Software Installer Causes Havoc-Now Fingerprint Reader Fails

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rebop · #1 Post by **rebop** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 11:56 pm

Ok, did an update of 2 or 3 things with Software Installer today. After that, it showed that nothing had ever been installed and wanted to replace MANY utilities, drivers, programs. I tried, but most failed to install, likely because newer versions were installed. But it did not tell me that.

I delted software installer including the DRIVERS directory and the files that keep track of what was installed. I then installed System Update and it went to install everything since the original build. Most went fine and now work as expected. With three exceptions:

1. Although the fingerprint reader control panel has my fingerproints and reads then to open the edit portion of the app, I no longer can use a fingerprint to login or log back after screen saver. The dialog box has the image of a finger, but no text. I have tried every setting I can think of and can not get this to work again.

2. Now on boot (and never before) I get system tray messages about which connections to the network have failed and which succeeded. Previoulsy, it would onnect to the wired if available, nd if not go to woreless., It now seems to try wireless first, fails and then tries wired.

3. Sonic DLA would not install after download. What exactly is this and why will it not reinstall?

Can anyone help with any of the above?

Thanks.

christopher_wolf · #2 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:08 am

Was PC-Docter 5 one of those 2-3 updates?

rebop · #3 Post by **rebop** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:11 am

Yes it was. Why? And what to do from here since it seems that you might be saying that mucked things up.

Bob

rebop · #4 Post by **rebop** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:20 am

Well, just read that thread. Yup. Have not checked Add / Remove, but I do know that restore points no longer work as I tried three of those today and forgot to mention that one.

What in the world can I do? Short of full R&R that is. Can I R&R just the registry hives? If so, how?

Thanks.

christopher_wolf · #5 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:26 am

Have you tried uninstalling PC-Doctor, rebooting, then re-installing it? That should get things back to normal. I would recommend getting either CCleaner or Registry First Aid and scrubbing the registry. It is also useful since you can take before and after snapshots, compare them, and backup your registry.

rebop · #6 Post by **rebop** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:31 am

A little more specific, please.

I now have two PC-Doctors. Unisntall both? Or just 5?

And you think that will repair restore points, ad / remove, fingerprint reader and network messages?

That would be great of so, but if the registry is damaged, I would doubt it would repair. So if you had more steps in mind, please let me know.

And what is DL and is this causing that to fail installation as well? Is it something necessary?

Thanks again.

spwhiting@ · #7 Post by **spwhiting@** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:35 am

this thread has a few more suggestions:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=32675

I have the same problem with the ADD/REMOVE files after PC Doc 5 was installed yesterday using Software Installer-- there are many more programs listed, most of them do not show the fulll information in the ADD/REMOVE listing of the files. The earlier version of PC Doc was not removed. IE6 is being used. Software Installer now lists almost all of the previous drives as non - existant.

Lenovo needs to remove PC DOC from their matrix...how do we let Lenovo know of the problems this causes and ask Lenovo for a repair/upgrade.

Does anyone have any other suggestions besides trying to fix the registry?

christopher_wolf · #8 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:43 am

DLA is a disk labelling and handling service allowing you to burn the disks that your hardware supports.

It is just necessary to uninstall PC-Doctor 5.

spwhiting@ · #9 Post by **spwhiting@** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:51 am

PC DOc 5 was uninstalled. Software Installer was then run and about fifty programs were ready to be installed from Lenovo. I did not install them since I know they are already in the R51.

There are two threads about PC DOC 5. One on the General Hardwar/Software and on under WINDOWS OS - {Warning} DO NOT INSTALL PC DOC 5...Can they be combined?

rebop · #10 Post by **rebop** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:08 am

Does Lenovo read this forum? Is it worth calling them to point them to these threads?

I have to say, they should take some responisibility for this one as obviously this "upgrade" could not have been well tested. And my faith in Lenovo software dropped quite a bit today. I have hours into this and likely many more before my computer is back to "normal".

