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wed_wabbit

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Everything posted by wed_wabbit

  1. Sorry for the long (really long) delay.....new job = no time! All I did was add RAM, do the BIOS mod from the sticky in this forum (this allowed me to add my new wireless card), then install the mSATA drive. I had no issues with it being recognized by the bios or the windows install. I am using UEFI, and not using the fast boot in the BIOS. Before the mSATA it was taking about 45 seconds to boot from the 1TB drive. - - - Updated - - - Wish I could help you with this, but I had a school provided copy of windows 8. I really didn't care about the Basic version. Sorry.
  2. Just a caveat.....The transfers in the above post were done between a HDD and a mSATA. The HDD was an external drive on my server that is a SATA III connected via USB 3.0. I think we all know that the bottleneck at that point is the HDD access time. I will try and get some good SSD to SSD via wifi transfers using this mode. server -----> Y500 [sSD---->SATAIII---->1Gb/s NIC] ------->Router------>802.11n (300Mb/s)-----[wifi(7260)---->mSATA]. This will take out the most obvious bottleneck, and will give the most pure transfer from system to system. I am still trying to find the snmp strings for my netgear router as well. Any insight would be appreciated.
  3. Here are a few issue I ran into when installing a retail version of windows 8 on my Y500 after installing my mSATA as the boot drive. I believe most of us know that Lenovo was kind enough to give us a BASIC version of windows 8 with the key stored in the BIOS. This cause a few problems with my install. They are not that bad, and are pretty easy workarounds to get a 12 second boot time. 1. I was not able to boot to my install Thumbdrive. I have a Windows 8 retail (purchased from Microsoft) version that I put on a USB 3.0 thumb-drive for installing windows. I highly recommend this for an install because of how fast the USB 3.0 transfer speeds are. All I had to do was go into the BIOS and switch to legacy boot, then put the thumb-drive to the top priority for the boot order. This booted to the install media. 2. I was stuck at the product key invalid windows. Windows will not let you past this point because the retail version is not anything close (to microsoft) to the basic version. Windows 8 will not allow you to manually put in the key because of the key stored in the bios for the basic version. You cannot use the basic version of windows because the version (should you use it) is a full retail copy. Anyway, The fix for this is as follows: Boot to windows or use a separate computer for this: Before you try to install your full version of windows from the USB drive, put the thumb-drive into a computer so you can look for a file called PID.txt . This file will take priority over the BIOS key and allow the install to continue from the product key entry point, which you will never see due to this file being on your install drive. The file will be in the directory x:\sources . The x is obviously your drive letter that was assigned to the thumb-drive. In the sources folder on the thumb-drive, look for the PID.txt file. If it is not there, make it using notepad or a text editor. The contents of the file should be like the picture.. Save the file and boot to the thumb-drive. Windows should install all the way from this point. 3. The issue I had next was due to my installing windows on a old computer before the Y500. My activation was not working, so I called the phone activation number and was able to manually activate windows. If you do have windows installed on another computer with the same key, you CANNOT install it on your new computer. It has to be uninstalled or formatted due to legal issues. The phone activation will ask you how may computers have windows 8 and the license I had was for 1. So review your windows license before installing. 4. The other issue I had was that windows would not allow me to activate or even get to the phone activation. For some reason, even though I bought the retail copy of windows 8, it said it was only an upgrade version. Not Cool at all!! So after verifying my purchase and license agreement I did have an actual full install copy (always read the license agreement to verify your version and installation numbers) I had to edit a reg key. --- from Microsoft support forums----- Run the registry editor. press WIN+R then type regedit. Navigate to the following Key entery: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OOBE. Change the value for ‘MediaBootInstall‘ from 1 to 0. Open an elevated command prompt (administrator level command prompt) Run the command: slmgr -rearm. Reboot --- from Microsoft support forums----- @ Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Product Key can't be used to activate - Microsoft Community After this I installed all of the drivers and software I wanted. works like a champ!! Hopefully this helps anyone looking to do a fresh install of windows on their Y500
