New Software Installer

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jjfcpa · #1 Post by **jjfcpa** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:19 pm

Last night I thought it might be a good idea to run the IBM Updater program to see how badly out of date my T43 was. I ran it and it reported that my laptop was completely up to date. I knew that couldn't be right so I started looking for an update to the updater program.

What I found was a new program that Lenovo calls the Software Installer. What a slick program. I installed it and ran it and it reviewed every driver that was on my laptop with the latest versions that were on the Lenovo website. It compiled a list that allowed me to check or uncheck any that I did not want to install. Initially, they were all checked. It also identified those that were mandatory updates versus just recommended ones.

I decided to let it update all of them. It proceeded to download all the drivers and install them one-by-one... including a bios update.

Worked flawlessly on my T43 as well as 2 T42's that we have at the office.

Here's a link for those who would like to install this program...

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... yle=lenovo

The Counterpart · #2 Post by **The Counterpart** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:24 pm

Let me be the first to welcome you back to civilization. How long have you been in the Amazon jungle?

The Software Installer program has been out for months....

#3 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:37 pm

jjfcpa wrote:I started looking for an update to the updater program.

What I found was a new program that Lenovo calls the Software Installer. What a slick program.

Worked flawlessly on my T43 as well as 2 T42's that we have at the office.

Yes, it has been generally well received by the other ThinkPad owners here. So far it's the best updater program IBM has come up with.

Greg Gebhardt · #4 Post by **Greg Gebhardt** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:12 am

To me the new updater is outstanding. Way better than what it used to do. My new T43p had multiple updates to do when it came out of the box a few days ago. The updater did the whole thisng perfectly!

aschb · #5 Post by **aschb** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:33 am

I'm confused. On my T43P the "IBM Update Connector" and the new "Software Installer" is available. I ran both programs and usually the "Software Installer" finds all the update and works great. Does that mean the IBM Update Connector is out of date?

#6 Post by **jdhurst** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:32 am

aschb wrote:I'm confused. On my T43P the "IBM Update Connector" and the new "Software Installer" is available. I ran both programs and usually the "Software Installer" finds all the update and works great. Does that mean the IBM Update Connector is out of date?

Yes. Unininstall it and forget it. ... JD Hurst

krma-thkpds · #7 Post by **krma-thkpds** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 2:14 pm

There is one more alternative which replaces the obsolete IBM Update Connector. The program is called ThinkVantage System Update and you can find it in ThinkVantege download site section. When installing this program it automatically uninstalls the Update Connector.

#8 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:57 pm

krma-thkpds wrote:There is one more alternative which replaces the obsolete IBM Update Connector. The program is called ThinkVantage System Update and you can find it in ThinkVantege download site section. When installing this program it automatically uninstalls the Update Connector.

This new program uses a very old version of Java, would not work for me, and when I uninstalled, gave me precisely and exactly the same error message about files that Update Connector did. Further, it did not delete the files, and I had to do it manually with a different user id. It is just Update Connector by another name, and just as useless in my opinion. (BTW, I am doing this on my Desktop - I use Software Installer on the ThinkPad but it won't work on my 8314 Desktop). ... JD Hurst

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:46 pm

What jdhurst mentioned (re: using Software Installer on his desktop) reminded me of something. AFAIK Software Installer will not work if the system serial numbers are not stored in the BIOS. You might check that the fields for the serial numbers in the BIOS are not blank.

#10 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:32 pm

I think my Serial number is there. What doesn't work is the Java version. I don't wish to downgrade my Java from 1.5x to 1.41 or so, and that is what this tool needs. I really believe it is just Update Connector with a change or two. ... JD Hurst

#11 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:34 pm

FYI, I have both IBM Java Plug-in 1.4.1 (that came preinstalled on my T42) and the latest Sun Java 1.5 installed on my T42. According to Add or Remove Programs, IBM Java is 11.71MB and Sun Java is 144.00MB. ThinkVantage Software Installer works just fine on my T42. I suppose it's possible that Software Installer is only supported on certain IBM computers. If your computer is not on the list I suspect Software Installer will not work.

emorphien · #12 Post by **emorphien** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:52 pm

GomJabbar wrote:Yes, it has been generally well received by the other ThinkPad owners here. So far it's the best updater program IBM has come up with.

Probably one of the best updater programs I've seen, period.

trikster2 · #13 Post by **trikster2** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 4:10 am

Danger Will Robinson.

Installed the "software installer" let it do it's thing, followed all of its recomendations, rebooted a couple of times, thought everything was fine.

Then the wife calls the next day almost in tears. Really needed to use her laptop right that second. It seems the update dorked something up and now it takes like 5 minutes to log into windows (she gave up after 2, telling her see it works was little consolation). Hangs right after you log in. You can ctrl-alt-delete, launch programs from the task manager. CPU and memory is not doing a thing, the TP is just hanging out.

In for a peny in for a pound, staying up late and running it again tonight. Maybe I missed something....

NeoteriX · #14 Post by **NeoteriX** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:38 am

Hopefully this might help -- I once had alarmingly long startups only a couple weeks into owning my T43. I thought it was kind of random, but found out it was related to my wifi radio. For some reason, when the computer would startup with it OFF it would take a rediculously long time to load up. So, let it take forever to boot up, check to see if it's on (FN+F5) and if not, you might be in luck, just turn it on.

See if that might work for you.

would · #15 Post by **would** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:38 am

i'm using the installer for 1month or more now ....

never had one problem with it

#16 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:36 pm

trikster2 wrote:Danger Will Robinson.

