Clean install, T430

[forrestgump]

I just got a Thinkpad T430. i5 2.8ghz, 8gb ram, 1600x900, (hate the screen btw, have a X1 screen coming), took out the factory ssd and installed a 850 Pro. I installed Windows 7 and then went to Lenovo to download drivers. I wanted to ask, what drivers do I NEED to download and install? For the most part I think I have it set up OK, but Im not very good with computers so Im not positive. I installed HD graphics, the wireless, intel rst, intel chipset support, a camera driver, a media card reader, usb 3.0 driver, Windows installed a couple other drivers through updates, and then I installed power manager which I may go ahead and uninstall as I dont think I need it. Theres still tons of things on the Lenovo driver list for my T430 and I just dont know if I have everything I need. In device manager it appears to be OK, though under System Devices there are a few that when I click on them say No drivers are installed for this device such as the Intel 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SMBus Host Controller. Is is OK for things under System Devices to be listed as No drivers installed for this device? Its seems to be running just fine, but I always wanted to learn about installing drivers and would love to hear some advice on this.

 

[Mr Davo]

You really took the long way here! The 850 ships with migration software. I recommend putting the old drive back into the laptop, installing Samsung Migration Software, migrating your OS (from the old drive to the new), then putting the new drive in. The migration will copy everything over, 'bit for bit', so there is no need to worry about putting Windows on, installing drivers, software, backing up / restoring data, etc. Take my advice and you will have your computer going in about an hour!

 

[forrestgump]

Thanks for the response. I have used the Samsung migration software in the past and it worked great. However this time I wanted a clean install. The T430 with the old ssd in it had a few problems, plus it was packed full of bloatware. The T430 with this 850 Pro in it is working much better than before. I think it will be just fine the way it is, I have it optimized for the ssd, and so far everything seems fine, though I still wonder if there were any other drivers that I should have installed. I know once I installed the Intel RST driver the performance of the ssd went way up. I like to learn as much as I can about this stuff, just always been a big interest to me.

 

[hang-the-9]

Seems like you got everything, but Lenovo has a very good utility for their laptops, http://support.lenovo.com/en/documents/ht080136

Install it and run it, it will check for any drivers that may be needed, including optional ones like the fingerprint reader if you have one, and install them.

 

[Dee Kay]

Windows has plenty of generic drivers but they aren't optimized for specific brands. To get the most potential or to make a previously unrecognized device work, you need to install the updated drivers for your system from Lenovo. Here is the link for your board drivers in case you needed it.
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-t-series-laptops/thinkpad-t430?menu-id= technical_support

 

[forrestgump]

Thanks guys. I did go to Lenovo to get all the drivers I installed. Windows update also installed a couple other ones, but I got most from Lenovo. And thanks hang-the-9, thats a good suggestion. I installed the system update and it would make this process much easier if I had to do again. The system update listed a lot of stuff, some I know I dont need, but also some others Im not to sure about. I think my T430 is good to go, for now anyhow. I can never leave it alone though, seems Im always trying to "make it better" lol.