Stoopid Question, Perhaps

[fullauto]

Is it safe to blindly update drivers and tools from the IBM site periodically?

I am new to the world of Thinkpad, and I just discovered that there are a bunch of updates out there for my machine.

I have been blindly using the Software Update facility for my Apple machines for years, but that is a whole other kettle of fish, isn't it?

Also, Internet Explorer (which I truly abhor) runs like a pig on skates on my new T43...but Mozilla/Firefox makes my desktop kinda unstable...

Thanks in advance...John

[leegaard]

Well ..

In most instances it will not give any problems.

The biggest issue will Access Connection and wireless drivers. In some instances it will produce errors - In other cure them. So its not an easy issue.

Besides from that, I would not fear using the feature.

It seems like your machine is suffering from other problems than the ones produced by Lenovo.

Try a total reinstall. It takes very much skill and knowledge to cure "a pig on skates"

[fullauto]

Thanks Frank.

Can you tell me what the difference is between a T43 and T43/p?

What does the "/p" designator mean?

John

[jdhurst]

Blindly doing anything is rarely a good idea. I usually download the updates, read the documentation and then apply them individually, restarting on request. That allows me to assess an update and uninstalling it if need be. Most of the time, updates are benign and work well. Access Connections takes the most work (as noted already). If I have the latest NIC driver in place and updating A/C, I usually try a simple update. Otherwise I uninstall A/C, the NIC driver, restart, and install the driver then A/C.

I have always been willing (as have others) to run updates and then post here if issues (or sometimes just report success). If you are concerned, check here before applying.
... JD Hurst

[christopher_wolf]

I always follow a method very similar to the one that JD Hurst uses; I take a close look at all of the updates/drivers that are "recommended" and see if I actually need it. If you don't need it, why get it? I also install them one by one and do a reboot each time so I can get an idea of what changes, if anything at all. HTH

[simms]

The p stands for performance, usually contains a better video card, screen resolution and quality, as well as more memory and HDD.

Basically any series with p is just plain ol' better.

[snife]

I was always of the opinion in the past - if it ain't broke don't fix it so I never used to try updating drivers unless I had a problem or needed new functionality.

However, Windows update has got me into the habit of updating Windows periodically (for security reasons) and I am now in the habit of doing the same with software installer - I have not yet had any problems, although I don't do the BIOS updates through that as I can rarely be bothered with a reboot. Like others have said, wireless can be a flakey issue so I would suggest if your wireless works at present don't update access connections or wireless drivers through software installer as your only risking having trouble.

Also I don't really know whether a pig in skates is a good or a bad thing but I have always liked Internet Explorer for its simplicity, however, after using FireFox when IE got corrupted, I found it runs much faster on a ThinkPad (especially if you have a lot of webpages open at once) and I have had no stability problems. Might be a good idea to try the portable version of firefox running completely from a memory key or something if you use different systems.

[fullauto]

Actually it was because of flaky behaviour with my wireless card that I went roam'n for updates in the first place.

Advice noted on updates, then. Thanks.


IE runs crazy slow on my machine. Mozilla/Firefox v1.5 screws with my system in two ways:

- it breaks the famous FanControl app (she won't load)

- it hangs the GUI. I had to reboot three times with Mozilla running.

Yep, looks like Thinkpads don't work in Texas!

What kind of research ARE they doing at Dell?