Thinkpads Forum

Hey everyone,

I am just about at the end of my rope with my new thinkpad... and was going to go ahead and reinstall Vista but discovered that it didn't come with a recovery disk. Perfect.

Here are my thinkpad's specs: T61, T7700, 2gb ram, Nvidia 140m, Thinkpad abgn wireless, bluetooth, vista home premium OS

And here is the problem, about 2 weeks ago my thinkpad auto-updated from Lenovo and installed (or tried to install) the following updates:

1. Windows Vista Update Module KB929637 32bit v1.0 (Did not Install)
2. ThinkVantage Productivity Center for Thinkpad v2.21 (Did not install)
3. ThinkPad Wireless LAN(11abgn, abg, bg)(Windows Vista) v7.3.1.127 (Installed)

It then restarted and apparently the install failed on some of the updates. My wireless card now isnt working (I have tried reinstalling drivers manually), a bunch of Windows services are not operational and will not manually start (including the Diagnostic Service), and network connectivity in general is a no-go, even by wired means.

I have tried virtually everything including system restores which are now failing, and can't think of any other solution.

I have installed the updates that failed to install manually and even so the same problems are re-occuring.

Do I have any option but to reinstall the OS?

The first thing you should do is burn a set of factory restore disks if you haven't already done so. ThinkPads don't ship with recovery/restore discs; restore discs must be burned by the user by going to the start menu --> ThinkVantage --> Create Recovery Media. Hopefully your system still is able to do this, and if it is not based on the description of your problem (caused by an error in the ThinkVantage update itself) you should be able to get Lenovo to send you a set of recovery discs for free.

Update 1) KB929637 is only applicable if you have and use Nero InCD, and many users fail to install that update. Due to an error in the update software that update shows up for users who don't need it, and when it fails to install they worry about it needlessly. Productivity Center to my knowledge is simply the launch-point application for various other ThinkVantage software, and should not interfere in the way you're describing if it fails. That said it certainly is possible that it is the cause if it failed during restart as it was in the middle of critical file operations.

If the wireless LAN update installed correctly that shouldn't be causing your connectivity problems, especially for both wireless and wired ethernet.

I can think of three suggestions before you attempt a factory restore using recovery media:

1) What are you using when attempting to connect, Access Connections or Windows Vista native networking? If you can't get a connection check to see which software manages connectivity, and if you are at the end of your rope try uninstalling Access Connections altogether as it often causes problems for users, especially when drivers have been updated. This is assuming you have connectivity on another accessible computer so you can download AC later and reinstall, should this fix not work.

2) Do you have robust anti-virus software, is it up-to-date, and have you run a scan recently? Many of the problems you are describing could also be caused by a virus of some kind.

3) Contact Lenovo tech support, open 24/7. They may be able to diagnose and troubleshoot your problem, and at the very least they would be able to tell you if they could provide restore media, and what your options are in terms of warranty service.

Not a pleasant experience with a new ThinkPad, but perhaps you are using up all your bad luck with that particular machine now, and will only have good luck later? Hope you find a solution soon!

Thanks for the suggestions... I had no luck with Access Connections and as you suggested I uninstalled it completely and then tried reinstalling my wireless drivers, still no luck.

I will try to burn some recovery discs, but I was thinking about upgrading to Vista x64 anyways and I think I may have found my excuse. I just need to get my hands on a DVD for it.

As I said, it's a very new laptop, so I don't have a lot of files that I need to save, so might as well do it now as opposed to 2 full OS installs... one now and then one when I get around to installing x64.

Not my first Thinkpad but it was my first since Lenovo bought them out.. and man does Lenovo customer/purchase support SUCK!

I was a little wary of calling tech support as I didn't want to get backed into having to pay for a tech support session. Wanted to try to fix it myself first.

Thanks again for the help!!