems. I experimented with several of my own systems to determine how well later Windows versions operated on single-core systems and quite frankly, they don't.