ThinkVantage Button stopped fully working

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ajkdotcom · #1 Post by **ajkdotcom** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:31 pm

i don't know exactly when i started having this problem but the ThinkVantage button doesn't open up the ThinkVantage Productivity Center anymore. at first i thought the button itself was not functional anymore but it still went into the bios setup when i pressed it after restarting the computer. so the button is still functional. i guess it's just the matter of reassigning the button to open up the productivity center but i'm not able to do that. i've tried system restore, i tried reinstalling the ThinkVantage Productivity Center program... still nothing. the productivity center program still works too. i have a Z61t, i have done all the system updates, and i'm running Windows Vista Business, 32-Bit. any suggestions?

itzcoolz · #2 Post by **itzcoolz** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:39 pm

you said you tried system restore? as in microsoft's thing?

you might want to try reinstalling the hotkey driver. i know it controls all the thinkvantage hotkeys for Fn-F2 thru F12.

btw, did you upgrade to vista? or did it come preinstalled?

#3 Post by **ryengineer** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:43 pm

Did your system came with factory pre-installed Windows Vista? If no then I don't think so it will work.

Otherwise go to Run> type "msconfig" (without quotes)> Do Vista Yes>Go to startup and make sure "lpmgr" is check marked.

ajkdotcom · #4 Post by **ajkdotcom** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:49 pm

thanks for the replies. i forgot to mention that i reinstalled the hotkey drivers before but that still didn't work (btw i do have a preinstalled version of vista business) and for the startup processes, lpmgr wasn't listed as a program that i could check but i know what file you are talking about. i tried running the program and tried pressing the button.. but still no answer..

itzcoolz · #5 Post by **itzcoolz** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:58 pm

ryengineer, it is possible to get the thinkvantage button working even if you did not have vista preinstalled.

ajkdotcom, i think the best bet would be to do a reset to factory defaults (which i'm sure is a hassle). it might not be the most simple solution, but it should definitely work. you can do it by pressing the TV button during bootup, and then running the Rescue and Recovery console from there.

an added benefit to doing that is you can pick and choose which bloatware to install (example: you can choose not to install diskkeeper lite or symantec's stuff).

hopefully someone will post a less painful alternative, but that's the best i can suggest now.

#6 Post by **ryengineer** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:18 pm

itzcoolz wrote:ryengineer, it is possible to get the thinkvantage button working even if you did not have vista preinstalled.

It is? How?

I have a Vista Ultimate installed on my X31 and only volume keys/keyboard shortcuts work with lenovo hotkey drivers.

ajkdotcom · #7 Post by **ajkdotcom** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:37 pm

thanks for your help guys.. i don't think i'm going to reset to factory defaults because of this problem. i guess i can live without the button bringing up the productivity center.. hopefully it magically starts working again one day..

#8 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:04 pm

Different systems need different things, but generally you need the following for Vista:

1) ACPI Power Management driver
2) Lenovo System Interface Driver
3) Hotkey utility driver
4) Access Help online User's Guide

Note the following also regarding Help Center:

Lenovo wrote:* Software Installer provides install/uninstall wizard for this package.
* This utility provides a portal, through the Productivity Center, to the help files within the Access help online User's Guide.
* We also recommend that you install the Productivity Center and the Access Help on supported systems.
* If Access IBM has been installed, it is required to uninstall Access IBM before installing Help Center

It appears that the Help Center and ThinkVantage Productivity Center are not really needed for the ThinkVantage button to work in Windows.

idigthesun · #9 Post by **idigthesun** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:38 am

I am having this same problem. It started about the same time I updated Windows Vista Ultimate several days ago via Windows Update. I am using a T60 which originally came preinstalled with XP, but after a clean install of Vista and using ThinkVantage System Update all the computer keys (including the ThinkVantage button) were working just fine until recently. I wonder if the new Vista updates broke something with Lenovo drivers on certain ThinkPad configurations. I haven't tried uninstalling the updates because I'd prefer to keep them for security issues. None of the other hotkeys are working anymore either (including volume controls and Fn keys).

EDIT: Reinstalling the hotkey driver from the Lenovo website resolved the problem. Thanks everyone who replied!

rukiri · #10 Post by **rukiri** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:34 pm

Is there a way to simply reconfigure the button? To assign another task, or maybe a program shortcut to it?

sorry, n/m, I found it on lenovo's website

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 67288.html

er.. ibm's website I guess.

ThinkVantage Button stopped fully working

ThinkVantage Button stopped fully working

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