Thinkpads Forum

II bought a T60 about a year and a half ago. Did the ole IBM quality go south?? The battery has already gone out, the finger print reader take about 7 swipes to even start to respond. I noticed these problems after I updated the firmware as suggested by the update program. I was thinking about re-flashing back to an older code if I could find any.

I did upgrade the hard drive about a year ago with a WD 200 gig using “acronis software”
keeping the hidden system partition.

Any advice?? I have a lot of important stuff on it. I just got one of those WD My book USB drives that I got all of my PC’s backed up on “what a great tool”.
My big question is where I can find the older bios at.

You can find a table almost at the bottom using the links below to download previous versions of the BIOS update utility/bootable CD.

Bootable CD:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-63027

BIOS Update utility:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-63024

Bootable CD for widescreen models:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67020

BIOS Update utility for widescreen models:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67018

I never tried to downgrade the BIOS though so no idea if it will work or not. Regarding the battery if the computer is only 18 month old it should still be under warranty and you might get a new battery. Normally the battery should last longer then 18 months unless the cycle count is extremly high and of course it could depend of the usage of the computer/battery, but under normal usage it should last longer. For the fingerprint reader it's for sure something that the warranty should cover. Anyway neither the battery or the fingerprint reader is actually manufactured by IBM or Lenovo.

Battery warranties are only one year.

I have a T60 and its fingerprint reader works fine. The battery does not wear any faster than a T4x battery, if used similarly. So these are definitely not general T60 issues. In fact, I'm very satisfied with this model.

You should check whether your battery is subject to a recall...quite a few of them have been.

Good luck.

tmfast wrote:II bought a T60 about a year and a half ago. Did the ole IBM quality go south?

I am currently using a T60 (and T60p) that I purchased in Feb of 2006 and they are the best T-series I've had. And I've had one of every single T model since they were introduced. They are used daily as my main machine for work (T60p) and personal (T60). They have a tremendous amount of hours on them and both are all original. I'm writing this from the keyboard of my T60, it is still returning about 3 hrs of run time depending on what I'm doing. The same holds true for the T60p. This is the very reason I buy ThinkPads as my main laptop for all my mission critical work. They are laptops that one can count on every time. I could not be happier.

archer6,
I feel the same way you do. I have been using the T series since the T20. It went through hell as a field laptop on several construction sites. I thought of it as a JEEP laptop to me. It was very tough. Nothing every really broke on it. I passed it on to a fellow worker when I got a T23. I had that up to last year when the screen started to fade. I bought another T23, but recieved a T30. I did not like that one at all. But I found a T42 on Craigs list and still have it. I just had to get one of those PCMCIA serial port cards to do my work. I bought this T60 just a few months after it came out as my home PC so I can just grab it, and go when I need to. I have ALL my critical data on it.
I am a little disapointed to see good ole American IBM not building them any more. Oh well, thats the way things are going these days.
I am just wondering if anyone thinks the quality has gone down.

I too began with the first of the T series and they've been the machine I've counted on as mission critical for my work ever since. Like you, the only T series I didn't care for was the T30. The T2x were all quite good, then the T4x series of which my very favorite is the T42p. I used one of those for quite some time, even though I bought a T43 when they were released, I had two and they both ran very warm and were somewhat noisy. Then the T60 was released. Prior to that I had heard the rumors of no more 4x3 format displays and the end of IPS, so I considered myself lucky to have this info for decision making.

In fact it's the only reason I bought both a T60 and T60p as I had no idea what to expect from there on out, and I'm so happy I did. In fact I also got the X60s as well. I was bound and determined to get what I needed in the 60 series to hold me for as long as possible. Having the IPS 15" 1600x1200, and IPS 15" 1400x1050 has really been a joy. I'm the kind that has no problem carrying an extra pound in weight, at about 6 lbs the 15" size is ideal for me. I simply love the extra screen size, as opposed to the 14", even though I carry mine everyday. In terms of build quality these are stellar. What will happen as Lenovo goes forward with the line is something that I must admit I'm concerned about, only time will tell. It would be fantastic if they would bring back 4x3 and IPS, but I believe there is no chance of that. Widescreen is here to stay. At least we don't have to put up with those super glossy displays. Yet anyway...

archer6,
Thanks for the chat. May I ask you what the difference is betweeen the regular T, and Tp models are?? I always saw a big difference in the prices.

Dave,

tmfast wrote:archer6,
Thanks for the chat. May I ask you what the difference is betweeen the regular T, and Tp models are?? I always saw a big difference in the prices.

Dave,

You're quite welcome,

The "p" models are the Professional Workstation Class ThinkPads, the most powerful ThinkPads available. They have the fastest processors, fast 7200rpm hard drives, highest resolution displays for example my T60 is only 1400x1050 whereas my T60p is 1600x1200. They have the best graphics cards with the most memory, etc. They are built for the most resource intensive work. 3D design, modeling and rendering, scientific computational work etc. They are the Top Of the ThinkPad Lineup for Business. Reg T models have the more typical 5400rpm hard drives, a choice of processors from slow to fast, and choice of displays from 1024x768 to 1400x1050 etc. At least that's when they were still the 4x3 aspect ratio. Now the displays as you know are widescreen. I'm not fond of widescreen because I need the vertical height to reduce the scrolling on long docs and other work I do.

The new designation for workstation class ThinkPads is "W", they have dropped the p suffix. So now it would be a W500 for example, and a W700. The T series is still there but they've been moved down a bit in my opinion in terms of price point and some other considerations.

Any other questions you have I would be happy to answer

Cheers...