Freshly made t43p ... impressions and issues

[Sable]

First off, I've been lurking here for the past two weeks endlessly refreshing that delivery thread since I ordered my 2668-G5U on the 25th...it finally came yesterday as part of the shipment that a bunch of you folks received as well in the Boston area...Not sure why I didn't register earlier, it was probably because I was in denial of how much the addiction would overwhelm me

In any case, this is the 14" t43p and it is simply gorgeous. No dead pixels to be seen and the fan sound is quite bearable, though it is about as loud as my old 600X thats sitting nearby so I hope for some BIOS improvements as well.

The build quality is great, but being the nitpicky laptop snob that I have become there are a couple of places around the bottom edges of the palm rests that flex slightly. Again comparing to the venerable 600X, I was a bit surprised, but I can easily live with it.

I've loaded up some basic games -- played a quick stint of Half-life 2 and even at native res of 1400x1050 the game was quite playable. Turning on 2X AA was noticable however...but I'm less of a snob about that

The big thing that just really bugs me though ..... one of the signature things that I was really looking forward to on a Thinkpad ... the TrackPoint doesn't work! The trackpad works fine, but the Trackpoint, nothing. The trackpoint buttons are dead too. I've removed the drivers, reinstalled the drivers, checked the BIOS, downloaded fresh versions of the drivers off the net, installed and reinstalled those...nothing.

I called support last night and they basically told me that I could either have a new laptop shipped to me or they would send me a new keyboard that I can replace myself...After trying some more stuff today, I called them back to get the keyboard shipped, but since my warrantee information isn't yet in their database I was sent into a holding pattern and am waiting for a call back...

Otherwise, I've been pounding the crap out of this guy loading and installing, and tweaking, and ... well if the new keyboard works then I'll be a happy customer.

EDIT: Just noticed the other t43p impressions post ... sorry for the dupe!

[Patmandu]

I'm sure you've already tried this with the trackpoint, but thought I'd toss it out just in case.

Under 'access IBM' on the start-->programs tab there is a handy application called 'ultra nav' wizard. This little app controls the trackpoint and trackpad and 'toggles' them on or off.

Is it possible that the trackpoint is turned off and that's the problem you are having?

Of course, this info comes from my T42, but it's probably the same on your shiny new T43

Hope that helps you out some.

[Sable]

Thanks for the tip, but thats actually one of the indicators that its hardware related -- when I try to bring up that wizard I get a message that the Trackpoint is disabled and to enable it via Thinkpad config or in the BIOS...in both of those places it has it enabled

[JHaislet]

Have you tried removing the keyboard & making sure the trackpoint/pad connector is completely connected? It could have easily gotten knocked loose during shipping or it was never fully snapped down.

Good call on getting them to send you a keyboard. If your screen has no dead pixles HOLD ONTO IT WITH YOUR LIFE

[BillMorrow]

DO pull the keyboard and reseat the connectors..

some of the first T21's to ship had this problem with the video plug on the system board..

[Sable]

I just tried pulling the keyboard and reseating the connector -- no go...and wow is there some thermal management going on in there

Looks like I'll try the replacement keyboard - which I would want at this point anyway since the screws are supposed to be nylon one-use only according to the HMM.

And yeah, just the thought of replacing this whole machine (dead-pixel-less screen included) seems too much ... at least the machine is otherwise completely usable and the trackpad isnt that bad...

[Sable]

Well, this isn't a good sign

After Lenovo accidently shipping the new keyboard to the wrong address, then being away for the weekend, I finally got my new keyboard and have installed it....and the Trackpoint still doesn't work...

I've checked the BIOS settings again, as well as reinstalling the driver...same exact error as before. When I start the UltraNav wizard I get the error message:

Code: Select all

TrackPoint is disabled from BIOS. Please enable it from BIOS or the ThinkPad configuration utility.

Of course, it is enabled in both places...the UltraNav panel in the Mouse Control Panel has the Trackpoint option setting dimmed/disabled as well.

Looks like I'll be calling them back tomorrow...not looking forward to a system board needing to be replaced if thats what it will take...

[K. Eng]

Ugh... and this is a problem that quality control should easily be able to flag.

Well good luck with it. Personally I'd send it back for a complete replacement... there's no telling how long a repair will take and the warranty is running while the machine is at the depot.

[Sable]

Ugh... and this is a problem that quality control should easily be able to flag.

No kidding. It's not as though this was a latent defect...the trackpoint didn't work from the first time I booted up.

I'm on hold with them now...I am not looking forward to a system replacement especially since my current LCD is dead-pixel free.

[Sable]

So, the Technical Support person was pretty knowedgeable about this type of problem, and he had me do the one thing I hadn't yet tried -- disable the TrackPad in the BIOS and leave TrackPoint set to Automatic...Wouldn't you know, but the Trackpoint works! --- and the Trackpad is disabled

I still can't run the UltraNav wizard because now I get an error saying my Trackpad is disabled in the BIOS ... heh. When I re-enable the Trackpad and the Trackpoint I'm back to the beginning and have the same original problem.

He suggested I reseat the connectors again and try playing with the BIOS some more...I don't have much faith in that approach, but I too am at a loss of what the root cause is at this point.

[gcchatel]

I doubt it's a problem with the connectors since both work individually. It sounds like a software problem versus hardware to me and it sounds like it is to do with the BIOS. If I were you, I might try to flash the bios and that might fix the problem. You can do that by removing the bios battery but I don't know where it is or if you want to get into taking your new toy apart after just getting it.

On the other hand, who needs the trackpad, I've had mine disabled since I got it, I love the trackpoint

Good luck.

[K. Eng]

What the... ??? I've never heard of that happening before. There must be a problem with the machine. If this was a design flaw there would be many more complaints here.

That's pretty severe, to have only 50% of the pointing devices working at any one time

So, the Technical Support person was pretty knowedgeable about this type of problem, and he had me do the one thing I hadn't yet tried -- disable the TrackPad in the BIOS and leave TrackPoint set to Automatic...Wouldn't you know, but the Trackpoint works! --- and the Trackpad is disabled

[Sable]

Thanks all for the posts....

So, I've had a nasty cold all week and finally got around to trying to reseat the connector to the new keyboard again...not any better.

Worse yet, I've been using the trackpoint solely for the past week, and every once in a random while the trackpoint will just go dead for a minute or two though the buttons will still work...

I called support again, and they could only offer to send me yet another new keyboard. As exciting as it may be to start a small collection of replacable Thinkpad parts I think I just have to return this machine. It's far too expensive a laptop to accept a defect like this.

[snife]

Are you using any boot manager software or running dual-boot? I have seen this once before with stuff i had running before windows started - i'm not sure exactly why but i just disabled the trackpad at that time cause i never use the thing anyway.

[Sable]

No custom boot software. I suppose a clean install of XP could possibly help...but unless there was at least some assurance that it would fix it, I'd rather not go through the hassle. Again, this was from the first moment I opened and booted up the laptop.

Is there a startup/diagnostic log that I could look at other than from Event Viewer? Because I've seen no errors related to this at all in Event Viewer...