So, just to continue on a bit, will R&R restore just the registry hives from an incremental backup? And if so, is that advisiable after removing PC-Doc 5?

christopher_wolf · #11 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:31 am

It isn't a general problem; when I installed it, everything went fine and I didn't notice any problems. Not everything can be caught by the testers the first time through. It just demonstrates the importance of periodic backups.

I am sure that they have, or will be, made aware of the problem that comes about on a significant portion of Thinkpads to which the update is applied to.

Talon88 · #12 Post by **Talon88** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:56 am

:::

It is for sure, all problem is cause by PC-Doctor
installer. Look like many people are fall into the
problem. I don't understand how come no one
test it before release to the public........

:::

christopher_wolf · #13 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:01 am

Talon88 wrote::::

It is for sure, all problem is cause by PC-Doctor
installer. Look like many people are fall into the
problem. I don't understand how come no one
test it before release to the public........

:::

Again, this *does not* affect all Thinkpads as mine wasn't affected but several others have been. I might have installed it in a different manner, but it was fairly similar to how it would be installed by default.

Paranoid_TP_User · #14 Post by **Paranoid_TP_User** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:34 am

Just go to the IBM website and grab the latest fingerprint reader version (which you no doubt already have), double click and select repair and that should fix things. Shut down and Boot up. After booting the first time it might not be there for the windows login, but go into the fingerprint settings and select "Start control centre on windows startup" and check that the logon support is checked and that you can enrol fingerprints. Now just restart again and it might be working, and then you can uncheck the "start control" button.

This seems like a bit of voodoo I know, but it worked for me.

Also if you've already gotten this latest fingerprint update via system update then the file should be by default in
C:\Program Files\ThinkVantage\SystemUpdate\session\p961b_fpr55ww
so you can run the repair without having to re-download from IBM.

rebop · #15 Post by **rebop** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 7:51 am

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

I'm wondering what else this broke I have not found yet.

For example, System Restore points do not work as this was one of the first things I tired. Does removing PC-Doc 5 fix that? If not, and at the worst, do future restore points work?

USSS · #16 Post by **USSS** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:06 pm

System Restore points do not work as this was one of the first things I tired.

rebop:

I encountered the same issues as others are reporting throughout the forums (e.g. missing Add/Remove entries).

I was able to resolve the problem by running System Restore in SAFE MODE.

To enter Safe Mode, restart/reboot and press F8 before Windows loads and then (Start > Help & Support > [subhead: Pick a task] "Undo changes to your computer with System Restore"). Select a known good Restore Point, then reboot as prompted when SR completes.

After reverting back to a previous Restore Point, only my original installation of PC Doctor appeared in "Add/Remove Software" along with all of my previous original software installation entries.

If this does not work or System Restore has previously been turned off, you might try booting into Safe Mode and selecting "Last Known Good Configuration", which will restore the last good backup of your Windows Registry.

Long-time lurker...had to chime in on this issue and make a contribution. Glad to be here!

#17 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:18 am

I received this email from Doug van Aman of PC-Doc..

Doug van Aman of PC-Doctor wrote:
To the members of the ThinkPads.com Support Community:

Many thanks to all in the forum who have brought the upgrade issue to our attention and have helped other members. We first learned of the issue on Friday and have been researching it since. A solution has been developed and submitted to our QA lab for testing before it is released to Lenovo. We expect this should be done within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Meanwhile, to prevent anyone else from encountering the issue, we have asked Lenovo to take down the PC-Doctor 5 upgrade from their site; they have done so.

For those who have been affected, it appears (as many on this forum have pointed out) that use of System Restore to a known good date returns the system to health. As with any other use of the System Restore feature in Windows, data saved after the restoration date will not be available.

Finally, the installer issue occurred during silent upgrades from old versions of PC-Doctor 4 to the new PC-Doctor 5. Put simply, the PC-Doctor 5 installer did not work with all versions of the uninstaller code used in iterative releases of PC-Doctor 4. The developed solution prevents this incompatibility from happening.

Again, many thanks to the community for their hard work and insights!

Software Installer Causes Havoc-Now Fingerprint Reader Fails

Software Installer Causes Havoc-Now Fingerprint Reader Fails

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