Installing Windows 7 on the Lenovo 3000 Y410


There’s an update to this article below. I’ll write a full update later but for now, I think you can get the general idea from the short take.

Lenovo does not officially support Windows 7 on the Lenovo 3000 Y410. However, you can get all devices to work without much problems. Here’s how.

  1. Backup your files somewhere and prepare to install Windows 7. Since the DVD drive of Y410 is not that reliable (based on Lenovo support forum as well as my own experience: it works some times, but mostly it doesn’t), you’re better off installing from USB. To do this, get an ISO image of the Windows 7 DVD (if you’re downloading from torrents instead of Microsoft Store, be sure to verify the image). Then, download, install, and use the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool to create a bootable Windows 7 Installer USB.
  2. With the prepared USB in the drive, reboot your Lenovo Y410. During the POST message while booting, press F12 and select to boot from the USB drive.
  3. Install Windows 7. Very straightforward. Just a few clicks and not more than half an hour, your Windows 7 should be ready to use. The USB installation method is faster than DVD, by the way.

Now, it’s time to configure hardware. On start up, the Wireless works but there are several missing devices. You’ll need a working Internet connection to perform the following steps.

  1. Connect to the Internet and let Windows run some updates. It will get all your drivers for you except one.
  2. Once Windows finish updating, shutdown your notebook to let Windows install the updates.
  3. After reboot, click the Windows Logo (start button), and select Devices and Printers.
  4. In there, right click the notebook icon (whatever name you gave your notebook) and select Troubleshoot. Let Windows solve the issue. It will find that your Power Management driver is missing. A window will show up. In there, click to download driver from Lenovo. Save and run the driver. This will give you the Energy Cut and hotkeys driver so you can turn on camera and bluetooth.
  5. Once the driver’s installed, press FN+ESC to turn on the camera. Windows will automatically connect and download the camera driver.
  6. For bluetooth, head on to Lenovo Support download and get the Chipset driver for Vista. Install it. Then, get the sound card driver for Vista and install it. Use FN+F6 to enable bluetooth. Windows will automatically download and install bluetooth drivers for you. You can’t actually install the Bluetooth drivers provided by Lenovo before installing the Chipset and Sound drivers.
  7. Once you have Bluetooth enabled, install the Bluetooth driver for Vista from Lenovo. This will add some missing drivers. You can connect a bluetooth device and Windows will add more drivers as needed. If something’s missing, use Vista drivers if you can’t find Windows 7 drivers.
  8. Now your Lenovo 3000 Y410 is all geared up with Windows 7! Be sure to install antivirus before you venture out to the Internet.

I had trouble with the Wireless sometimes. It was OK at first but after some Windows updates, it didn’t work. Well, after installing the Chipset and Sound drivers, it’s suddenly working now as I’m writing this. Phew… I thought I had broken the thing! By the way, mine is the Intel Wireless, not the Broadcom one… check which one Lenovo put in your Y410.

If you use the touchpad and would like to customize the buttons, scrolling, etc, install the ALPS touchpad driver for Vista. You can get this from Lenovo’s support download. It works perfectly.

If you’re still hesitant, let me tell you this: Windows 7 on Lenovo 3000 Y410 is better than XP. It’s faster and more responsive. It starts in less than a minute. It hibernates perfectly and wow… was I amazed at how fast it resumes frolm hibernation! Less than 10 seconds!

And of course, it will always be way better than Vista!

Now, hmm… I wonder if my XP trick will still work to disable the Caps Lock key.

Update: The built-in microphone is not picking up well. You’ll need to boost up the reception. See my answer to a question asked by a reader in the comments section for details.

More update: Thanks to ryanrudolf, every keys on the Lenovo Y410 can now work. Here I quote his comments:

“Multimedia buttons on the upper left (CD Player On/Play/Stop etc on the upper left) works fine on my system, IF windows media player is already open. If not, it does nothing.”

“All the buttons on my y410 are now working. I installed the ezbutton package on the lenovo support website. It should be installed in Compatibilty Mode Vista.”

Now that we can get everything to work on the Lenovo Y410 with Windows 7, let’s enjoy a better Y410 without having to upgrade the hardware! Although, I must say, I really like the specs on the new Y450… If only I have the cash he he.

