"Detect my system" on support pages no longer work

[acz]

On my T41p... if I use IE to go to the Lenovo Support and Downloads page http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... country=us
and then click on the phrase "Detect my system" it does not work properly.

First, I see a pop up security warning asking "Do you want to allow software such as ActiveX controls and plug-ins to run?"
So I click on Yes.

Next, I see a pop up IE Security Warning that asks "Do you want to install this software" - IBM Access Support - and so I click Install.

After a moment, a new page appears which says this:

Unable to determine your system configuration. Please use your browser's Back button to return to the previous page and navigate manually.

If you are not using Microsoft Internet Explorer
You may be receiving this error because your browser does not support ActiveX controls.

If you are using Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
You may be receiving this error because you need to install an ActiveX control.

To install the ActiveX control and take advantage of this IBM Support technology:

1. Click the security warning that appears at the top of this window. The warning will appear in a yellow box and should read: "The previous site might require the following ActiveX control: 'IBM Access Support' from 'International Business Machines, Inc.'. Click here to install." After you click this warning, a menu will appear.

2. Click "Allow this page to install ActiveX controls".
3. Follow the instructions that appear to finish installing the ActiveX control. "

But I don't get a yellow box at the top!

When I test ActiveX at PCPitstop, it seems to be working fine.

I am probably missing something obvious. I am pretty sure that the Detect My System worked fine in the past. What could be the problem?

The Thinkvantage Software Installer seems to work OK, but the Thinkvantage System Update complains that no JRE is installed. However, if I go to Sun's java test page at http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml it says the latest java version 1.5.0_05 is installed and working fine.

Thank you for any insights, I always learn something new from the group here.

[GomJabbar]

It could be your internet connection settings. Look in Start > Control Panel > Internet Options > Security tab.

It could be a firewall setting blocking a port or a program.

It could be that the serial number for your ThinkPad is not in the BIOS for some reason. If you go to Start > All Programs > Access IBM > Access IBM, choose Get Help & Support > Find support information > Warranty and parts information - does a serial number show up? (I am not positive if this comes from the BIOS or not). You could look in the BIOS itself to know for sure.

[johniii]

I had this same problem....it seems that for some reason the site sometimes installs a downlevel (read non-functional) version of the software.

Open windows explorer and navigate to the 'Windows\Downloaded Program Files' folder....for the entry 'IBM Access Support' what version does it show? My experience is you need 3.0.0.9 or above for it to work correctly.

If you do show downlevel, the correct files are probably burried on your system in a file called ibmegath.cab dated either Feb or Mar of 2004. You can just replace the files in the 'Downloaded Program Files' directory with the ones in this cab (the egathdrv.sys file also gets copied into the system32 directory) and you should be good to go.

[johniii]

As an FYI....I just forced a new download, and I updated to version 3.0.0.14 Everything works fine at this level.....

[acz]

Thanks Gom Jabbar, but I checked out my firewall and my IE settings, but there are no obvious barriers. The prior version of JRE worked fine.

The serial number is in the BIOS, because the machine type and serial number are correctly shown by the program Access IBM (version 4.1.00)

In fact I don't see any entry for 'IBM Access Support' in the Windows\Downloaded Program files directory. Nevertheless, I can do Start > All Programs > Access IBM >IBM Access Support, but that dies on a VBScript error.

I cannot seem to find anyplace at IBM or Lenovo to re-download the IBM Access Support Program.

Interestingly there is a directory called
c:\Program Files\ThinkVantage\SystemUpdate\egather which contains a file called egather2.exe and one other file, which is called
IBM-2373GEU-SerialNumber.EG2

Sorry Johniii if I am missing the obvious, but for which program did you force the download, and where did you find it?
I will re-download the Thinkvantage System Support, then re-download the JRE from Sun, and then try to find the PRIOR version of JRE from Sun.



Thanks.

[acz]

Well, I fiddled around and did some things that seem to have restored conditions to the way they once were.

1) I re-installed Sun's JRE 1.5.0_04 by downloading the full package and installing it
2) then UN-installed JRE 1.5.0_05 (via Contol Panel > Add/Remove Programs)
3) then UN-installed ThinkVantage System Update (via Contol Panel > Add/Remove Programs)

with a reboot after each step listed above.

Results:
a) I no longer get the error message "There is no JRE installed on your system"
b) Everything seems normal with Start > All Programs > Access IBM > IBM Access Support, and it even appears now in the c:\Windows\Downloaded Program files directory
c) Thinkvantage Software Installer seems to work normally
d) "Detect my system" on the Lenovo support pages seems to work fine (with IE of course, not with Firefox)