Good time of day. I have a successful experience installing Windows XP 32 bit on a ThinkPad T440p (i am not topic starter). Since i have not found a ready-made installation guide anywhere, i will write here so that other people can find it. If there is a more appropriate topic for my post, please let me know or move it there.
My laptop is a modification 20AWS2H200. It does not have a discrete graphics card (only Intel HD Graphics 4600), its screen has a resolution of 1600x900 and a 2-lane eDP cable. The BIOS version is the newest, GLETA2WW (2.56).
- Installation
Before installing XP on the T440p, it is necessary to switch the USB ports in the BIOS to the “USB 2.0 only” mode if the installation is performed from a USB flash drive. Despite the fact that Haswell has all the drivers for XP (including the SATA driver from Fernando), during installation i encountered a problem typical of more modern components — an ACPI error leading to a BSOD. The installation was continued by selecting the kernel for a single-processor computer with ACPI when pressing F5 instead of F6 (the Fernando SATA driver was pre-integrated into the image). - ACPI
After installing Windows, drivers for the chipset, Intel ME and power management were installed. Then, in the device manager the “Single Processor computer with ACPI” was replaced with a “Multiprocessor computer with ACPI”. After the reboot, a BSOD occurred (as it should be). The laptop was downloaded from a Live DVD, standard ACPI.SYS was replaced with a modified 7777 2023.4.6. After that XP booted up, all cores and threads of processor started working. - Graphics card and screen
After installing the graphics card driver, the screen may go off. To avoid this, you need to install the driver with the laptop’s power supply turned off. When the PSU is connected, the refresh rate of the screen with the driver becomes 60 Hz by default, which is the reason. After installing the driver, you need to switch the screen to 50 Hz in both modes by connecting the power supply to an already running laptop. If the laptop has a 1920x1080 IPS matrix, you will not be able to get an image after Windows boots. This is probably due to the fact that these matrices cannot operate at a frequency of 50 Hz. - Other
Installing drivers for LAN, sound card, camera, card reader, fingerprint sensor and TPM module is not difficult. The driver of the power management chip, i think, should be installed before replacement ACPI.SYS. Contrary to fears, both the trackpoint and the backlight on the keyboard, as well as the physical buttons on the touchpad from the T450, work normally.
However, there are a number of problems that could not be solved. I’m asking for help from local experts, that’s what I came here for.
- Screen
The most basic problem is the inability to work with IPS 1920x1080 matrices. Matrices were tested, none of them showed an image after loading with the driver. Only in safe mode or in VGA mode. This is definitely not a hardware problem: on Windows 7, 8.1, 10, 11 and Debian 12, all three work fine. The problem probably has to do with this and this topics. Please, if Fernando or anyone else is able to modify the driver for the HD 4600 so that it allows it to work with 1920x1080 IPS matrices via eDP, please do so. My matrix burns out my eyes, and even expensive lenses in glasses don’t help. - Sound
The second problem is that under XP there is no sound in the headphones. It is normally played by the speakers, but when headphones are connected, there is no sound in them, although they are detected in the system. As in the previous case, the problem is definitely not in hardware, because other operating systems have sound. This is not so important compared to the previous one, but if someone knows the solution or can modify the driver, i will be very glad. - USB 3.0
Unfortunately, i was unable to get the USB ports to work in 3.0 mode. The combined mode in the BIOS does not work in XP either. I don’t rule out that i was doing something wrong, but none of the known drivers helped. But since there is a 2.0 mode, it doesn’t bother me much. - Wi-Fi module
Intel 7260 does not have drivers for XP, but it also bothers me a little. When i flash the BIOS to remove the whitelist, i will put the module on the BCM 4360 chip, which should have a driver for XP. However, if suddenly someone is interested in making a driver for the Intel 7260, i will be glad not to buy a module potentially made on the basis of a used chip.