Update as of 10 May 2010

I’ve finally formatted my Y410 and reinstalled Windows 7. It seems that things have changed a bit. I’ll write a new step by step guide later when I have the time but for now, here’s a short take.

After installing Windows 7, let it update over the net. After all updates, reboot the notebook. Then, install the Ricoh Multimedia Card Vista driver from Lenovo. That should take care of the unidentified hardware. Then, install the Lenovo Energy Cut driver. For sound, you will need to install HDA sound drivers downloaded from Realtek’s website. That’s all: Three drivers.

You can also install the Alps Touchpad driver from Lenovo. This should make it easier to configure the touchpad… only if you want to customize it, though (I did). If you like the Multimedia buttons to work (the Play/Pause, Stop, Forward, Rewind buttons), install the Lenovo EzButton drivers using Vista Compatibility mode (I don’t use the buttons so I didn’t install the drivers).

After reboot, run Windows Update again and you’ll probably have an update to Lenovo power management driver. Install it.

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Just some additions. Once you connect a bluetooth device to the notebook (in my case, I paired my Nokia 6710), Windows will connect and download all appropriate drivers for it. Really cool.

If your device is not working 100%, you’ll see a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark on its icon in the Device Stage. Just right click and troubleshoot. It will install all the drivers it can find.

In my case, I still need to install the Nokia Suite, though.

Yay… my CapsLock is disabled! I use SharpKeys… worked in XP, works in Win7.

did you get you microphone working? how? i go to the sound recorder and it doesn’t get anything.

Hi Mina, thanks for visiting.
I didn’t test the microphone at first but since you mentioned it, thanks. Now it’s working :) .
The problem is that the mic reception is too low. You need to turn the boost up. Open the Control Panel and go to Hardware and Sound. Click Sound and navigate to the Recording tab. Double click the Microphone.
Go to the Levels tab and drag the Microphone Boost slider. I think +20.0dB would be good enough. The downside is that there’s a lot of background hissing too. You can improve it a bit by enabling the Noise Suppression option (in the Enhancements tab of Microphone Properties).
Hope that works. Worked for me but I think I’d probably use my headset mic.

hey hi Universal Cynic

Now MIC is working (at lest working)

Thanks

Good to hear you got the mic working too. You’re welcome.

I find that Windows 7 is better than Windows XP on the Y410. Really cool.

hallo
from one manth i install windows 7 on my laptob after i install it the hand phone it stop working . can you help me please ?

Hi Abbas, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re asking. What do you mean by “hand phone”? Did you install some hand phone software? Nokia Suite? Something like that? What’s not working… the hand phone or Windows 7? I’ll be glad to help if I know more.

Hi. Thanks a lot.
Im using windows 7 now for my notebook y410.
At fist im installing the drivers with the cd vista driver and it didn’t work, and finally i’ve read your post. so, thanks a lot.,
:)

P.S. yeah. you’re right Win7 is better than Vista. :)

Thanks again., :)
Mary.

Oh, i forgot. where can i download a windows 7 installer iso.?
so i can share it with my friends. :)

hehe., thanks :)

Mary.

Hi Mary, thanks for visiting. Glad to hear my article helps.

About the .iso… hmm.. he he… you can get it from Microsoft Store along with the license ;) . If you have TechNet subscription, you can download from TechNet.

If your friends already have valid licenses, I think it’s ok to download from torrents or usenet… just be sure to verify the .iso image. You’ll still need valid keys to activate. I can’t help you there, though.

How did you get your .iso? Can’t you share that? They’ll still need valid keys (other than your key), though.

Everything worked except for the drivers for audio. I downloaded those latest audio drivers from lenovo’s website for my 3000 Y410. But it didn’t work. So later I downloaded the latest windows 7 drivers for audio from Realtek’s website, and that one worked very well. Now I am enjoying using Windows 7 Ultimate.

Anyway you have done a great job. Thanks dude!!

Thanks, Alex. Hmm… maybe I am actually using vista drivers from Realtek I downloaded last time. It was quite a big download. Thanks for the tip.

A friend alerted me that Microsoft has removed the USB/DVD tool. Yep… I got a 404 error opening that link. Guess you’ll have to find some other ways to get the ISO to boot from USB. Since Microsoft has removed it, I don’t think I can distribute it. You can probably ask Microsoft for it if you bought Windows 7 from the Microsoft Store.

did you format you system to install windows 7 ? if so, does this effect the one touch recovery setting ?

