Software installer/system update2 problem

[TPadguy]

Hi,

Just did a factory re-image of an R52. Did all MS updates including ie7. Ran software installer and it only picked up about 7 updates. This machine's image is from 2005, so most of the drivers, thinkvantage etc are pretty old.

I ran software installer a second time and it shows no available updates, yet I know there must be still about 20 including WLAN, LAN drivers Access connections etc etc.

I spoke with Lenovo and they "claim that neither of these installers are supported with ie7.

Has anyone else had this problem? I have ie7 on my T43 and it seems like the updates were working fine but it has been a while so I am a bit fuzzy.

Anyone seen this problem and have a quick fix. I need to get this notebook back to the user ASAP. I have heard that at the end of the month all new programs will be released including system update3 that support Vista and I assume ie7 too. Will this correct the problem, or will the versions I currently have be too old to directly update some of these.

I am so frustrated because so much wasted time has been spent on this machine.

Any quick suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks


P.S. The reason for the factory restore was major registry corruption due to the infamous Intel Pro wireless installer fiasco!

I may have to just let the user get the notebook back with old drivers, etc. At least the wireless etc is working, now. I am not comfortable about the older drivers but it will take so long to manually install and won't solve the problem anyway.

[liliggyracin]

I am currently reinstalling XP on two R52s. I am going to do one without IE7 and one with and just see what happens. (im bored)

And since I see you need this quicker then the test will be finished. I would recommend just loading them the lonely 1by1 method. Yeah it takes a little longer but you can sit here and fight this problem and by the time you get it figured out you could have all the drivers loaded already

[jdhurst]

Here is what works for me:

I go to the support site for my computer and download the driver updates (I take the vast majority of them). I download the drivers into a known folder of drivers. This takes a bit of time, but it is hardly death.

I then unpackage the drivers into C:\Drivers\WinXPP. This means changing the destination on every unpack. Pain in the butt, but worth it.

Then I run Software Installer and do all except any BIOS and Embedded Controller updates. I do those manually.

What I am left with is known, generally flawless installs, a folder with all the recent driver files in the rare event I need to run the setup again, and another folder where the downloads are stored in case I need them for a rebuild (very rare) or for a client with a similar machine (saves redownloading).
... JD Hurst

[TPadguy]

Thanks for the tips guys. However, does anyone know if there is a known issue regarding ie7 and the software installer and system update?

Even though manual instal is safer, it would be good to know what is causing them not to work properly.

[spwhiting@]

Yesterday I ran Software Installer and no program updates were needed on my R51 - 1836 Q4U. Today I lost the internet connection using IE7. I removed IE7 for its incompatability with SBCGLOBAL.com internet DSL modem connected to a NETGEAR wireless router and WINDOWS XP PRO. IE6 had been previously installed and operated fine without having to 'reinstall' it. I then ran Software Installer and had about ten programs that needed updating. The update went fine. The SBC technician stated that IE7 has been changed to work with VISTA and not Windows XP--if so then Gates has done it again. I recommend going back to IE6 and see if you get the current updates.

[jdhurst]

<snip> The SBC technician stated that IE7 has been changed to work with VISTA and not Windows XP--if so then Gates has done it again. <snip>

I am always amazed at companies and technicians who can't make things work declare that all is wrong for everybody.

IE7 works well for me in heavy daily use. If anyone wishes not to use it - fine. But the technician in this case is dead wrong.
... JD Hurst

[TPadguy]

Just an update:

Spoke with Lenovo lead tech. They said that Software installer especially and also System update2 is not supported by IE7. That is the official word. They said a new version system update3 including a complete new set of updates to include vista drivers rolled into the package will be available the end of this month after the consumer release of Vista. I asked that why don't they post that on the downloads page or somewhere and they said we asked but they did not.

They also said a new version of Access Connections will be released that NO LONGER has any control over the wireless card. It will only function as a profile manager(too many wireless complaints).

They are not sure if the new System update will support IE7 on XP though.

They told me to try rolling back to IE6 and running Software Installer to see if it corrects the problem.

The techs have nothing to do with this. He said they have been swamped by very angry people requesting help with all the related problems with the installers.

By the way software installer is due for extinction very soon and even the techs prefer using it! Go figure.

Thanks everyone.

P.S. looks like you might have been on the right track spwhiting@. Not sure yet if I will wait or try the rollback. My concern is some of the programs/drivers from the original image are from late 2005 and early 2006 and might not be able to make the leap directly into the latest versions without more problems.

[jdhurst]

I haven't tried a complete load of drivers with IE7 in place because my system is usually fairly well up-to-date. Software Installer is still working and picking up updates, but not very many, because not many to do.

With respect to IE7, the road is going to be long and rocky for software vendors who won't make their stuff work with IE7 under XP. Microsoft has declared support (at least for businesses) until 2014 (source - Information Week)

So with IE7 listed as a critical update for XP in 2007, do these vendors and manufacturers think they are going to get away for the next seven years not supporting IE7. This is NOT a Microsoft issue, it is a software vendor issue and the vendors best get on the bandwagon now.

[liliggyracin]

OK heres what happened.

System 1 R52 Loaded Ethernet Driver from CD ran all MS updates plus IE7 then tried to run system update. Got the same problem only loaded 7-8 drivers. ( Was lastnight at 2am forgive me I might forget some numbers)

System 2 R52 Loaded Ethernet Driver from CD ran all MS updates w/o IE7 then ran system update. All drivers and updates were applied succesfully. No problems noted.

My conclusion however miniscule. IE7 is not going to work with System Update. Run it with IE6 If you dont want to have to manually go through and load each driver.

Hope this helps.

Thanks..

Iggy

[TPadguy]

Thanks Iggy for your experience. Well I just rolled back to IE6 and software installer and system update still see no updates. I can see it searching through the packages on my hard drive but it finds nothing!

I hope I don't have to restore again to fix this. I also uninstalled software update and reinstalled under ie6, no difference.

This is really making us seriously reconsider Lenovo products. So much wasted time!

[TPadguy]

Another update: Now the upper level people at Lenovo are telling me that the most likely cause is a corrupt image in the system partition or a bad hard drive with some corrupt sectors.

They told me to recreate the image using CDs to be sure. Man what an exasperating experience! I have to wait till I receive the CDs to know the result....

[pianowizard]

My conclusion however miniscule. IE7 is not going to work with System Update. Run it with IE6 If you dont want to have to manually go through and load each driver.

Thanks so much for doing this experiment. I had difficulty with both SI and SU on my newly acquired T60 and had no idea why. Looks like I should start over with only IE6 installed. Yikes!

[torlanglo]

I had a problem with System Update 2.0 a while ago, and found the link to System Update 3, which seems to work fine on my system (T60p, XP SP2, IE7)

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... VAN-LEAPSU

Tor.