Laptop slowing down..

[blueznl]

Laptop HDD's are not as expensive as they once were, so there should not be too much of a problem in that field. That is, if the lapto isn't too old and you can still get a suitable drive

Windows OEM installs *mostly* do not check the harddrive, at least with XP. Dunno' about Vista but if you have a manufacturer's restore disk you're probably fine. Probably.

Windows XP / Vista retail versions will do a kind of hardware fingerprint upon activation. If the changes are within limits reactivating a copy works fine.

Interestingly, I've re-activated some very old installs after MAJOR hardware changes (90% new components followed by a complete new XP install and succesfully activated online using the original disk and key), and I would not be surprised if M$ dumps the fingerprint if enough time passed...

[IdeasVacuum]

Approx 35Euros for a 250GB SATA (2.5in Laptop drive), if your system supports only a smaller drive, 120GB drives are still readily available at reasonable price. Any smaller than that though (IDE instead of SATA) and the price rises.......80GB approx 50Euros

So, replacing the drive would be the cheapest remedy, but try to find out why the drive over-heats, since the new drive is likely to suffer the same. It's unlikely to be a design fault (that would affect thousands of units and would not go unnoticed). Most probably airflow failure or a nearby component is faulty and that is overheating.

[utopiomania]

Found a 500Gb sata disk at 55 euros, so I'll probably go for that one. The only thing I don't like is
that I have legit Vista Business licence and product key, but no Vista CD for a clean install.

I can create boot media, and restore from an image, but a clean install is probably better than a
snapshot of old problems.

[blueznl]

If it's not a brand specific modified Vista CD, you should be able to use any generic Vista CD and install from that one.

[IdeasVacuum]

....that disk sounds like a bargain to me. Make sure your laptop can accept the size (might need a BIOS update, Lenovo's website has all that ready).

While you are at this stage, I'm going to suggest something terrible - ditch Vista and get a copy of Win7 instead!

[blueznl]

Second that.

[Baldrick]

... - ditch Vista and get a copy of Win7 instead!

Ok, I have never really had much to do with Vista apart from all the horror stories I hear, but I can definitely say you would certainly be wise to move towards Win7. I bought a new Lenovo notebook a few weeks ago running W7 64 bit & have been very pleasantly surprised just how smooth it is.
( My new notebook came with 2GB Ram but is running very nicely sitting at around 750 - 800MB to run my system as I have it set up.)

[Rook Zimbabwe]

Found a 500Gb sata disk at 55 euros, so I'll probably go for that one. The only thing I don't like is
that I have legit Vista Business licence and product key, but no Vista CD for a clean install.

I can create boot media, and restore from an image, but a clean install is probably better than a
snapshot of old problems.

Upgrade to 7!

There might even be a windows 7 system restore dish for your laptop out thee... I upgraded my T42 and T60 to Win 7 for a legal cost of $29.00 each with a real license key using a IBM System retore/upgrade dvd I purchased... Nevr had a cleaner install or better experience!

[utopiomania]

Lenovo can ship Vista replacement media (DVD), but I didn't think an upgrade to Win 7 was possible.

I run Win 7 on my main laptop, and love it, so that was a good tip!

There's a problem swapping disks on the Lenovo, as it will only boot again if the hidden Vista restore partition, and the main partition is the same size as the original disk, and only if both are present on the new hdd.

[IdeasVacuum]

There's a problem swapping disks on the Lenovo, as it will only boot again if the hidden Vista restore partition, and the main partition is the same size as the original disk, and only if both are present on the new hdd

...aha, another excuse to move up to Win7

[DoubleDutch]

There's a problem swapping disks on the Lenovo, as it will only boot again if the hidden Vista restore partition, and the main partition is the same size as the original disk, and only if both are present on the new hdd.

Who told you this? I don't think it applies if you are not using the restore partition and you are installing Windows 7 from DVD instead. You can get Win7 cheap if you know any students - they offer a discount to studenmts - do a search for 'Microsoft Students' in google...

Because the bios is slow drawing, it cannot be a driver problem or anything to do with post-bios screen software like Windows.

Take out the hdd, turn it on - see if the bios screen is drawn fast - if it is then replace the hdd.

If it is still slow, try re-inserting the RAM.

If it is still slow, open it up and you may have a miniPci card in there - like a wifi card - remove it and try switching on again. See if the bios is drawn fast. If so, look on ebay for a replacement card. You may be able to get one that is compatible, but has more features - like GPS, 3G, etc

On older computers - like Amigas/STs - we used to fix virtually all problems by dropping the unit from a hight of about 4 inches. It used to puch things back into place, like you can do with a hammer's head! lol!

If it's still slow (with no hdd and no miniPci), try swapping the RAM.

Good luck.

[utopiomania]

Who told you this?

Lenovo Forums. You must clone both partions AS IS to be able to boot from the new HD,
after that, you can resize the first partition to close up the gap between the first and the
last partition.

After that, it boots up from the new HD..

Restoring from DVD to a new disk is fine, but thats a different matter. Lenovo DVDs are
expensive..

So: New HD + Lenovo DVD media = get a NEW Laptop intead. , or do the clone/resize
thing.

[DoubleDutch]

I think that only applies if you want to reinstall the original software - you should be able to install any size hdd if you want to go to Win7...