Hi Sid,

My Y410 came with FreeDOS. The One Touch Recovery restores DOS and that means it is dangerous to my XP and Ubuntu. So I removed the feature.

Based on my experience, the recovery program is loaded from a specific location on disk. Even after I remove the partition, it can still load the recovery. The partition serves only as a marker so you won’t overwrite the recovery program data. I had to wipe the whole disk with zeros to remove the recovery program.

So, I don’t think you will lose the One Touch Recovery if you format C to install Windows 7. Just don’t format D (or is it the other way around?)

Since I bought this with FreeDOS, I don’t have any program to update the recovery partition. If you have the program, then maybe it’s useful for you to update the recovery data to restore Windows 7. Otherwise, it will just restore Windows XP.

It’s dangerous because it’s so easy to restore… don’t know if there are newer versions that at least ask for password.

Instead, I use Acronis Home Image.

By the way, you have no other way but to format if you upgrade to Windows 7 from XP. Check your Lenovo manual to see which partition is the recovery partition. If you’re unsure, get someone who knows about disk partitions to at least be by your side when you install Windows 7.

Good morning. Im also a y410 owner. I ditched the preinstalled Vista that came with the unit and managed to install XP and install the drivers from the lenovo website. Its working ok for more than a yaer until I decided to try Windows 7 just yesterday.

I installed Windows 7 Ultimate, after install I have 3 bangs in Device Manager. 2 are Base System Device and 1 is listed as Unknown Device. I followed your guide and tried to do Windows Update but that didnt solve the driver issue. I tried to install the Lenovo Energy Power Cut from the lenovo website but used the Vista drivers. Also did the same for Ricoh Card Reader vista drivers, and now all my drivers in device manager are working ok. Do you think it is ok to use Vista drivers? Do you know where to get Windows 7 drivers for the lenovo y410? Thank you.

Hi Ryan,

It’s ok to use Vista drivers because Microsoft said it’s the same driver architecture.

If you follow the steps I wrote, you will download the following from Lenovo: Chipset drivers, sound drivers, bluetooth drivers, and Energy Cut (for power control and keyboard buttons). And optionally, the ALPS touchpad drivers. All of them are Vista drivers.

Hmm… now that you mention it, I probably need to test the Card Reader to be sure mine is working.

Did you get the orange button between the NOVO key and the volume slider keys to work? It works fine in XP, if you press in in XP, it changes the equalizer settings for the speakers (ROCK, POP, HALL, etc etc) ? I cant get mine to work in Win7.

Ryan, I never really used that even in XP so I didn’t bother to set that one up. Since you mentioned it, I tried the button. Didn’t work. Neither do the other multimedia buttons (CD Player On/Play/Stop etc on the upper left).

I’ll try installing the keyboard/hotkey drivers and update here.

Thanks for the update. Multimedia buttons on the upper left (CD Player On/Play/Stop etc on the upper left) works fine on my system, IF windows media player is already open. If not, it does nothing.

All the buttons on my y410 are now working. I installed the ezbutton package on the lenovo support website. It should be installed in Compatibilty Mode Vista.

Thanks Ryan! I haven’t actually got to try it out yet. I’ll update the guide with your information.

Great site!! I just installed my Windows 7 today and i was sad to find that my sound driver didnt work… i tried using the troubleshooting you mentioned and i got the same error as the person above something called base something someting? didnt install and “Unknown Device”. I tried installing the Realtek drivers from the lenovo site, that didnt work either i was about to complete then it gave a something something failure!!
then i realized that i didnt update my windows 7 yet so i went and got all my updates.. as of now i am downloading the sound drivers from the realtek site itself( as mentioned from another guy) hopefully this will work..!

It Worked!! but another thing… all i download as drivers from the lenovo site was the easy capture program, ALPS mouse pointer, and the energy cut is there other stuff i should get?? and another question… before i installed an update + the realtek(win7) i noticed that when i pressed the mute or volume key i had the little blue box in the bottom middle of my screen that showed my volume incresasing or decreasing.. now it disappered… is there soemtihng i did wrong?? Should i download the BIOS from the lenovo site??

