Thinkpads Forum

I use ThinkVantage System Update 3 on my R60 (Win XP).

System Update 3 last downloaded updates to my system on July 2nd -and nothing since then. It's now July 18th. The Lenovo Drivers website lists several updated items since July 2nd - yet System Update 3 doesn't pick them up.

Why does this time lag exist ? Is there a plausible explanation ?

iminj wrote:Why does this time lag exist ?

It just does. There has always been a lag between updates appearing in the support web pages for individual download and installation versus those same updates appearing in the software distribution/installation tool (whatever that happened to be at the time).

If you feel the need to be absolutely up to date, you need to do the individual download and manual installation from the web site, as new software/drivers appear there.

Cheers,

Bill B.

I gave up on using auto update feature since the introduction of System Update. Version 2.0 was buggy, required a bunch of hacks to make it work. And after connecting it was taking ages until it showed the updates.

I am using the website instead. It's just a click or two. It's more up-to-date too.

iminj wrote:Why does this time lag exist ? Is there a plausible explanation ?

Because convenience has a price.

Same reason automatic transmissions cost more than manual. There're extra parts & stuff in there.

In this case, there's extra stuff that has to be done to the driver so they can deliver it in that form and have it install automatically.

When the driver updates are passed to the web, they can upload the drivers straight away but they have to create the XML files which associate the updates with System Update, this can take them a bit of time particularly when there are a lot of drivers getting released (like lately due to vista etc).

I'm new to thinkpad and only had my machine for about a month now.

I can live with a lag- but I'm wondering will ALL the updates eventually work their way to the system update utility? If I'm patient and just wait it out will that take care of everything?

Or do I need to muck through the download pages every now and again to look and see if it's missed stuff?

Yes they generally will (unless there is a problem and someone reports it) but I think you should really ask yourself why your updating. An OS needs to be kept up to date for security reasons so I do recommend Windows update but if your not having any problems with the Lenovo drivers and applications then you have nothing to gain from constantly updating but you do run the risk of something going wrong.

michaelk wrote:Or do I need to muck through the download pages every now and again to look and see if it's missed stuff?

The newly updated files are listed in chronological order on the "Downloads and drivers" web page for your ThinkPad model so they are not hard to find.

See a T41 example "Downloads and drivers" page here

Alternatively, if you prefer to use a "Drivers and software" matrix page, the newly updated files for the last 30 days or so are highlighted by showing the date in a orange/brown colour.

See a T41 example "Drivers and software" matrix page here

Cheers,

Bill B.