System Update fails on my Vista x64 drive. Runtime Error!

[barrywohl]

Just this morning I started getting the following message when I launch System Update 3.13 on my Vista Ultimate x64 installation.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling System Update for Vista and that didn't work. On googling the problem, it seems like it happens from time to time with Adobe 8 and some other internet connected programs.

I'm about to call the ThinkVantage folks at 1-800-IBM-SERV but I thought someone here might have a clue.

I have a Vista Ultimate x86 installation that still has a working System Update. Go figure.

Runtime Error!
Program: C:\Program Files (x86)\Lenovo\System Update\tvsu.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

[bill bolton]

Just this morning I started getting the following message when I launch System Update 3.13 on my Vista Ultimate x64 installation.

It works fine for me on Vista x64.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[barrywohl]

It did also for me from early November until a couple of days ago. I last successfully used it on 30 March 2008.

[barrywohl]

I solved this one yesterday.
I found a link to Microsoft knowledge base that suggested a corrupted .NET installation could produce the error message.

I tried to uninstall .NET and reinstall it but you can't with Vista. .NET is built in.

I took a leep of faith and installed .NET 3.5 (same version for x86 and x64). Still no success.

Then I uninstalled System Update 3.13, rebooted, installed System Update 3.13 and rebooted and System Update works again.

I suspect this will repair other software that is .NET dependent too.

During my Vista x64 SP1 install, I had one spot where the computer hung and didn't shut down and reboot properly. Perhaps that's where the .NET got corrupted.

Barry

[Ken Fox]

I solved this one yesterday.
I found a link to Microsoft knowledge base that suggested a corrupted .NET installation could produce the error message.

I tried to uninstall .NET and reinstall it but you can't with Vista. .NET is built in.

I took a leep of faith and installed .NET 3.5 (same version for x86 and x64). Still no success.

Then I uninstalled System Update 3.13, rebooted, installed System Update 3.13 and rebooted and System Update works again.

I suspect this will repair other software that is .NET dependent too.

During my Vista x64 SP1 install, I had one spot where the computer hung and didn't shut down and reboot properly. Perhaps that's where the .NET got corrupted.

Barry

I have this same problem now with 32 bit Vista, on a T60. I have tried your solution, Barry, but it does not solve the problem, nor does uninstalling and reinstalling System Update 3.13, nor uninstalling Rescue and Recovery. I have tried all these things 3 times, and booted in between. I still get the error message that reads:

"Runtime Error!

Program: C:\Program Files\Lenovo\System Update\tvsu.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information."

I did however find another thread on this board; TimC has found a temporary solution to this problem which I have found to work on the system with the problem. It is referenced here:

http://tinyurl.com/4337ad

ADDENDUM:

I started having other Thinkvantage program related problems, such as the inability to reinstall Rescue and Recovery, with error messages indicating insufficient disk space to install the program, even though drive properties on the main drive showed more than 2/3 of 100gb free. In fact, that itself was suspicious since I have less than 20gb on any of my Thinkpad main drives, so finding that there were 30+ gb present (in the absence of any R&R backups) makes no sense.

This all points to a corrupted hard drive. This could have happened in a number of different ways, and in fact the drive in the effected T60 was one that I put in recently, using Acronis True Image to clone over the contents of the drive that was in there before.

There may be more than one cause of the error messages accompanying attempts to use System Update, but at least one of the potential causes is a corrupted hard disk. I have wasted about 2 hours trying to sort out this problem and I'm no closer to finding a solution to it than I was when I started. Therefore, the easiest course for me to follow was to replace the hard disk contents with those from an old image back up, which I am in the process of completing.

This argues for a practice I have long advocated here; making sequential backups of your hard disk so that in the unlikely event that you need them to get you out of a fix, they are available.