Z60m Many problems (PCDR5, BIOS, Battery, +) Please Advise

[corto]

Greetings,

My Thinkpad is a mess. I would appreciate any feedback you have to get me out of my current situation. Here it is:

I have a z60m with the PC Doctor 5 problem. I learned about it just recently on some threads on this site. When it first happened I thought I had a virus or something but found my system clean. At the time I tried System Restore (non-safe mode) and found that none of my restore points worked. I now realize that if I would have done it in Safe Mode it may have worked. Now here I am months later and restoring back to Pre-November doesn't really work for me, I've installed a number of programs that I paid for online and don't have reinstall disks and etc. Has any other way out of this problem been found? I noticed no new postings about this problem in weeks.

Another looming problem I have is for a long time when I start my computer (even restart) often times after the Windows XP startup screen my screen stays black and I get a never-ending continual beep that makes you cringe. So to avoid this I rarely shut down, I would just hibernate/standby. But when I had to restart and got this problem again I would hold down my power button and restart it as many times as needed till it started normally. But recently I found if I hit my Enter key it would stop the beep and start normally. Not sure what is going on here... any ideas?

My confusion over the above issues is doubled by the following two issues:

Lenovo Message Center message saying that I have an irreparable battery error. I am still under warranty and I contacted Lenovo, they are supposedly sending me a new battery but it has been delayed since it is 'out of stock'.

Finally, the fact that I haven't updated My BIOS... I went to update it a while back in ThinkVantage System Update but got nervous. My current BIOS is 1.05 (77ET42WW). I am thinking maybe a BIOS update would help with some of the above issues (but probably not the PCDR5 issue).

So my question is: in what order should I deal with the above issues?

If the only solution to the PCDR5 problem is to restore to an ancient restore point in safe-mode I would still consider that (even though its a major pain). And if I do it should I update my BIOS before or after?

Should I wait till I get my new battery to update my BIOS?

Naturally I should create some backup/recovery media before doing the BIOS update but who wants to create recovery disks for a system that's as screwed up as mine?

As you can tell I'm confused as of what to do and in what order I should tackle them. Over the holidays would be a good time for me to try since work is slowing down for me.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Cort

[Habskilla]

I would restore the system to fix the PCDR5 problem.
Then update the BIOS.
The battery can be installed whenever it comes.

[corto]

Should I uninstall PC Doctor 5 before doing the System Restore? Or leave as is?

Thanks,

Cort

[Habskilla]

The system restore will get rid of PC Doctor 5.

[gotconsultants]

I can confirm that there were problems with the Z60M... I had my motherboard replaced a total of 6 times in 4 weeks....

Rob

[corto]

Rob,
What were the symptoms of a bad motherboard? I updated my BIOS and I am still having problems with startup. I was hoping it would go away.

After the XP startup screen, before loading my fingerprint reader it solidly beeps one continual beep till I shut it down by pressing on the power button. When I start again I choose 'start using last known good configuration' and it seems to work ok. I avoid shutting down to avoid this nerve-grinding experience. PC doctor says my motherboard is fine.

I am under warranty for a couple more years, so of course I am anxious to know what happened to you. Thanks.

Cort

[warder]

To me this sounds like some kind of driver problem rather than hardware, but basically you won't know until you put your PC back into a clean 'as delivered' state.

If say Safe Mode always works perfectly, then it has to be something in your Windows installation - reinstall.

[corto]

Just to follow up on my thread.

I ended up sending my Z60m for repairs. It was returned very rapidly with a new 'Planar Card' (which is basically a motherboard from what I can tell).

Most of my symptoms were fixed but the Client Security System was disabled by the maintenance guy. I guess I could reactivate from my BIOS but I have decided to continue on without the CSS.

I am now getting a new BSOD often times when playing a game that I played before without that ever happening. I imagine this is a problem with the ATI card and the new motherboard. Other than this most symptoms seem to be fixed (for now).

Oh, also my battery was replaced rapidly by Lenovo in a separate service call.