Installed the "software installer" let it do it's thing, followed all of its recomendations, rebooted a couple of times, thought everything was fine.

It seems the update dorked something up and now it takes like 5 minutes to log into windows

Lost in Cyberspace are we?

What NeoteriX posted may work. Another thing to check. Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. Check to see that Wireless Zero Configuration service is set to Automatic and Started. You can double-click on the service to change these settings. I had to do this recently to fix a slow boot up.

Champ · #17 Post by **Champ** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 1:29 pm

IBM updaterscrewed up my computers. spent 10 hrs trying ot fix everything from random crashes to F5 not working w/or without Sebring API and installing-reinstalling in every possible combination....

I just ended up reloading a backup image and I'm NOT updating

#18 Post by **bill bolton** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:28 am

> IBM updaterscrewed up my computers

Software Installer has worked just fine for me ever since it was introduced.

I have had a problems with one piece of WLAN driver software it installed, but deletion and manual install of the same upgrade produced the same problems. I eventually trouble shot the problem down to a conflict with a non-IBM supplied driver.... so the problem had nothing to do with the Software Installer per se.

Cheers,

Bill

trikster2 · #19 Post by **trikster2** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 1:18 am

Through evenvwr sloothing found out delays where caused by norton antivirus. Uninstalled Norton and the computer boots up like normal.

Had no problems with norton before using the installer so there is something the installer is doing that does not like norton.

Of course I need antivirus so problem is not solved yet....

#20 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:47 am

I use Norton System Works 2005, part of which is Norton Antivirus. I have had no problems with ThinkVantage Software Installer or Norton System Works. No unusual delays.

I have noticed on occasion that a software install would mess up Norton, and I would have to uninstall Norton, then reinstall it. I don't recall this happening since Software Installer became available however. (I have been using Norton Antivirus for over the last 2 years).

I will admit that on occasion I did not trust Software Installer for the install. So after Software Installer informed me of the update, I would go to IBM/Lenovo's site directly, download the update, manually uninstall the existing software, then install the update. This primarily was for BIOS updates, video adapter updates, and WiFi updates. No particular reason I did not trust Software Installer for these updates, other than to suspect that a fully automated solution may not work properly.

Salty · #21 Post by **Salty** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:26 am

GomJabbar wrote:... Software Installer will not work if the system serial numbers are not stored in the BIOS. You might check that the fields for the serial numbers in the BIOS are not blank.

What GomJabbar said is correct on my "refurbished" T20. It seems it has not had the model and type reset in the BIOS and when trying to install software installer and hotkey stuff I get the message invalid machine type.

(That is why I have registered here

Off to search)

#22 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:55 am

Salty, take a look at this thread.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12263

See link below as well.

Here is the Hardware Maintenance Manual for your T20.

Salty · #23 Post by **Salty** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:12 am

Thank you GomJabbar.
I found maint160 and 189 (editted 169) from the from the links in the other thinkpads thread and will try it later, ....but

I may have another problem as I will need to buy or borrow a floppy drive or can this be run from a CD?
Do I have to boot from it ?

A dvd firmware fix I downloaded from IBM/Lenovo says that it should also be run from a bootable floppy and the DVD drive needs to be installed in the machine at the same time - how can I do this ?

Sorry off topic, getting back to the software installer:

I found a registry fix in this thread http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=10482 (In thinkpad R, A, G series)
---------------------------------------------------------
With the newest version of SWI I have heard that you can add a key to your registry that will fix it so SWI will run.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\ThinkPadSoftwareInstaller\SysInfoOW
With String values "MachineType"="enter your MT here" and "ModelName"="enter your Model here"
----------------------------------------------------------
This worked for me, although I notice that T20 is not in the list of models software installer is supposed to support - I was trying it because it was in the matrix of downloads for T20 - a bit of inconsistency there.

With the registry modified as above I installed software installer, then I used it to install Easy eject as a test and it seemed fine. I suspect that it didn't detect all the updates that I might have been able to use but what it did was fine. With the registry fix the hotkey update which had previously given the same invalid machine type message seemed to work as well.

I had already tracked down the HW Maintenance manual but appreciate the link.

Salty · #24 Post by **Salty** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:27 am

.... and I see how to use the hardware maintenance diskette on page 57 of the hardware maintenance manual - if I can get a floppy drive

Salty · #25 Post by **Salty** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:14 am

This may help anyone else in the same situation.

I thought I would try to run the hardware maintenance diskette startup program from a bootable CD. I ran the maint169.exe program on another machine to create a floppy, then used Nero to create a bootable CD from the floppy with the same contents.
I used the bootable CD to start up the T20. At first it seemed to be OK. It displayed the hardware maintenance menu, but when I selected option 1 for serial numbers I got the message that the EEPROM was write protected and instructions to try hitting escape when the IBM logo came up after power down and powering up again as described by Benedict elsewhere. After several tries I gave up.

OK - so now I have my floppy drive. I tried again from the floppy disk and everything seems to have worked beautifully. I can even go on the Lenovo support site and have my machine type autodetected.

Salty · #26 Post by **Salty** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:19 am

Somewhere in these forums I have seen it suggested that the serial number is put in as literal "1S" type number eg "2647" model eg"86G" serial number eg "1234AB5" which is what I did.

I have also a memory of seeing a list of prefixes like the "1S" and I suspect that for the T20 it should really be "1T" or maybe"1Y" does anybody else know about this or where I might have seen the table of values ? (I cannot remember where just vaguely remember seeing it.)

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