I downloaded the audio driver from http://realtek.com since the Lenovo Vista driver would not install.

The driver from Realtek installed first time. Works great.

Note, it’s only a 38MB file, but the server sites were slow. Took over an hour to download.

Brian, you should get the mute/volume notification (blue box) if you have installed energy cut. Try installing energy cut again. If that doesn’t bring it back, try also installing the lenovo hotkey/ezbutton driver. You probably don’t need the bios…

It’s great to know that the steps I put up have helped you all! And it’s great to get all these feedback — your feedbacks also improve my own Windows 7 install :) .

Hey guys! Any of you encountered this while pairing a bluetooth phone? I get a ? in Device Manager that says Bluetooth Peripheral Device. Im pairing a Blackberry 8320. Everything seems to work, send / recieve files work using bluetooth from the phone to pc and vice versa, except that in Device Manager it gives a ?.

Though Windows 7 installed the drivers for me but most of them were like outdated so i tried installing the Driver Magician 3.48 software which said that the existing bluetooth and soundrivers were outdated and it gave me a link where i could download the latest version of these drivers.After installing the updated drivers my bluetooth performed 20 percent faster and a loudness increase of 40 percent after installing the realtek driver.

hi friends ,thanks 2 universal cynic 4 sharing all this..i m doing that windows 7 nw..and after all i found my veriface is not working ..can any one guide me abt that ..waiting 4 ur answers frnd.

Hi Vishu. I don’t use Veriface so I didn’t bother installing it. Can any reader who has tried Veriface on Windows 7 share some experience?

Alps Touchpad doesn’t work…. I follow the instructions above but still it doesn’t work… help please

Have you tried turning it on (Press Fn+F8)? Could be that it’s off by default.

alps touch working fine, I’ve downloaded the driver in Alps website. do have another problem, my built-in sub-woofer is not working…. can you help me universal cynic… thanks!

Oh… I never bothered with the subwoofer. Never thought it actually worked even in XP. I tried listening to it by I don’t think my subwoofer ever worked. Sorry.

hi guys,,, one of my friesds told me that switching os from vista to w7 can make the life of battery up.. is that true ? cuz besides the performance i need the baterry lifes too.. thx.. btw my laptop is lenovo y410 year 2008.

Hi all. I have faced a problam with my y410 notebook. When I insert an USB drive means pen drive or external usb drive, the icon appeares(safely remove driver). But in my computer nothing is showing up as an removable drive. Sometime it displayed but often not. In device manager it shows up as generic volume. Whats the problam? Any suggesion Plz?

Hi dipdip,

Actually, my Y410′s battery life seems better with Windows 7. But you should install the power control program from Lenovo and make adjustments there.

Hi Abhi,

Sometimes it doesn’t show, just unplug the USB device and try again. Then, try refreshing the Explorer view. It could also be because the USB drive does not get enough power. For example, for USB hard disk, it must be connected directly – you can’t use USB hubs.

It’s also probably due to the poor contact at the USB port. I have that problem with my Y410 — the left USB port is not so firm so sometimes I need to use a different USB cable that has a slightly tighter fit with the port. Try that first.

I also don’t use Windows’ USB safely remove icon. Maybe you can try the program I’m using: “USB Safely Remove”. Get the Windows 7 version. It’s cool but it’s not free.

Since you can physically put two 2 gb memory modules into the Lenovo, does any know whether Windows 7 will recognize all 4 gb? I read that the 32 bit version of Vista would only recognize 3.5 gb while the 64 bit version of Vista would recognize all 4 gb. Just curious, I’ve got 2 gb now and would like to max it out before upgrading.

Hi, I am unable to install ‘base device’ drivers. It says no driver found. Everything else seems to be working fine..what problems will this cause? Is there a fix?

Hi Mike,

You’ll get just like Vista 32 – around 3.5GB. It’s the limit of a 32bit system. If you need all 4GB, install Windows 7 64bit. I only put 3GB in my Y410… and frankly, I can’t even get to use all of the 3GB even with gadgets, background programs, etc running. The graphic card is not powerful enough to run something that will eat up all 3GB anyway (like games or Premier).