  4. I got the i7, and mine did not come with the mSATA at all. The one I got has a 1TB HDD spinner. With that said, It was 3 days before I bought a 256 GB mSATA to install in the empty mPCIe slot. I already had a version of Win8, so I just did a new install (with some basic hacks to get it to work). From what I read, the mSATA only would run at SATA II speeds. This is not true in my case. ran mulitiple tests and found that the drive is running at SATA III. My windows score for the drive is an 8.9 as well (not that that means anything). My boot time from complete power off is 12 seconds with the upgrade. Now I have a 256 GB boot drive and a 1 TB storage drive. I hope this helps your decision.
  5. I just installed the Intel Centrino 7260 last night. The only issue I had was the old drivers would not fully uninstall. I think if I had to do this again, I would have uninstalled the software prior to installing the new card. The updated drivers (16.0.5 or something like that) would not install over the old software and drivers. Even after using the uninstall (programs and features) and deleting the adapter from device manager. I had to go though the Registry to delete anything related to the ProWireless and Bluetooth associated only with the Intel adapter. After this, the new drivers would install. Otherwise a pretty easy and useful update.
  6. I believe if you have a "Real" license for Win8, and do the install, it will ask you for the key. I will be doing this very soon and hope that it works this way. If not, you can always go in and do the "Add Features to Windows 8" and enter your purchased key. That, i would think, unlock all the pro features. I am thinking windows will ask you for a key or at least fill it in and ask you to approve the license key, but I could be wrong.
  7. OK, why do you have to turn off UEFI for the mSATA? If you are going to use it as a cache drive it makes sense, but for a fresh (retail bought) version of Windows 8, why would you get "Blue Screens"? I am not saying anyone is wrong, but this does not make sense to me. I understand that if you do an image or have a "legacy" partition, there might be a problem. I am going to do a Full Windows 8 install from a bought copy that use to be on my old laptop. I will get all the drivers and remove all the bloat from my current install. Has anyone done this, and still had UEFI problems? just wondering if this is specific to the lenovo Y500 or not. Cheers!
  8. I am going to look into the mSATA as my y500 does not have anything populating the mSATA slot. I see that they are about 200 for a 256Gb online, so really it's a no brainer for me. I would not want to give up my SLI by modding an Ultrabay, or lose any storage by getting rid of my HDD. The mSATA from my limited research looks like it is the best option for my current rig. I have heard that the x-fer rates are a bit slower on the mSATA, but I have not personally tested this. When I do upgrade I will do a speed test before and after the install. I hope this helps! Good Luck with your purchase.
  9. Correction, think I will be going with the mSATA. Then I can keep my 1TB for storage.
  10. Ok, I am currently on BIOS ver. 2.02 on my Y500 and was wondering if I NEED to also flash the Video firmware? I have no interest in overclocking anything, just wanting to install my 7260 wifi. Sorry if this is already addressed, but i read through all the posts here and may have missed it in the 100+ pages. Thanks in advance.
  11. I was thinking about swapping my stock 1TB with a Hybrid Drive. Anyone out there do this swap yet? I would like to do a SSD, but Price is still a bit high.
  12. Personally I think it is a step forward for apple. I hope the app developers work on new icons too. The new design scheme looks like an Android/Windows love child.
  13. Solarwinds makes a few free tools that are fairly easy to use. Download Free Network Management & Free Network Monitoring Software from SolarWinds We use these tools at work (Network Engineer) and they are pretty good. This will show you the amount of data usage and bandwidth and they are free!!! I bet because this is post 2 I am not able to post the link, so if not. google solarwinds and then select free tools and free trials. Look for the free tools and you can register and download. Hope this helps in the troubleshooting and performance testing of the cards.
  14. wed_wabbit

    Y500 VS Y510p

    I just bought the Y500 and was very tempted to buy the 510. The issue was the time to receive the computer. I picked up a refurb Y500 for 800 and got it that day! I will probobly be kicking myself later for not going with the 510, but really if you can get the Y500 for a lower price, I would (did). Jester is right with the 7% processor increase, and it would be good to look up the 750m vs 650m. For me, it was a wash and I like to save money. I hope this helps!
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