UNKN-OWN model number?! Model autodetection after restore?

[jayeye]

I restored my T41p from recovery CDs, and now it can't get its automatic updates from IBM. A bit of digging shows that it does not know its own model number (2373-GEU), or its System Unit serial number. Is there a way of manually setting this?

I noticed that when I upgraded the BIOS to 3.21, the bios upgrade utility had the option of setting the model number, but it only allowed me to set the last three letters; even so, this did not appear to have worked. If I boot the Recovery CD #1 and get into the hardware diagnostics, the SMBIOS diagnostics do not show the model number anywhere.

This is a big problem; if I go to the Lenovo site to download drivers, and I hit "Detect my system", it comes back with something along the lines of "no match found for UNKN-OWN". Also, if I hit the Access IBM button, then select "System Information", and try the "Warranty and Parts" option, I get the error message "An error occurred when looking up your information: system error." (Gee, thanks, at least it didn't say it was error IKJ305E like MVS would have :) ).

So it's not just a matter of filling in the model number in web pages that I access, a lot of automatic stuff that should work isn't working, and there is no workaround that I can think of.

Help?

[jayeye]

The unit is under warranty. It needed servicing for other reasons anyway, so the nice maintenance tech set it for me using his Hardware Maintenance Diskette.

[ZoneMan]

I have seen this issue a few times, most of which were recently in the depot for service or a field tech was out.

In all cases the system board was replaced and the tech working on the ticket forgot to set the 4 digit machine type and serial number. The maint disk is a small utility that allows you to change the serial number and the machine info.

I can tell you that the tech support center cannot offer it to you and can do nothing for you over the phone. Most of the techs will not even have a clue as to what you are talking about. (They will usually know to dispatch or depot the unit though).

If the warr is depot then it has to go back in, if Field dispatch a tech will come out as in your case.

Glad you got it resolved.

[zverg]

Somewhere I got a copy of that program the tech's use.. I do believe it was from an IBM page too. Anyway the same thing happened to me.. they came on-site to replace the motherboard and didn't set the right numbers so updating stuff got screwy. I didn't dare let the laptop leave my hands to get stuck at solectron for over a month again, so I just bought a USB floppy drive and did the work myself.

[tyito2000]

I just had my motherboard replaced. However, the model number and serial number were not programmed into the EEPROM on the motherboard. The solution that I used was IBM's Maintenance Disk v1.74.