Seeker 123,

For the base device drivers, wait until you restart and let Windows connect to Windows Updates. It will get your drivers. If it doesn’t, install Chipset drivers and the Energy management software from Lenovo (you can use the one for Vista). Then, reboot and let Windows update again. I think that will work.

Hi Universal Cynic,
Thank you! Did exactly as you recommended. I can see the volume control, brightness adjustment panel and mute options showing on the screen again (just like when I had Vista) :) . This morning I discovered that I am unable to get display on the overhead projector. The tech support guy said it had something to do with the graphics card driver or something…Since the base drivers have been installed now, I will try again ‘morrow if it works. Please advice.

p.s – I tried downloading the intel GMA graphics driver from the lenevo site, but it says ‘operating system not supported’.

Hi, for some reason, I can’t get my sound to work and I have tried everything in here. I’ve downloaded all the drivers from the Lenovo support website. Then I try installing the sound from Realtek at Lenovo, it doesnt work. There is a prompt saying that ‘No driver was supported in this driver package’. Then I went to RealTek and downloaded the AC’97 Audio Codecs (Software). Still I had no luck so I tried the High Definition Audio Codecs (Software). Still, the same prompt occurs. Please help!!!

Seeker 123,

Here’s one thing I just discovered in Windows 7 to help with getting drivers. From the Start Menu, go to Devices and Printers (I’m on an XP machine right now so I’m just guessing from memory). In there, right click the PC/notebook icon and you’ll see something about getting drivers. Select that and in the following window, set it to automatic.

Tuan,

Just let Windows 7 install the drivers for you. Let Windows update do it. See my previous comment. Realtek drivers are available with Windows 7.

I tried all the ways. but sound driver is not at all working. Realtek one, of Y410 77578CQ.

In windows XP, my wireless is not working.

In Vista, my camera is not working.

If U have any solution, please mail to: sandeepkallat@in.com

Try let Windows 7 update first completely. You may need to try update several times until there are no more updates. Also, try to use generic drivers from Realtek instead of from Lenovo.

I’ve been using XP on Lenovo Y410, and now upgraded to Windows Seven, and just like other people, it was the drivers problem.

I’ve tried the instructions on this page by installing the Vista drivers, but still the sound didn’t works, neither the bluetooth can’t be activated by Vista driver, it tells me that the bluetooth device is not detected on my laptop.

So when I started thinking of going back to XP, I was wondering what would happen if I install the XP drivers, and you now what….
the result is…
SOUND AND BLUETOOTH WORKS!!! :)

Hey! Good idea! I’m thinking of formatting and reinstalling Windows 7. Maybe I can try it out if sound and bluetooth didn’t work.
Hmm… maybe in the past, I actually used XP drivers? Or maybe the “Vista” drivers were actually XP drivers… you know, some manufacturers since their XP drivers work in Vista, just label them Vista. But somehow updated them to real Vista drivers and then they don’t work anymore in Windows 7.

Vortex, can you confirm that they work in native mode or in some XPish mode (I don’t know… just like when XP can use Win98 VXD drivers but not at optimal performance).

I’ve formatted my Y410 and tried my installation steps again. Seems that there’s a change. When I troubleshoot (Step 4), Windows 7 did not present the option to download from Lenovo. Sigh… Maybe because it didn’t realize that the Base device is the Power Management stuff. Guess I’ll have to download the base device drivers from Lenovo.

Update: I now realized that the “base devices” are the Ricoh Memory Stick and SD/MMC controllers.

i just installed windows 7 and followed the comments here to install sound card drivers. without trying any drivres from the CD whihc i got with my laptop i downloaded latest sound driver from realtek, while installing it gave the errors, everytime i clicked on “Continue anyway option” bt it didnt installed anyting. then i tried installing the drivre from lenovo’s cd and phew its working now.

can you tell me what the wlan driver is &
where to download it?

You can download from Lenovo’s support site. Search it. As for which wireless LAN adapter, you’ll have to check whether your model uses the Intel or the Broadcom wireless LAN.

It will be easy if u provide with all the necessary links to download all the drivers discussed above. provide links next to respective driver discussion. thanks.

The drivers are on Lenovo’s support site. Just go to http://www.lenovo.com, select your country, then click support. Which link you’ll get depends on the country, and the exact model number of your Ideapad (see back of notebook).