[SOLVED] Can't get any results from Lenovo's QUICK PATH

[RealBlackStuff]

Since about 10 days I have problems getting laptop info from:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/landing.page?
When I type in e.g. 2516-ADU in their Quick Path box, I do NOT get any results!
Anyone else have the same problem?
It's effing disgusting that I can't get this going!
I have uninstalled Firefox V21, and replaced it with V22.
I have installed Google Chrome.
I have deleted my cache files,
I have deleted all Lenovo cookies.
I have tried IE8, does not work.
All of this doesn't get me anywhere!
My PC runs XP-Pro/SP3 plus all Windows updates.
I have uninstalled all Windows updates since beginning of June 2013.
STILL NO GO.
I can reboot in a basic test-version of W7 on the same PC, and then it works...
But this is not suited for my daily work!
Anybody have the same problems?

[rkawakami]

With my iPad this is what I get:

i5-520M(2.4GHz), 2GB RAM, 250GB HD, 14.1in 1280x800, Intel HD Graphics, CDRW/DVDRW, 802.11bgn, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Camera, 6c, Win7 Pro 32

Currently not able to try with Firefox but I'll do so tonight.

[Neil]

IDK...that's really strange...
I've used "Quick Path" several times in the last few days without any problems. Tried it again just now on my WinXP SP3 machine with Pale Moon 20.1 browser (pretty much Firefox lite) and work fine. Also tried Chrome on Linux, and that worked as well.

[emeraldgirl08]

I have the same problem with both installations of W7 64-bit on my T500 and X200T. I have had this issue for awhile now and often wondered if the Lenovo Support website requires Java to utilize 'Quick Path?' Ever since the security breach on Java that was widely publicized my working laptops no longer have Java installed on them. Mine is an issue that affects both IE10 and FF 21.0.

Not sure what the status is for Java currently and if it is safe to have on one's PCs.

@Neil and @RBS. Do you have Java installed on your ThinkPads?

[Neil]

No...I do not have Java installed. I do, however, have NoScript installed on the XP XP3 machine, and Quick Path does need scripts allowed to work.

[emeraldgirl08]

One of the great mysteries in my life ATM then

Thanks for the input

[RealBlackStuff]

Java had been uninstalled since late 2012.
I installed it again, just to see, but no dice.
So I uninstalled it again, never needed Java, never wanted it either.
Javascript is enabled, but unfortunately does not work on Lenovo's site in my XP install.

One thing I do know is that the programming on Lenovo's website is done by first-class a$$holes!
I got the validation of this standard Quick Path webpage: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/landing ... q=2516-adu#

Results when you click on the link below.
They include 99 errors and 82 warnings!
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/vali ... 516-adu%23

[RealBlackStuff]

When you freshly load that Lenovo support page, you might see a few files being called up, including j.maxmind.com.
I went into my Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file, searched for it and found it there!
Temporarily disabled it, ran Quick Path again, and holy cow, it is all of a sudden working again!
Enabled it again in my hosts file, and it's still working!
No idea how this is to be interpreted...
But at least it's usable again!

Edit: corrected website name on first line.

[rkawakami]

I had thought that if you cleared your browser's cache and/or cookies now, your problem might come back. However I just tried deleting all Lenovo cookies and clearing the cache and there's no difference. I was able to get the Quick Path information on whatever I entered. And it looks like it's j.maxmind.com; I searched the web page source . I'm using Firefox 21 on WinXPP SP3 with latest Java and Flash but some blackholed sites in my hosts file.

[RealBlackStuff]

Correct, it WAS j.maxmind.com.
And my hosts file comes from: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

[emeraldgirl08]

That is where I got my hosts file from as well RBS. Following the posts from you and Ray I removed j.maxmind.com from the hosts file via notepad and gave 'quick path' another try. It worked this time

[RealBlackStuff]

Probably a final word in this matter:

This morning I tried "Quick Path" again, and what do you know?
It was NOT working again.
Went back into my hosts file, permanently disabled (either put a # and a space in front of it, or remove it) j.maxmind.com, and sure enough:
now it works again!

Lenovo (via that website) uses the visitor's IP address for finding out he visitor's country and location.
Having this maxmind website in your hosts file disables the geolocation result, and thus NO QUICK PATH!
Great job, Lenovo! I would call that spying!



PS: I remember now that I checked on my hosts file ca. 10 days ago.
Some program (or a Windows update?) had replaced my MVPS hosts file with the original Windows hosts file.
So I put the MVPS file (with j.maxmind.com in it) back and forgot about it.
Thus creating the Quick Path problem. Grrrrr...
Since the problem didn't happen before, I assume Lenovo put this geo-location crap in recently.

[Majestic]

I've ran into that problem as well using the MVPS Host file with a couple of websites I visit. What I did was edit the MVPS Host file and removed the restricted sites I needed from the list. I then saved the edited version to a file called HOST.BAC. I next create to simple .bat files to rename them. One to swap the MVPS Host file for the edited one and the other .bat file to swap them back. Finally I created shortcuts to the .bat files. After that it is a simple matter of clicking the shortcuts icon before and after visiting sites like Quick Path.

[RealBlackStuff]

Another word of warning:
I had put this same problem on the Lenovo forum: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/General-Dis ... -p/1163083

Lenovo's forum moderation is rather disturbing!
I put the same posts up there as here.
But Lenovo DELETED:
- the one with the big error percentages
- the one with this info: Lenovo (via that website) uses the visitor's IP address for finding out he visitor's country and location.

And I also posted this as the last post in that thread:

06-29-2013 12:41 PM

It is absolutely amazing how posts here are monitored.
It's even more amazing that some get deleted, without any comments or giving reasons.
Guess that's the reason why I don't visit this forum too often!

I bet if I should try and report about the bad warranty case that happened to me, it would be deleted as well!

And whaddayaknow? That post was deleted as well by Lenovo!.