Happy with my ThinkPad...IBM, not so much...

[2112]

I'm happy to say that I've used these forums to help me in deciding to buy a ThinkPad, and since as a daily stop just to keep up with whats going on. I've had my 2373 for 3 weeks now and it is, by far, the best laptop I have owned. After reading some posts here about people using/and not able to use the "IBM update Connector", I decided to check it out myself. It worked, and I downloaded and installed 5 updates...2 of which had to do with the wireless Lan card and wireless connectivity. Well, immediately upon doing so I lost my wireless network connection...never to be had again...until this morning, AFTER a system restore. I must say here that I/We are not computer illiterate...we have several machines tied in on our home network and have become pretty proficient at troubleshooting. Due to this issue arising after using IBM's own downloads, I felt it would be best to start with some tech suport from them. The long and the short of it is this: After speaking with 3 people, and downloading this and changing that, my computer progressively spiraled to the point of no return. As I was speaking with each it was apparent that they were simply following instructions brought up on their computer screen...but not one understood my problem. I know this problem could have been fixed...if I was more patient I'm sure I could have found some answers here. So now it's off to figure out Norton Ghost, rebuilding a machine from scratch after only 3 weeks isn't so bad, but I don't want to have to do it again. Bye the way, I am by no means bashing IBM...every other experience (swapping batteries, buying accessories) I've had in this short relationship has been outstanding, and, like I said, this IS the sweetest machine I've owned. Bottom line I guess; If it ain't broke, don't F it up...

[sugo]

Bottom line I guess; If it ain't broke, don't F it up...

Totally agree. Personally I wouldn't mess with BIOS, Embedded Controller and Wireless Driver unless there is an issue that affects my machine.

Norton Ghost is great! I just made a XP partition image after 3 weeks of installing software, customizing and tweaking. It's nice to be able to restore to a solid point within 3 minutes.

[jdhurst]

You may wish to re-visit your strategy in the near future. There is a problem on my T41 (two drives, two independent installations) where the paging file stays at max disk space usage and cannot be modified smaller. IBM's position now is that they only recommend to problems that SP2 be uninstalled. They say their laptops and desktops are not designed for SP2, and they will be issuing new drivers and possibly BIOS to correct their machines for SP2. So failure to upgrade drivers may mean a lack of support when SP2 becomes inevitable. .... JDHurst

[sugo]

If there is an issue I have no problem trying out new drivers and BIOS.

I have been running fresh SP2 install from day 1, no issue here.

[jdhurst]

I have been running SP2 from day 1 on two machines as well. I consider my problem to be minor and in no way stops me. I am quite happy with SP2. I didn't follow IBM's advice (it was clearly stupid and designed to avoid work on their part) and I don't recommend uninstalling SP2 unless there are problems (and there have been a number of them). For me, however, it has been worth keeping everything up-to-date as sooner or later updates will become inevitable.
... JDHurst

[MrBeta]

No problems here either with SP2. Installed it on two brand new T42p Thinkpads (one ~3 weeks old, the other less than a week) without any issues whatsoever - as a matter of fact, one of the Thinkpads now works much better with wireless connections and the IBM a/b/g card. The other Thinkpad with Intel b/g car never had issues, but SP2 seems to work perfectly well on both these machines.

[2112]

I should point out that what I was reffering to at the beginning of this post was NOT Microsofts Service Pack 2...I have yet to install that as I think time will only do it good. I installed updates from IBM using the "IBM Connector", which caused all of my problems. Am i missing something? Did I just use IBM's shell to download a service pack from Microsoft? Either way, after a sytem restore/rebuild my thinkPads back to normal,...No more "Updates" for me for awhile...

[jdhurst]

I go to the IBM PC Support Site for my particular ThinkPad (T41) and download the updates that apply to this model. Then I apply them manually, that is, I explode the download into the C:\Drivers area, and then follow the documentation for installation. In over a dozen ThinkPads worth of experience, I have determined that some updates break other things (surprise, surprise).

On my T41, I learned that the most recent BIOS (V3.08a) update breaks my Wireless NIC with the most recent driver. I opened a case with IBM, and they say that they are working on this issue and the BIOS should be backleveled to V3.06f. This issue does not affect everyone here, but if you captured a BIOS update with Update Connector, that could have affected your Wireless.

I also downloaded and install Software Installer V2.30.0481. For me, and for others (but not everyone), this version hangs on the Wireless NIC driver when looking for version information. I went back to V2.21.0451. It works, but it is not flawless either.

I don't find either Update Connector or Software Installer to be useful for me. I still prefer the more durable approach of doing it myself. But then, most people would not want to do this, and I know that. IBM should figure out the best approach and eliminate the other application. If it were me, I would refine Software Installer and use that. It is a smoother approach in my opinion (which, when combined with a dollar, will purchase a cup of coffee).

... JDHurst